MSBU hangs in the balance as funding is figured out

FORT WALTON BEACH — Next year’s planned beach restoration project on Okaloosa Island and the western portion of Destin possibly could be funded without the approved Municipal Services Benefit Unit.

But a decision on the MSBU won’t be made until the final cost for the project is known.

Okaloosa County commissioners debated the issue for more than 90 minutes before they voted Tuesday to approve a resolution to allow the sale of revenue bonds to fund the beach restoration project. The resolution was approved by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner John Jannazo opposed.

The scope of the project was reduced earlier this month when the roughly 1.5 miles of eastern Destin were removed because the Florida Department of Environmental Protection deemed the beach was not critically eroded. With that portion of the project removed and the state’s nearly $8 million in funding unchanged, Jannazo said the funding plan can be revised.

“In my heart I think we can do this without the MSBU,” Jannazo said.

An MSBU charges a fee to the people who benefit directly from improvements in their area.
Jannazo also wasn’t happy with all of the changes made to the estimated cost of the project, which had the Tourist Development Council’s share of cost reduced more than the MSBU.

TDC representatives said the state and MSBU portions of the project were set numbers and the TDC’s portion was to cover the balance.
Commissioner Bill Roberts said he agreed with Jannazo that the project possibly could be fully funded without the need for an MSBU, but commissioners won’t know until they have final numbers. Roberts said the county needs to find out how much it must pay in debt service for the bonds and what the total cost of the project will be before making a decision on the MSBU.

Dozens of residents opposed to the beach restoration project attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak against the project as a whole and against the MSBU in particular.

Okaloosa Island resident David Sherry said the TDC would collect enough money with its 1-cent bed tax and the state’s contribution to fund the project without the MSBU or using any of the TDC’s reserves.

Roland Guidry, who lives at the Oceania condominium in Destin, asked commissioners to remove the nearly 575 feet of beach in front of his condo from the project, arguing that the beach was not critically eroded as the DEP had stated in 2006.
Commissioners plan to ask state Rep. Ray Sansom and state Sen. Don Gaetz to petition the DEP to complete another study to determine which beaches are critically eroded.