Jim Culberson for Sebastian Inlet District, Seat 5

Above images taken at Florida's Famous Sebastian Inlet by Jim Culberson except for the shot of Jim with a redfish. Credit Tyler Foster for that one. A few pictures show work done by the Inlet District since 2004, some show a few of the fun activities that can be enjoyed there.

    For the last six years I have been privileged to serve more than 200,000 taxpayers as a commissioner on the board of the multi-county Sebastian Inlet Tax District.

    Be sure and get out to vote for the inlet commissioner of your choice (that would be me I hope) in the general election on November 2nd.

    Here are some of the District's more noteworthy accomplishments since I was elected in 2004.

    The Commission has cut the tax 68%. This has saved the District’s taxpayers more than $5 million over several years. How is this possible given the current state of the economy? Very carefully thought out budgeting is how. Here is a link to a draft of the 2010 budget. As you can see $10,500,000.00 of the budget are funds carried over. Every dollar is earmarked. Most is earmarked for projects either in the design stage, in the process of permitting or permitted that will soon be started. Today such projects are hugely expensive largely because of the permitting process. Other factors run up costs as well. For instance it costs more than a million dollars just to prepare and move a dredge into place so it can begin operating. Because it takes years to obtain permits the District is careful to allocate the needed funds years in advance. To not operate this way would cause the district to come up short when it came time to pay for a project. To give the reader a better idea of what's going on here's a link to some of the projects in the pipeline and a few that the District has completed. Basically we have managed to allocate sufficient funds to comply with all state and federal mandates and improve the Inlet and its environs while lowering taxes.

    The Commission settled, rather than appealed, an inverse condemnation lawsuit that had been filed against it in 1995 by some property owners South of the Sebastian Inlet. Although the plaintiffs won the case in 2003, before I was ever on the Commission, the matter hadn’t been settled completely by the time I was elected in 2004. After I was sworn in a settlement was worked out that saved the taxpayers over $400 thousand in direct costs. The District saved much more than that simply by not appealing (we would have lost on appeal).

    As a result of the lawsuit lost by the Sebastian Inlet District the state mandated that the District move 90,000 cubic yards of sand to the South of the Inlet every year. By partnering with Indian River County (which is South of the Sebastian Inlet) in their sector three beach renourishment project the District has saved the taxpayers over three million dollars. How? Because partnering gave the District more than 3 years worth of “sand credit” (298,000 cubic yards of sand) with the state and saved the District from spending over $4 million of hard-earned taxpayer money on engineering, mitigation, design and permitting costs.

    Without a doubt my most important accomplishment is that early in 2006 the District obtained the long sought after permits to dredge the Sebastian Inlet’s channel all the way to the Intra-Coastal Waterway. Permits to do this particular project had been sought by previous Inlet District Commissions for over 65 years. Once I was on board the Commission obtained the needed permits in a year and a half. During this project the District hand transplanted over 370 linear meters of sea grass as mitigation. Sea grass is some wonderful stuff. It is home for just about every kind of larval sea life you can imagine. Naturally since it is full of little fish the big fish hang out as well. If you’re a fisherman you know where I’m going with this. Not only did we improve habitat with this project, but we improved boating safety considerably and made the Inlet usable by larger boats by providing a 12 foot channel depth where it had been about 3 feet deep before the project. By clearly marking the channel and the sea grass beds we’ve reduced the number of boats by a huge percentage that had been cruising through the sea grass beds and tearing them up.

    Other mitigation the Commission did to meet state requirements on the channel completion project was to partner with Indian River County to make improvements on the Vero Main Relief Canal which drains land West of Vero into the Indian River Lagoon. All the agricultural and residential runoff that once ran unimpeded into the Indian River Lagoon now runs through a sophisticated filtering system that eliminates hundreds of tons of invasive aquatic vegetation and trash which would have otherwise continued flowing into the Lagoon. It has really helped clean up a good part of the Indian River Lagoon. Here’s a link to an article about the project.

    The Commission eliminated the fulltime lobbyist position. I’m told this saved the District way more than the $43 thousand we can document that he was paid yearly.

    Every year that I have been on the board the Commission has more than adequately met the stringent and extremely complex Truth In Millage (TRIM) requirements set forth by the state.

    The Commission has achieved a lot of goals since I've been on the board. There is still a lot to do though and I'm not one to quit before all the work is done. There is still the matter of the dog leg in the channel between markers 21 and 22 to straighten out. Permitting is underway for that project. A bed of sea grass prevented us from getting the permit to cut straight through there the first time. The permitting agencies are more amenable to working with us now since our sea grass transplanting projects have worked out so well.

    The sand trap needs to be improved and all the rock pinnacles ground out so that all that gets sucked up in a dredge is beach quality sand. Design and permitting are almost complete on that project.

    The L-dock on the Inlet's South side is the only place that rescue boats can currently dock to offload injured boaters for helicopter life-flight to hospitals. Currently the L-dock is flimsy and in need of repair. The permit to significantly improve the L-dock for fishermen, rescue operations and boaters has finally been approved.

    The tide pool is almost filled in after years of silt buildup. The permit to deepen the tide pool and add fish habitat while improving it for swimming and snorkeling has been approved.

    The channel from the boat launch on the Inlet's south side to the Inlet's main channel is in need of dredging and improved signage. This project is in the works.

    I worked two jobs to put myself through college and earned a BS in Marine Biology, graduating on the Dean's list in 1975 from Florida Institute of Technology. In 1978 I worked several jobs while I studied hard at Florida Atlantic University toward a Master's Degree in Coral Reef Ecology. I have fished my whole life. I have a natural affinity for the ocean and a love of sports associated with it. Boating is high on that list. I have owned several boats and have taken Coast Guard courses to be a certified operator of small craft. Boat owners love to lament that a boat is little more than a hole in the water into which they pour money, but face it, boats are great fun whether you sail, motor or paddle. Any boat owner who navigates the Sebastian Inlet will tell you that the channel is tricky, what with the tides, wind, waves and all. The condition of the channel prior to the channel completion project in 2007 only added to the difficulties navigating the Sebastian Inlet. As any boater who uses the Inlet knows there is still a dog-leg in the channel that the Inlet District should soon have the permits to correct.

    In 1992, after years of research, I wrote the definitive history of the Sebastian Inlet. This project began in this way. In 1989 I began helping the late Jack Forte with his quest for justice from the state regarding its unjust taking of Jack's business and property at the Sebastian Inlet. For 18 years Jack had tried, without success, to obtain a settlement from the state. I began to help Jack and opened up such a can of worms that the state sent its inspector general and the D.N.R. sent its chief legal counsel to Melbourne to meet with me at my home and see what I had. With the help of State Rep. Dixie Sansom and myself Jack got a settlement shortly thereafter. As a result of helping Jack I learned a lot about the Sebastian Inlet that no-one had ever uncovered before. This knowledge became my book.

     I have lived in Brevard County, Florida for 39 years. I married my wife, Jan, in South Melbourne Beach February 12, 1983. Although we have no children we have been blessed with friends who did and who have shared their joy in raising their children. Jan and I are prone to rescue dogs and give them a home. Jan and I have lived in the same home for the last 26 years. We use the same phone number I have had since 1980. We own two small businesses, Sea Bird Publishing, Inc. and J&J Graphics so we well understand how hard it is to make a go of it in the business world. This knowledge aided me in making decisions while on the Inlet District's Board of Commissioners.

    I have been a surfer since 1965 and a SCUBA diver since 1970. I have surfed, fished, boated in and SCUBA dived in and around the Sebastian Inlet for all of the 39 years I have lived in Brevard County. It is my favorite place for recreation on planet Earth. Everglades National Park runs a close second though. I understand how important the Sebastian Inlet is to the economy and ecology of the Indian and Banana River Lagoon system and want to do everything I can to see that the Inlet stays open, navigable and continues to provide this beautiful area with all the benefits that it has since it first opened back in 1923. Most importantly I want to try and increase public awareness of the operations of Sebastian Inlet Tax District and see that the District continues to operate in an efficient, above board and accountable fashion.

    I had the great privilege of serving on the Brevard County Historical Commission from 1992 to 2006 and on an advisory committee to Brevard County Parks and Recreation. I feel that I can still do some good as a member of the Sebastian Inlet District Commission and it would be the least I could do for such an important asset of the part of the world I call home. There is still a lot of work to be done to improve the Inlet that I want to see finished before I retire from the commission.

    If you want to help with my re-election campaign or have me talk to your group or homeowners association please call me at 321-727-0801 or email me by clicking here. I need to raise money for signs and other campaign items that will spread my message. Contributions will be gratefully accepted and wisely used. Please make your checks or money orders out to Campaign Account of Jim Culberson and mail them to me at 218 Ash St., Melbourne, FL 32904. I plan on doing some talks around Brevard and Indian River counties about the Sebastian Inlet's history. I promise that they are not dull talks. The Inlet's history is anything but dull. I will post the schedule on this site as soon as I know what it is. Thanks very much for reading this.

    I challenge my opponent to a face to face debate on the issues anytime, anywhere. I hope he accepts the challenge.

    Please vote for me in the November 2nd general election for Seat 5 on the Sebastian Inlet Tax District commission because honesty and integrity matter.

    Here's a link to my facebook page.

    Here's a link to myspace page.

    Here's a link to my youtube channel.

    (P.S Click Here to read a fishing story I wrote about The Inlet)

Pol. Adv. paid for and approved by Jim Culberson for Sebastian Inlet Tax District, Seat #5

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