Sebastian Election Results: UPDATE 8:33 p.m.

County Commission advances Children’s Trust Referendum

Indian River County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to advance a tax referendum aimed at improving children's services in the county.  Commissioners plan to ask voters in November 2022  to approve a ballot measure increasing property taxes to fund the Children's Trust.  But first they want to persuade five cities to go along and draft an ordinance establishing the framework for the new special district that would go to public hearing.   The issue had been scheduled for the November 2020 election ballot, but commissioners decided to hold off for two years amidst the economic crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. County attorney Dylan Reingold will bring a draft ordinance before the commission later this year that's expected to ask voters to ...

Judge: Voters will decide school tax referendum Aug. 18, not Nov. 3

Indian River County’s school tax referendum will be held during the Aug. 18 primary election after the School Board prevailed over the County Commission in a legal battle. County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to direct the Supervisor of Elections to place the school tax referendum on the Aug. 18 primary election ballot as ordered by Wednesday state Judge Janet Croom. The commissioners voted on the resolution without commenting during their emergency special meeting and no one from the public spoke. The meeting lasted about three minutes. Croom ruled state law gives the School Board the authority to direct the County Commission to call an election for a certain date and “the commissioners have no discretion to choose a different date.” ...

Harbor Branch scientist gets lagoon monitoring grant

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute's network of Indian River Lagoon water quality monitoring stations is about to expand and generate more data than ever before – thanks to a grant of more than $865,000 from the institute's fundraising foundation. According to Dr. Dennis Hanisak, a research professor and director of the Indian River Lagoon Observatory, the grant will fund construction and maintenance of three new LOBO stations in Brevard County to augment the 10 already dotting the lagoon between the St. Lucie Estuary and Sebastian Inlet. The stations produce real-time info on factors that influence lagoon health, such as salinity, temperature, depth, turbidity and dissolved oxygen. The grant will also pay for new sensors at existing stations that, for the first ...