Brevard County commissioners will discuss on Tuesday whether to draft an ordinance for the November 2026 ballot that would ask voters to renew the half-cent sales tax currently funding the Save Our Indian River Lagoon program.
The SOIRL program funds projects to reduce pollution and improve water quality in the Indian River Lagoon, one of 28 federally-designated Estuaries of National Significance. Four of those nationally significant estuaries are located in Florida; the IRL is the only one on the state’s east coast.
The SOIRL program was created by voter referendum in 2016. Unless the program’s half-cent sales tax gets renewed, next year will be the last year it’s collected.
In all, across the SOIRL program’s 10-year lifespan, the sales tax is projected to have contributed some $586 million for lagoon restoration projects, or an average of $58.6 million a year. Those projects range in size and scope but are all ultimately designed to help the lagoon, usually by either removing existing pollution from the water or trying to stop new pollutants from getting in.
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Out of 412 projects planned by SOIRL to help the lagoon, 215 are either finished or in progress, according to the most recent progress report available. The program prioritizes projects that are expected to create “a recurring benefit” for the lagoon, according to SOIRL. It also makes grants available for individual homeowners, to help them upgrade septic systems and reduce wastewater pollution into the lagoon.
Ideas for projects to help the lagoon are evaluated by members of SOIRL’s citizen oversight committee, which meets monthly. The committee decides whether to recommend each project based on how much it’s expected to cost, plus the amount of pollution it will either remove or prevent from entering the lagoon. Once recommended by the committee, each project must then be approved by county commissioners.
The lagoon has come a long way since its first catastrophic "super bloom” of 2011, when high nutrient concentrations triggered lots of harmful algae to grow and, ultimately, suffocate much of the estuary’s flora and fauna. Last year, there weren’t many harmful algae blooms to speak of, according to an annual lagoon health report from the nonprofit Marine Resources Council.
Still, the lagoon is struggling and needs more help. An agenda item for Tuesday’s commission discussion reads: “Blooms and fishkills still occur and diminish local quality of life. More pollution reduction is needed to restore health to the lagoon and protect the economic engine that supports local jobs as well as recruitment and retention of our stellar workforce.”
If Brevard commissioners decide Tuesday they want to see SOIRL’s renewal on the ballot next year, staff will start working on the logistics in collaboration with the county’s municipalities. A public hearing would then follow in April or May of next year, ahead of when the question would appear on November’s ballot.
