VIERA, Fla. – Four days after a massive fish kill dominated their latest environmental troubles, Brevard County commissioners voted to spend an additional quarter-million tourism tax dollars on the Indian River Lagoon.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says like the ocean, red tide is in the lagoon, just south of Brevard and possibly north of the county too. In September, the commission voted to put a million dollars toward the lagoon from the 5-percent tourism tax.
"We're always working to improve the lagoon," Don Walker, with Brevard Emergency Management, said.
The county said all the tourism tax dollars are additional money on top of what the government is collecting from the 1/2 cent lagoon sales tax. It was estimated to bring in $30 million a year.
The county said it's done even better - it's brought in $40 million a year for cleanup projects.
"Instead of like $330 million over a 10-year period, we're looking at probably more than $440 million," Walker said.
Since last Friday, there have been no fish kills comparable to the thousands of fish that washed up on Cocoa Beach.
"Fish kills because of the algae buildup in the water are a reality so, you hope it's not going to be as vast," Walker said. "It's kind of disheartening because you're not used to seeing stuff like that."
Walker said test results will reveal if red tide remains in Brevard County. County officials said they are collecting new samples every week.