COMMENTARY
“…one has to wonder when Solari, Davis, Flescher and Zorc will stop poaching on the City of Vero Beach. It is time for local leaders to begin working together, rather than against each other.”
MARK SCHUMANN
By a 4-1 vote, the Indian River County Commission last week approved Commissioner Bob Solari’s proposal to forgo $200,000 in rate equalization charges the County has long collected from it water and sewer customers in the City of Sebastian, the Town of Orchid and in the Baytree subdivision in the Town of Indian River Shores. This money helps pay for services for all county residents.
Solari’s $200,000 give-away, which will ultimately lead to cuts in services or a county-wide property tax increase, is either an grand act of largesse or a carefully calculated, but ill conceived, effort to force the City of Vero Beach to stop collecting some $350,000 in similar fees from its water and sewer customers in Indian River Shores, on the south barrier island and in unincorporated areas on the mainland.
Solari, who said he was not been approached by Sebastian leaders with a request to eliminate the equalization charge, contends the County’s assessment of what he believes amounts to a franchise fee is not appropriate in incorporates areas.
By adopting Solari’s proposal, which goes into effect in October, the County Commission is essentially creating three separate classes of ratepayers. Water and sewer customers in the unincorporated areas will continue to be charged a 6 percent fee on top of their regular bills. Customers in Sebastian, where the city charges a 10 percent utility tax, will not pay a 6 percent fee to the County, while those in the Town of Orchid and in the Baytree subdivision in Indian River Shores, where the municipalities do not charge a utility tax, will no longer pay an equalization charge to the County.
Sound complicated? It is. Commissioner Peter O’Bryan contends the 10 percent utility tax assessed by the City of Sebastian is between the city leaders and their residents and should not be a factor in the County’s decisions. Presumably, if Sebastian residents were not paying a 10 percent utility tax to their city, the money would have to be raised through higher property taxes. Either that, property taxes would have to be increased or city services in Sebastian would have to be cut.
Because the Town of Orchid and the Town Indian River Shores do not assess a utility tax, the County’s water and sewer customers in these areas will make out best. For example, a customer in the unincorporated area using 6,000 gallons per month will pay $61.41 a month, while a customer in the Town of Orchid or in Baytree will pay just $56.60.
To add insult to injury for water and sewer customers in the unincorporated areas, they will also share in any countywide tax increase assessed to make up for the budget shortfall resulting from the soon-to-be discontinued equalization charge. “Basically, we are providing a tax break to Sebastian residents that will be subsidized by all county taxpayers,” O’Bryan said.
Solair maintains his proposal, approved by fellow Commissioner’s Wesley Davis, Joe Flescher and Tim Zorc, was motivated by a concern for water and sewer customers in Sebastian. O’Bryan counters that Sebastian’s decision to charge a utility tax should not drive the County’s decision, and it certainly should not lead to the creation of several classes of water and sewer customers.
Some are hard pressed to believe Solari’s plan is not motivated, at least in part, by a desire to force the City of Vero Beach to forgo some $420,000 in fees it charges out-of-city water and sewer customers. If that was Solari’s objective, his plan may well backfire.
According to City Manager Jim O’Connor, the City’s agreement with the Town of Indian River Shores calls for the City to assess County water and sewer rates, plus any County fees. O’Connor said that as long as the County continues to assess a 6 percent charge in lieu of a franchise fee on its customers in the unincorporated areas, the City will maintain its 6 percent charge on water and sewer customers in Indian River Shores and in the unincorporated areas it serves, including the south barrier island.
It is no secret Solari has his eyes on the City’s water and sewer system. The County’s system is overbuilt and would very much benefit form the City’s 17,000 customers. Two years ago, Solari and other County leaders unsuccessfully attempted to wrest from the City its Indian River Shores customers. More recently, Solari has pushed for the County to take on water and sewer service to the south barrier island. He has been thwarted in this effort by the existence of a permanent service territory agreement between the City and the County. That agreement was reached back to the mid-1980s, long before the County had the capacity to serve the south barrier island.
Solari does have his supporters and allies, chief among them utility activist, Glenn Heran and the barrier island weekly. When, for example, the Indian River Shores Town Council elected to stay with the City’s water and sewer service a Vero Beach 32963 editorial lamented the loss of what its editors saw as an opportunity to force the City to sell its water and sewer system to the County.
As a final step in forcing the City to surrender some $420,000 in revenue, the County Commission would have to do away with the 6 percent assessment it now charges water and sewer customers in the unincorporated areas. That move would cost the County $1.3 million, and would surely lead to higher property taxes for everyone.
Even the loss of $200,000 in equalization charges will be “significant,” according to County Administrator Joe Baird. Baird said the lost revenue will have to be made up in further spending cuts or a tax increase.
One has to wonder where the Taxpayers’ Association was when Solari’s plan was hatched and then approved. Giving residents in Sebastian and the Town of Orchid what amounts to a $200,000 tax break that will have to be offset by a tax increase on all county residents hardly seems fair.
More broadly, one has to wonder when Solari, Davis, Flescher and Zorc will stop poaching on the City of Vero Beach. It is time for local leaders to begin working together, rather than against each other.
Indian River Guardian 
Mark–.” It is time for local leaders to begin working together, rather than against each other.”
What a novel idea! Wonder why no one has thought of this before?
I find it hard to believe that out of 5 Commissioners, Peter O’Bryan stands alone, maintaining certain principles we supposedly have adhered to since the beginning of this Country–freedom from the chicanery of “ruling bodies”……well, that’s one of MY beliefs. This is so embarrassing. I wonder what the rest of the Nation would think of this kind of behavior? Well, some of them are probably just as bad, but I suspect the majority would be shaking their heads and saying something like, “Well, after all, it is Florida. And we know little fish often go to Florida to become big fish in a little pond. Power goes to their heads, and greed is right there too.”
This is politics folks, just politics and the ones that suffer are the low information voters that continue to vote for candidates who espouse this kind of chicanery. This is a back door approach to painting Peter O”Bryan into a box as being the only commissioner who does not want to give relief to the citizens of Sebastian and, voila, in slides Glenn Heran into his seat in the next election. Just guessing..
Anybody who is a voter in the City of Vero Beach and votes for Solari is a sap.
Mr Solari is at it again . His behind the scenes manipulation of the electric sale, water and sewer sale is rearing its ugly head once more. Since taking office he has done everything in his power to get the city of Vero Beach to become insolvent and susceptible to county raiders. His goal is to become the all powerful politician who calls the tune thru his minions . He is the breeder of manufactoring discontent in Indian River County and Vero Beach. He loves to operate out of public view.