Editor’s note: Early next week, a print edition of InsideVero will be mailed to 11,000 addresses within the City of Vero Beach. All five City Council candidates were invited to submit guest commentary, and to respond to 12 questions. Candidates Laura Moss and Harry Howle declined to submit a column, or to respond to questions. Moss and Howle both did, however, submit commentary for a local blog. Below are excerpts from the columns Moss and Howle wrote.
LAURA MOSS
“With regard to the OUC contract, it was passed in 2008 by the then-Vero Beach City Council. Soon after it passed, changing general, economic conditions as well as changing conditions within the energy sector rendered it a bad deal. It remains so today. As Member-at-Large of the Utilities Commission, I currently am reviewing this contract as it is being renegotiated; however, these negotiations have been underway for more than a year and still remain problematic.”
“The city’s tax increase comes at the same time that Indian River County and other taxing authorities such as Hospital District also have raised their tax rates for the coming year.”
“The additional $1.1 million tax revenue for the City, resulting from this tax increase, largely will fund the addition of new employees to its payroll and an increase in salary and benefits for existing employees. Given the current context, general and local, I would not have pursued these actions.”
HARRY HOWLE
“I’m running on a platform to lower taxes by cutting spending and bringing fiscal responsibility and accountability back to the taxpayers of Vero Beach.”
“If that means going to war with the FMPA and the OUC, I’m ready to explore and implement the legal and legislative avenues necessary to sell the system and reduce rates into perpetuity.”
“I’ll push to join the lawsuits to stop All Aboard Florida; or file our own lawsuits in concert with the County.”
“Our Lagoon is an issue that needs the consultation of industry experts. We need the correct, fiscally responsible measures to start to rehabilitate it. We can’t implement expensive fixes because they sound good. We need strong, data driven answers that have worked elsewhere. If we spend millions of dollars on a remedy, it must be the right one. I’ll search for solutions by empowering the right unbiased professionals to deliver results to our City.”
Indian River Guardian 
Stunning nonsense from both of these would-be council members. A gentle reminder to Laura Moss as a member of the Utilities Commission she had the opportunity to revise the 2008 OUC contract she called ,”a bad deal”; she did not, and voted “NO” to any revisions. Totally illogical . As for Mr Howle,he has stated over and over again every budget can be cut every year. He should then explain why the county budget went up,why the school board budget went up, and how he hopes to lower rising fixed costs. Answer ,He can’t !
Perhaps Mr Howle would like to cut services to the bone. If he did that Vero would cease to be the high class city it is. There are reasons why people flock to Vero, Those reasons are our first class services provided by the city, by our loyal ,hard working employees and managers. These serviices cost money which I willing pay. He also fails to mention our very low tax rate .We must not allow him to hack away at our services. I didn’t hear Howle complain about increased police protection or the hiring of an additional lifeguard. Last year and again this year in his attempt at gaining a council seat he has neglected to tell us how he would keep Vero, Vero.
Frank, Harry is just using talking points given to him by his high-priced, Tallahassee-based political consultants. Harry’s truly for fiscal responsibility the way Donald Trump is for traditional marriage. Trump, of course, knows about traditional marriages. He has and four of them – so far.
Moss mentions in her column that she is aware the contract negotiations with the OUC were begun more than a year ago; but it is not exactly as if she has been there every step of the way. Moss was appointed, not elected as she claims, to the Utilities Commission in early 2015. She attended meetings in March, April, June, August, as well as the October joint UC/FC meetings.
With the exception of the Shores representative, ALL of her fellow Utilities Commission members who have had years of volunteer service on city commissions, as well as Finance Commission members, have been involved in reviewing the progress of the OUC negotiations for more than a year. Those commissioners unanimously recommended signing the amended OUC contract.