Vero Beach Sewer Plant Relocation and Utility Rate Increases — Vero Beach, Florida

The City of Vero Beach treats its sewage at a plant on the mainland shore of the Indian River Lagoon, immediately south of the western end of the 17th Street Bridge. According to Vero Beach 32963 in July 2018, the current plant was built in 1977, designed for 4.5 million gallons per day, and replaced a 1958 plant rated at 2.2 million gallons a day. Earlier still, a 1920s plant and a World War II era Navy facility released treated wastewater into a relief canal.

For most of that history the 17th Street site emptied into the estuary. The same 2018 report states that the 1977 and 1958 plants discharged treated wastewater directly into the lagoon until 2010, when the Indian River Lagoon Act ended the practice and Vero Beach invested in a deep injection well at the airport that sends wastewater and brine from water treatment thousands of feet underground.

Three arguments for relocation run through the city record. In July 2026 Vero Beach 32963 described the lagoon-front location as exposed to storm damage and a pollution risk for the Indian River Lagoon. In September 2023 Mayor John Cotugno said the plant was past its useful life, as reported at the time. The third argument is land: in December 2023 the newspaper reported that keeping the plant would cost the city nearly half of the 35 acres needed for Three Corners at the west end of the 17th Street bridge.

The idea predates the current design by two decades. Vero Beach 32963 reported in July 2026 that discussions about moving the plant from the western end of the 17th Street Bridge began as early as 2006, and a September 2019 report noted that councils in 2011 and 2012 had already directed that it move. In July 2018 the Vero Beach City Council authorized Water and Sewer Director Rob Bolton to commission initial engineering for a plant on airport property the city already owned.

Two alternatives were tested along the way. Mayor Harry Howle told the council in July 2018 that talks about Indian River County taking Vero Beach wastewater had not produced a workable deal, and he set aside a privately owned utility because the city would lose control over service and rates. In December 2019 the county set conditions again: Vero Beach 32963 reported the county wanted the city to pay for extending lines and expanding county capacity, and to let customers in Indian River Shores and unincorporated areas switch to the county. At that time Vero Beach served about 6,800 wastewater customers in the city, 1,450 in the county and 1,900 in Indian River Shores.

The council kept talking with the county in December 2019 but voted to proceed with design plans for a new plant near the airport, then projected at $50 million. The 2019 council approved the location on city-owned land near the intersection of U.S. 1 and Aviation Boulevard, and in 2020 it approved the plan to replace the old plant, according to reports in July 2026 and December 2023. Refurbishing the 17th Street plant was priced at roughly 75 percent of the cost of a new one, but that option would have left the Three Corners riverfront tied up.

Vero Beach now calls the airport complex the One Water Campus, because it is meant to handle wastewater treatment, stormwater reclamation and drinking water purification on one site. Its price changed with nearly every public update. The 2019 design estimate was $50 million. A September 2022 Raftelis rate presentation to the Vero Beach Utilities Commission worked from $82 million. In September 2023 city documents put design and construction at approximately $132 million, and financing over 30 years was expected to bring the total near $250 million.

By July 2024 bond bid documents showed a best-guess cost of $156 million, nearly twice the starting point, and that number left out tearing down the 17th Street plant and any cleanup beneath it, according to Vero Beach 32963. In February 2025 the same newspaper reported that the projection for the move from the lagoon-front Three Corners property had jumped to $178 million, with a $150 million bond issue expected. City Manager Monte Falls said then that three options had been evaluated and that the airport plant offered the best treatment at the most economical cost.

The estimate settled near $164 million from mid 2025. In July 2025 Bolton told the council that the solar element of the project had been eliminated, since financing panels for 30 years to save a small amount on electricity made little sense once a federal subsidy looked unlikely (Vero Beach 32963, July 2025). As of July 2026, the $164 million budget broke down into $142 million for the water reclamation facility, $11.8 million in contingency, and $10.2 million for the administration building, maintenance bay and other site infrastructure.

State grants cover a growing share. In December 2023 Vero Beach was awarded $20 million from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Water Quality Improvement Program and $5 million through the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program. An $11.3 million lagoon program award followed in March 2025, and a $3.7 million FDEP grant in December 2025 raised state and federal grant money for the plant to $41.3 million, as reported in January 2026. On July 1, 2026 the city learned of a $25 million award from the Resilient Florida Program, which brought total grant funding for the Vero Beach plant to $66 million.

The balance is borrowed. On Dec. 9, 2025 the Vero Beach City Council approved a $55 million bond anticipation note from Raymond James at a fixed, tax-exempt 3.53 percent, a bridge loan covering roughly a third of the plant until permanent bonds are sold, according to Vero Beach 32963. Debt service on the airport plant is paid from water and sewer bills to the utility enterprise fund rather than from Vero Beach property taxes. In July 2026 the paper reported the city planned to seek $125 million in bonds in February 2027, including $25 million for upgrades at the existing drinking water plants aimed at PFAS, with interest adding $100 million or more over the life of the debt.

Work at Aviation Boulevard is visible. In July 2026 the first building on the One Water Campus, a 3,750-square-foot maintenance structure, was complete; the two-story, 11,115-square-foot administration building was due to start in August 2026, and a 4-million-gallon reclaimed water storage tank was scheduled for fall 2026. Bolton expected the One Water Campus to be completed by early 2028.

Demolition has started at the edges of the old site. On Dec. 1, 2025 a reclaimed water storage tank at the 17th Street plant, on the parcel south of the bridge, came down to clear room for the 10,000-square-foot Youth Sailing Foundation sailing center, as reported by Vero Beach 32963. The tank could go only after the city irrigation pipeline to John's Island went online that day, replacing reuse water the community had bought from Vero Beach Utilities.

The rest of the plant keeps running until the airport plant takes over. Bolton said in December 2025 that start-up was planned for January 2028, with full operation by summer 2028, after which the old plant can go offline. He had budgeted $1 million to remove the remaining tank, and City Manager Monte Falls said demolition would be folded into lease talks with the Three Corners developer. A September 2026 report noted that riverfront plans now keep the facade of the Big Blue power plant, while the Vero Beach sewer plant is slated for demolition.

The first increases tied to the plant date to 2022. A Raftelis study shown to the Vero Beach Utilities Commission in September 2022 projected a 63.2 percent increase for customers inside the city and 76.7 percent for Indian River Shores and south barrier island customers by October 2025, under a single rate plan for all customers. It was the first increase since 2010: rates rose 15 percent in January 2023, 18 percent in October 2023 and 18 percent in October 2024, moving the average 4,000-gallon Vero Beach bill from $51 to $82.

A second Raftelis study reached the council on June 23, 2026. It recommended raising drinking water rates 27 percent, wastewater charges 45 percent and reclaimed water 60 percent, phased over four years from October 2026, and the Vero Beach Utilities Commission endorsed it unanimously. The city notice of proposed increases also introduced a Readiness-to-Serve Charge for customers in the wastewater service area, set for a council meeting on Aug. 25, 2026 at Vero Beach City Hall, according to the Water and Sewer Administration page.

The council approved the schedule unanimously in late August 2026, as Vero Beach 32963 reported in September 2026. For the utility's 14,000 customers, the typical 4,000-gallon water and sewer bill rises from $83.84 to $94.92 in October 2026, a 13.2 percent step, then to $107.30 in 2028 and $122.45 by 2030. Indian River County Utilities charged $67.70 for the same 4,000 gallons in September 2026. Bolton said the 2029 and 2030 steps could be trimmed in 2028 if costs hold steady.

Higher revenue also enlarges the 6 percent utility transfer into the Vero Beach general fund. Indian River Shores Vice Mayor Bob Auwaerter told the council before the August 2026 vote that customers outside the city cannot vote for the council that sets rates; the town franchise binds Indian River Shores to the city water and sewer system until 2042. In August 2025 the Shores had already asked state leaders to curb surcharges on outside customers, as reported then.

Council membership (Mayor John E. Cotugno, Vice Mayor Taylor Dingle and Councilmembers Linda Moore, John Carroll and Aaron Vos) was checked on the City Council page, and Robert J. Bolton is listed as Director of Water and Sewer. Last verified: October 8, 2026, on the City of Vero Beach website, covb.org.