3 comments

1. I don’t like any of these choices. For our City to continue to provide the services that we need to keep our City vital and beautiful, we need to put all options on the table including the possibility of a different purchaser not FPL. We also have to look at parking fees for non-residents and beach use fees for non-residents and park use fees for non-residents and possibly other fees as well to make up for the loss of income the City would incur from a sale of the Vero Utilities. It isn’t as if we have extra money coming into the City. We don’t now have enough money coming into the City.
   City residents pay city taxes to run the city which benefits County residents as well.
   So we will either have usage fees or continue to get money from the utilities that we provide unless you want to bankrupt the City that you, the City Council, have been elected to protect. Then we would ALL be AT THE MERCY of the County Government and its sympathetic Commissioners.

2. All options have been considered.. The reason that the city has been negotiating with FP&L is because no one else stepped up to meet the needs.

   Imposing fees on county residents will only backfire because the county will then charge city residents for the usage of county failities. Also, there is already a charge associated with using most city facilities.

   The imposition of fees would have the most negative impact on tourists. This is the last thing that we should do in this current economy.

   The loss of revenue can easily be addressed by a modest increase in property taxes which have been kept artificially low for decades because of putting the economic burden on county residents via their utility monthly payments. .

   Other options for bringing more revenue into the city include:

   1) Being more efficient and cost effective with the services now provided

   2) Particiipation in opportunities for sharing the costs by being a part of the regionalization planning that is a part of the Seven50 organization. The City Council foolishly voted against just a proposal because they basically succumbed to mob rule and have acccepted the absurd notion that participation in discussion of regional issues would result in Vero Beach losing its small town charm. There is no basis for such an absurd claim. By working cooperatively with other counties we should and could benefit from efficiencies of scale. In addition, we would have a much greater opportunity to benefit from Federal and state grants.

   The City Council has failed the residents of the City of Vero Beach miserably in providing 21st century leadership on this issue.

3. Nonsense! The City Council rightly decided to retain local control. We already have a Treasure Coast Planning Council to handle broader issues. Every city/county has representation on that Council. Caroline Ginn