COMMENTARY
“The Council’s addlebrained decision to leave street maintenance underfunded by some $600,000 suggests an absence of courage in the face of hard choices.”
MARK SCHUMANN
Just this week, the Vero Beach Council demonstrated that it is, as a governing body, incapable of making prudent business decisions divorced from political considerations. By directing Water and Sewer Utility Director Rob Bolton and City Manager Jim O’Connor to develop a plan for moving the wastewater treatment plant off the waterfront to a site just east of the airport, the Council set in motion a $25 million boondoggle that may well prove unstoppable.
That’s right. The Vero Beach City Council, which does not have the courage to raise enough tax revenue to properly maintain city streets, appears to have no reservations about asking water and sewer customers to pay $25 million to clear city owned land for possible development.
While there would be an obvious aesthetic advantage to moving the city’s wastewater treatment plant off the waterfront, the financial paybacks are likely to be minimal. The supposed environmental benefits are simply non-existent.
Because all of the city’s effluents are pumped down a deep injection well, there are no discharges from the system into the Lagoon – none. Any claims that the city’s wastewater plant poses a threat to the Lagoon are arguments disconnected from reality.
Just as the water and sewer department retires debt in 2021, the Council, proving that expenses rise to meet income, would have ratepayers burdened with an additional $25 million in debt. One obvious alternative would be to lower rates in 2021. If a state mandate to convert septic tanks to sewer appears on the horizon, the City may sorely regret having squandered $25 million on a new wastewater plant.
What would the city propose to do with the “liberated” land along the Lagoon? Develop it into a park? On whose dime? After all, the city cannot even afford to properly maintain its streets. Or, are developers waiting in the wings ready to build on the land? If so, let them contribute the $25 million it will cost to build a new wastewater plant.
The current plant is working well, has sufficient capacity, and is no threat to the Lagoon. No responsible independent utility authority board would ask its customers to bear the $25 million cost of replacing a perfect good facility. Yet, that is exactly what the City Council proposes to do.
Having just tentatively adopted a 2014-15 budget that leaves street maintenance woefully underfunded, while at the same time increasing the city’s dysfunctional dependency on utility transfers to the general fund, it would appear about all at least three members of the Council are willing to run is for re-election. The Council’s addlebrained decision to leave street maintenance underfunded by some $600,000 suggests an absence of courage in the face of hard choices. This is an inevitable consequence of having two-year terms for Council members. As it now stands, there is never a year when at least two members of the Council seem more interested in appeasing voters than in doing the right thing.
About the wisest move the City Council could make would be to hand the responsibility for running Vero Electric over to an independent utility authority. To further remove political calculations from utility decision, the Council should consider turning over the water and sewer system as well.
Indian River Guardian 
I don’t recall the year but I very clearly recall that several years ago former City Manager John Little addressed the Vero Beach City Council on a varity of issues. John had retired as City Clerk of Fellsmere at that time. Those of us who knew John know that he was extremely knowledgeable on municipal services, their costs and benefits. One of the subjects John addressed that night was was the possible relocation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant. John very clearly explained that such a move was totally unnecessary and used the same reasons and more than Mark listed in his commentary. He did say that the only reason he could think of was to improve the view of the Indian River Lagoon’s west bank for the benefit of the residents of the barrier island as they came of what at that time was the 17th Street Bridge.