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.
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 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. 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. 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 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 has annual expenditures approximately $1.16 billion, exclusive of the municipalities. Real estate taxes for resident homeowners are less than 2% of the real value of the property. The total taxable real estate base was expected to be $37.9 billion in 2008. 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.
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 million more gallons 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.
Elected officials
County Commissioners:
District 1 - Robin Fisher
District 2 - Chuck Nelson
District 3 - Trudie Infantini
District 4 - Mary Bolin
District 5 -Andy Anderson
County Manager (appointed) - Stockton Whitten (Interim)The following are considered state officials but are elected and paid by the county:
Sheriff - J.R. "Jack" Parker
Clerk of the Courts - Scott Ellis
Property Appraiser - Jim Ford
Tax Collector - Lisa Cullen
Supervisor of Elections - Lori Scott
State Attorney - Norm Wolfinger
Public Defender - James F. RussoIn April 2007, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement seized documents from the office of the county appraiser in connection with an investigation into illegally re-appraising properties at lower values.
Brevard County lies within Florida's 24th congressional district which seat is held by Suzanne Kosmas and within Florida's 15th congressional district which seat is held by Bill Posey.
Justice system
Courts
The county has centralized most county and circuit courts in Viera which try a variety of cases including felonies, misdemeanors, traffic, and domestic. An elected States Attorney prosecutes cases for the public. Defendants can be represented through the auspices of the office of the elected Public Defender. The 18th Circuit Court includes Seminole as well as Brevard and covers not only the court itself but the prosecutor and the Public Defender.
The County elects a sheriff, immediately responsible to the courts but also to the state for the enforcement of state laws.
Police chiefs, appointed by their cities or towns, perform the same function locally. There is no overlap in jurisdictions.
Some volunteers work alongside paid professionals. Included are Citizens Offering Police Support (C.O.P.S.). C.O.P.S. volunteers work under the direction of the County Sheriff and play a part in the county's policing operations.
The county jail is a 1976 facility which rapidly became overcrowded. When voters consistently turned down expanding the jail, the sheriff solved the problem by the construction of a large but less expensive "hardened tent" to house non-violent offenders.
The county jail retains prisoners who have been sentenced to a year or less. Longer sentences must be served in state prisons, such as the facility in Sharpes for young men.
The Coast Guard, homeported at Port Canaveral, plays a significant role in preventing illegal immigration, and is the major interdictor of drugs in the area.
Brevard has a Drug Court to reduce the prison population resulting from drug issues. Drug Court programs adjudicate cases in which offenders are chronic substance abusers through an extensive supervision and treatment regimen. Drug Courts require offenders to acknowledge their problems with sub
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