COLUMN: Kill the MSBU and this fatally-flawed beach restoration project

This Tuesday, the Okaloosa County Commission will vote on a proposal to award up to $415,000 in public money to restore five private beachfront properties in the declared emergency area on Destin’s Holiday Isle. I propose that the County Commission should at the same time kill the unneeded Destin and Okaloosa Island restoration projects and the contentious MSBU tax.

A November 2009 state-issued emergency order exposed the folly of planned beach restoration projects on much of Destin and all of Okaloosa Island. Restoration is needed, but only at five properties near the jetty. Florida Department of Environmental Protection documents show that nearly all beaches in our area naturally accrete, or build sand, in the absence of storms. The public beach of Okaloosa Island has about the same 300 feet of wide, white beach as recorded in the 1954 protective covenants. The Holiday Isle emergency area private beach properties naturally erode, with minor storms inflicting significant property damage.

The $12 million Okaloosa Island project and the $14 million Destin project have created strident dissent because funding for the restoration assesses many Okaloosa Island and Destin owners not needing sand with higher MSBU (municipal services benefit unit) taxes than those in the emergency area. Common sense and the law as well say these taxes should relate directly to benefits received.

Surprisingly, the emergency project is projected to cost only $8 per cubic yard while the much larger restoration project with favorable economies of scale, and funded with new MSBU taxes, is projected at over $15. This “finding” of public Tourist Development Council funds for an emergency project on private beach property mocks the need for an MSBU tax for public beach property, which was justified based upon insufficient TDC funds for restoration of Okaloosa County’s public beach.

Citizens have been misled on beach projects before. Patches of brown sand are still visible on Okaloosa Island. This project was performed with Federal Emergency Management Agency funding under TDC and County Commission oversight in 2006 and still detracts from the beautiful beach on Okaloosa Island. We protested and were told the sand would lighten over time. Instead, we live with brown-sand blues and a brown sand “benefit” that cost $45 per cubic yard.

History is repeating itself. The DEP questioned the quality of the proposed restoration sand. When DEP officials wrote to Okaloosa County, the proposed sand did not meet their minimum beach quality sand standards. The county simply upgraded the numbers. The sand is just as bad — but it’s labeled higher-grade in the paperwork.

Project permit documents state, “All laboratory testing shall be performed by a certified testing laboratory and all lab results shall be certified by a professional geologist.”

Once again, beachgoers and taxpayers will pay the price if restoration proceeds and inferior sand covers up Mother Nature’s bounty.

Commissioners have the power to halt their plans for beach restoration on areas of Destin that have plenty of beach and eliminate all restoration on Okaloosa Island. This would ensure a pristine white sand beach for much of Destin and all of Okaloosa Island. Lower-quality sand would be placed only where needed. Tourists and locals could continue to enjoy a world-class beach.

The commissioners could also end the steep legal fees, and thus higher taxes, that all Okaloosa County citizens pay as a result of forced projects on Destin and Okaloosa Island.

The mere existence of the emergency project, after two prior emergency projects in 2006 and 2008 for the same properties, lays bare the false benefit assumptions that are the foundation of the MSBU. County Commission deliberations regarding the recently completed East Pass dredge sand placement tell the same story. The emergency area gets the benefit, but areas harmed pay most of the tax.

The MSBU taxing formula is grossly unfair and flawed beyond repair.

Use of the west Destin and Okaloosa Island sand source for this emergency project will force Okaloosa County to take even more inferior grades of sand for the two main projects. This will only strengthen opposition to the project and the legal challenges.

It is time for the County Commission to seize this opportunity afforded by the emergency order, restore the emergency area, leave nature alone in the others, and eliminate the MSBU. Emergency area owners are receiving taxpayer money from the DEP, FEMA, the city of Destin and, through the proposed County Commission resolution, from all taxpayers of Okaloosa County. They should be willing to spend any shortfall to maintain their private back yards.

Rebecca Sherry lives on Okaloosa Island.