Come to the City Council Meeting on Tuesday at 9:30 A.M. and/or send supportive comments to [email protected]. The clerk’s office will distribute the comments to the council members if asked to do so.

A vote for the stormwater utility ensures Vero Beach joins the other municipalities in establishing a multi-year program to clean up the lagoon. There is significant state momentum that we need to join.

Property owners who have large parking lots, solid driveways, or large roofs that prevent rain water from entering the ground, contribute to stormwater washing pollutants into the lagoon. The fees are determined by how much impervious, or impenetrable area each property owner has, be they the city, a church, a business or a resident. The average cost per person or entity will be $5.00 per month, used to clean the water before it runs into the lagoon, and to incentivize people to control their stormwater.

The City has engaged a consulting firm which has designed the Stormwater Utility, assigning fees to each property within the city based on the nature of each property, and its ability to control storm water. The combined amount of money raised by the Utility would be just over $900,000 and could only be used for capital projects within the Stormwater Utility, which would become a separate unit of the City. The utility would not have employees or operating expenses, only capital projects.

Please consider helping to save our lagoon by writing comments to [email protected] or attending the February 7, meeting.