Brevard County, FL
History
Brevard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population is 536,521. Influenced by the presence of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard County is also known as the Space Coast. As such it was designated with the area code 321 as in 3-2-1 blastoff.
The official county seat has been located in Titusville since 1894, although most of the county's administration is performed from Viera. Brevard County has more than one county courthouse and sheriff's office because of its elongated north-south county lines. Hence, government services are not centralized in one location, as they are in many American counties.
History
Humans have occupied the county for 12,000 years[2] and the Ais inhabited Brevard when the Spanish explorers discovered the area. Juan Ponce de León is said to have arrived in Florida at the shores of the future county in 1513.
The last naval battle of the American Revolutionary War was fought off the shores of Cape Canaveral in 1783, between the USS Alliance and the HMS Sybill.
"Mosquito County" was formed while the state was still a territory, and on some maps was absorbed into an unofficial "Leigh Read" county between 1839 and 1845. This eventually became three new counties one of which was "Saint Lucia County" on March 14, 1844 - it was renamed Brevard County in 1855 after Theodore Washington Brevard, who served as State Comptroller from 1854 to 1860.[4] In 1905 St. Lucie County was created from the southern third of the county.
In the 1800s, the Hernandez-Capron Trail passed through the county.
The first US President to visit this local area was President Grover Cleveland in 1888. His entourage made an excursion by steamboat called "Rockledge" on the Indian River from Titusville to Cocoa.
The oldest business still operating in 2009 is S. F. Travis Hardware which opened in Cocoa in 1885. The oldest black-owned business is Tucker's Cut-Rate Plumbing still operating in Melbourne.
In the early 1900s the Union Cypress Railroad was built from present day Lipscomb Rd and University Blvd west of Deer Park.
On Christmas Day 1951, Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore (founders of the local NAACP and Civil Rights activists) were slain by a bomb, well before the "Civil Rights Era. "Florida's Attorney General has offered a reward and established a hotline to solve the slaying.[8] The Brevard justice center is named after them as a memorial.
In 1964, the Colt 45s started spring training at Cocoa Stadium. The team later became the Houston Astros. The team left the county in 1985. They were succeeded by the Florida Marlins at Viera.
In 1989, county administration was moved to a government complex at Viera, as part of a mid-county development project that included a Baseball Spring Training complex at Space Coast Stadium, and a master-planned community, known as Viera.
In 1998, 120 wildfires burned 70,000 acres (280 km2) in the county, one of the worst years on record.
In 2008, wildfires burned 35 homes.
In 2008, Tropical Storm Fay dropped a record 21 inches (530 mm) of rain northwest of Melbourne. The storm caused widespread flooding in the south county area.In 2008, the county elected its first black county commissioner, Robin Fisher, who won based on the votes of whites, since there is no "black district."
Law and Government
Brevard county commissioners are elected by the public to establish ordinances and policies for the county. The Commission appoints a County Manager, who executes the will of the Commission. The county employed about 2,900 workers in 2009.
A centrally located County Government Center in Viera houses the various county government branches, including Housing and Human Services, Juvenile Justice, Public Safety, Public Works and Solid Waste Management. County and school board meetings are televised, and the public is present for all city and town council meetings.
The various cities, towns and villages of Brevard have varying reliance on services provided by the Brevard County government.
The Brevard County government had annual expenditures just over $1 billion in the fiscal year 2009-2010, exclusive of the municipalities. In 2009, real estate taxes for homesteaded property averaged .83% of the value of the property.
The total taxable real estate base was $33.7 billion in 2009. County taxes rose 26.5% in total per capita revenue from 2002-2007, and 49.8% in property tax per capita in the same time frame. Delinquent taxes were $36 million in 2008.
Solid waste management budgeted $33.4 million in fiscal year 2008/9 for
county waste, not including municipalities which contract separately.
Brevard County Cumulative Percent Growth since 1997
The ex officio Space Coast League of Cities suggests legislation to its representatives.
The Brevard Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is composed of senior locally elected municipal and county officials. This local multi-jurisdictional agency decides where federal and state road money will be used.
Various elected officials call unofficial "town meetings" to allow the public to express their concerns about issues that the officials should address.
The Brevard County Housing Authority acquires and leases housing projects; investigates housing conditions; determines where slums and unsafe housing exist and investigates conditions dangerous to the public. It is managed by citizens appointed by the county commission.
Brevard County has two unique election districts. One governs Port Canaveral; the other, the operation of the Sebastian Inlet Recreation Park.
The Canaveral Port Authority is an independent governmental agency created by the Florida Legislature. Five elected commissioners representing the five port regions are the governing body of Port Canaveral and have jurisdiction over all fiscal and regulatory policies and operations of the Port. The Authority sets policy and can levy taxes. They stopped levying an ad valorum tax on district residents, becoming only the second taxing authority in Florida to do so.
The county has hired a federal lobbyist to represent its interests.
Brevard expected to have 100,000-300,000 more people by 2020, an increase of 60%. This offers a challenge to local government to keep infrastructure ahead of growth, while preserving the environment.
Based on the mid-point of the growth estimates, if Brevard has 200,000 new residents by 2020, taxpayers will have to meet a list of new requirements, including: 400 more police officers and 362 more firefighters; 25 US gallons (95 l; 21 imp gal) million more per day of drinking water; 1,334 more teachers; 600 more jail beds. In 2009, the county expected to grow to 763,546 by 2030, a 42% increase.
The county got about $459 per resident in 2008 from the federal government. This ranks the metro among the bottom five metro areas that receive money based on population. This distribution is tied to income inequality.
Source: Wikipedia
Submitted by Barbara Ziegenmeyer