The Lagoon and the Arts, Eliminating Property Taxes?? and more...
- IRNA
- Sep 27
- 8 min read
September 27, 2025 Weekly Newsletter
When Ballet Meets Manatees:
Art Makes Environmental Stories Stick
The most powerful environmental messages don't always come from scientific reports. Sometimes they come from stages where manatees dance and ancient waters tell their own stories.
The Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program recently highlighted two remarkable examples of this kind of creative conservation in their podcast "One Lagoon, One Voice." In a short interview, two artists proved that when it comes to environmental awareness, showing beats telling every time.
Dancing for the Lagoon
Adam Schnell of Vero Beach Ballet reimagined The Nutcracker by replacing its traditional second act with Indian River Lagoon wildlife. Spanish dancers became clacking land crabs, manatees took center stage, and holiday audiences left as potential environmentalists, without a single lecture.
"People don't want to be told," Schnell observed. "They want to be shown and come to conclusions on their own." His approach works so well because it makes the lagoon personal. Audience members can literally step outside after the show and see these animals in their backyard.
Giving Voice to Water
Daniel Flick and his Rollins College students created "Indian River Lagoon Estuary in Concert," where the lagoon itself narrates its story from geological birth through human impact. Students took boat trips, got their feet wet, and translated emotional connection into original music and spoken word.
The power became clear during their first performance when the audience fell into what Flick called a "collective exhale," that moment of silence before applause that signals deep connection.
Beyond Entertainment
Both productions create something traditional environmental education often misses: lasting emotional memories. When families drive past the lagoon after seeing dancing manatees, they're not just seeing some fish in the water, they're remembering wonder.
No one is arguing we replace all the science with feel-good performances. But we need to recognize that humans are sometimes moved more by story, emotion, and beauty than data and research. The most sophisticated statistics mean nothing if they don't connect with a person's lived experiences.
These artistic approaches create "entry points" for people who might never attend environmental lectures. As Flick noted, "Music and the arts is almost never about music and the arts. It's always about something else." In this case, it's about helping communities see their waters as living characters and worthy of protection.
The Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program deserves recognition for highlighting this important connection between creativity and conservation. Their platform shows that effective environmental communication needs diverse voices, including those that sing, dance, and dream.
Sometimes the best way to save a lagoon is to help people fall in love with it first. And art has been helping humans fall in love for centuries.
To hear the complete conversation, listen to "One Lagoon, One Voice" wherever you find podcasts, or visit OneLagoon.org.
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What No Property Taxes
Might Mean for Indian River County
The Florida legislature is talking about potentially getting rid of property taxes. That sounds great on the surface... but before you celebrate, you have to ask what services you're willing to lose.
Because for Indian River County, we're talking about a potential loss of over $405 million in local funding. That's the combined annual property tax revenue that our county government, our school district, and our local municipalities rely on to operate.
How would that money be replaced? And what would it cost you?
The Proposal: A Massive Sales Tax Hike
One of the state's potential plans involves dramatically increasing sales taxes. Current proposals suggest Florida's sales tax would need to jump to around 12%. With Indian River County's optional 1% local tax, you'd be looking at a 13% sales tax on everything you buy, from cars, to TVs, to online purchases.
A 13% sales tax hits every single purchase. This shift would also eliminate all property tax exemptions, meaning the Homestead Exemption for all 50,073 homesteaded properties in our county would be gone overnight.
A Shift in the Tax Burden: From Property Owners to All Consumers
This proposal doesn't just change how we are taxed; it fundamentally changes who carries the most weight.
For the many lower and middle-class families in Indian River County who spend nearly every penny earned just to live, a 13% sales tax on all goods is a significant hardship. It makes it even harder to save for a future home, college, or other life events. According to the latest U.S. Census data, roughly half of all households in our county earn less than the median income of $79,849, and for them, this new tax on daily necessities represents a direct financial blow.
Currently, our property tax system has a degree of fairness built in. A large portion of the revenues that pay for our services comes from the higher income residents, as they own higher-value homes. Furthermore, of the nearly 95,000 properties in the county, over 44,500 are non-homesteaded. This means a substantial share of the tax burden for our Sheriff's office, schools, and fire rescue is paid by owners of second homes, rental properties, vacation properties, and commercial rentals, not by the average working family.
Eliminating property taxes would amount to a massive tax cut for corporations and owners of higher value and secondary homes, while asking renters, seniors, and working families to make up the difference every time they buy necessities.
The Local Impact: A $405 Million Hole for Essential Services
Where does our property tax money actually go? Eliminating it would remove the critical revenue that funds the services we depend on every day:
Indian River County Government would lose $186 million. This funds the Sheriff's Office ($91 million budget), Fire Rescue ($45.3 million levy), lagoon restoration, libraries, parks, and more.
The Indian River County School District would lose $191 million. This funding is a primary reason our schools have climbed to top ten in state rankings. Notably, $91 million of that comes directly from homesteaded properties.
Our Municipalities would lose a combined $28.30 million. This is revenue for cities like Vero Beach, Sebastian, and Fellsmere to use for local police, parks, road maintenance, and community services.
Even with replacement revenue from a new sales tax, how much are you willing to cut from fire response times? Sheriff's patrols? School programs? Environmental protection? The funding likely won't fully match what's lost, especially during an economic downturn in the future, when people stop buying so much.
Less Stable Funding and Zero Local Control
This shift would make funding far less predictable. Property taxes provide steady, reliable revenue, while sales tax income fluctuates wildly with the economy, forcing deep cuts to services when communities need them most.
Perhaps more importantly, this change would end local control. Currently, our county commissioners and city council members set tax rates in public hearings where you have a voice. Under a state-run sales tax system, those decisions would be made by legislators in Tallahassee who don't necessarily understand or prioritize Indian River County's specific needs.
The Real Choice
You'd still pay for police, fire, and schools, just through potentially higher costs every time you shop instead of an annual property tax bill. The question is whether you'd save money with that switch, and whether you're comfortable with Tallahassee controlling the funding decisions our local officials currently make for Indian River County.
This is likely to come up in the next legislative session, and depending on what the state does, it could have a huge impact in your life! We'll keep you updated on this and more right here.
If you would like a deeper dive into why replacing property taxes with sales taxes is not a good idea, check out this study from the Florida Policy Institute. The above numbers were from the same source on this page. More resources for a deeper dive are available in this Axios article.
Turning trash into treasure (Hometown News) - Nopetro Energy has opened a new facility near the Indian River County landfill to convert captured methane gas into renewable natural gas, which will be injected into Florida City Gas's pipeline to provide cleaner fuel for local communities.
Vero Beach 3 Corners could rock; devil in evolving details | Opinion (TC Palm) - Larry Reisman questions whether the new partnership of developers for Vero Beach's Three Corners project, which now has an estimated cost of $325.4 million—a $76 million increase—is too complex and if the city can negotiate a contract that protects taxpayers from potential risks.
Vero Beach found by American, top airlines. St Lucie slacks? | Opinion (TC Palm) - Larry Reisman comments on the influx of three commercial airlines to Vero Beach Regional Airport and questions the impact on the small, single-gate facility, including the potential for paid parking to be implemented due to high demand.
Hurricane Milton killed new mangroves planted at Port St. Lucie resort (TC Palm) - The replanting of mangroves at the Sandpiper Bay Resort, which were illegally cleared, is progressing, although the project was set back by damage from tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Milton.
County Plans to Turn Old Sebastian Inlet Bridge Debris Into Artificial Reefs (Sebastian Daily) - Indian River County plans to use 3,500 tons of debris from the demolition of the old Sebastian Inlet Bridge to create new artificial reefs, which will enhance marine life, support local fisheries, and provide new recreational opportunities.
Protecting Paradise: Your Voice Matters in Land Conservation
Indian River County wants local residents to directly impact environmental protection. You can learn more through a hands-on training session on October 8th! The "Learn to Nominate for Conservation" workshop teaches community members how to identify and nominate ecologically sensitive properties for protection through the County's Environmental Lands Program.
The free session runs 5:30-6:30 PM at the Intergenerational Recreation Center and focuses on the Environmental Lands Dashboard - an online tool that lets users explore, evaluate, and nominate critical lands for conservation. Whether you're concerned about wetlands, wildlife corridors, or unique habitats, this training gives you the practical skills to make your environmental advocacy count.
Pre-registration is recommended but not required. It's a simple way for residents to become active stewards of the natural spaces that make Indian River County special.
Details: October 8, 5:30-6:30 PM, IG Recreation Center, 1590 9th Street SW.
Visit www.indianriver.gov/conservation for more information.
Is Lake Okeechobee the dirtiest lake in America? (VoteWater.org) - According to a study by the rental company Lake.com, Lake Okeechobee is the nation's dirtiest lake due to high levels of lead, phosphorus, nitrogen, and high turbidity, highlighting the ineffectiveness of current pollution reduction plans.
Indian River Transit wins top Florida transportation awards (Sebastian Daily) - Indian River Transit's GoLine public transit system was named Outstanding System of the Year by the Florida Public Transportation Association, which also recognized paratransit driver Rosemary Millar as Operator of the Year.
VoteWater joins effort to repeal new development law (VoteWater.org) - A coalition of 38 Florida conservation organizations, including VoteWater, is urging the state legislature to repeal parts of Senate Bill 180, which they claim unconstitutionally restricts local governments from creating more stringent land-use and environmental protections.
Green sea turtles set nesting record in Florida’s Indian River County (Sebastian Daily) - Indian River County's green sea turtles have set a new nesting record with 4,515 nests counted as of mid-September, contributing to a total of 11,295 nests for all species and highlighting the success of ongoing conservation efforts.
Sebastian Council Approves Property Tax Increase (Sebastian Daily) - The Sebastian City Council voted to increase the property tax millage rate to 3.445 to ensure the city's financial stability and avoid using reserves to fund ongoing expenses.
Want your voice to be heard? Use this link to easily contact elected officials—from your city council to the President. Your voice can make a real impact. While the IRNA may occasionally prompt you to contact specific officials about urgent issues, we keep this list handy for your convenience. Can't find who you're looking for? Just let us know; we're here to help connect you with the right people.
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