SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. — Brevard County residents will get their first opportunity of the year Wednesday night to ask questions about how the revenue from a tax increase to help the ailing Indian River Lagoon is being spent.

  • "Lagoon Straight Talk" meetings in recent years have drawn hundreds
  • Lagoon restoration group members plan to talk about recent efforts
  • Satellite Beach mayor, city manager expected to speak Wednesday night

Each meeting in the series of open forums, called "Lagoon Straight Talks," has attracted hundreds of residents the past few years.

Members of the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition will be there to discuss the health of the lagoon and answer questions from the public.

MJ Waters says she spends about 20 to 30 hours a week volunteering as the coalition chair.

"There are plans for 1,600 septic tanks in Brevard County to be upgraded to be more efficient," she said Wednesday.

At the meeting, Dr. Duane De Freese, the executive director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, is expected to explain the 10-year process to bring more life back to the lagoon.

"We are just at the beginning of this effort. The water quality we see today, those improvements have largely been driven by drier weather. The weather has helped us get some recovery,” De Freese said.

But how much money is going into these projects?

"As the dollars come from the tax referendums, each year, about $48 million is available for projects, so this is a transformative and an investment made by Brevard County citizens," he said.

"We are starting in the third year of the lagoon restoration, and initially, there were about 140 projects going on, and with the last update that just happened, it's over 240 projects,” Waters said.

Voters in 2016 approved a half-cent sales tax hike to help restore the Indian River Lagoon. To date, 18 lagoon projects are complete with 64 more underway and many in the works.

Wednesday night's Lagoon Straight Talk takes place from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at Satellite High School in Satellite Beach. Satellite Beach Mayor Frank Catino and City Manager Courtney Baker are also scheduled to attend. Get free tickets here. If you can't attend, a video replay will be posted to the coalition's website in about a week.