COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Some of the most strident proponents of the sale of Vero Electric to Florida Power & Light, and surely some of the harshest critics of the City of Vero Beach, are residents within John’s Island, chief among them Town of Indian River Shores Mayor Brian Barefoot and Councilman Richard Haverland.  Barefoot and Haverland argue that if Vero Beach cannot offer electric rates competitive with FPL, the city should sell its utility.

Neither man, though, has much, if anything, to say about the high rates for re-use water charged by the John’s Island Water Management Company, which buys re-use water from the City of Vero Beach and then marks the water up some 300 percent before selling it to John’s Islanders for use irrigating their lawns. Despite the fact that customers of the John’s Island Water Management Company are paying some three times as much for re-use water as are customer of the County and the City of Vero Beach, no one in John’s Island, certainly not Barefoot of Haverland, is arguing their association should sell its re-use water company to another utility that could charge lower rates.

Haverland, who seems prepared to spend millions of dollars in taxpayer money to pursue legal action against Vero Beach, buys his water from city. And thank goodness he does, given how much water the Shores councilman consumes.  During the most recent billing cycle, Haverland paid $230.72 for power from Vero Electric, and another $373.88 for water and sewer service, having consumed 46,000 gallons of water.