As Florida voters consider a dramatic cut to property taxes in this November鈥檚 election, they may overlook an unintended consequence of those savings: more mosquitoes.
Under the current proposal, mosquito control districts that depend solely on ad valorem taxes would see about a third of their budgets slashed, according to the Florida Mosquito Control Association. That would cripple the state鈥檚 15 independent mosquito control districts fighting on the frontlines of the state鈥檚 most infested counties, where seasonal rains bring vicious swarms. Those districts, the association says, also serve as hubs for mosquito intel across the state in county-run programs, which could also see cuts under the proposal.
鈥娾�濃�奙ost people don't think about mosquito control every day,鈥� said Sherry Burroughs, the association鈥檚 vice president. 鈥淏ut when it's absent, the community feels it very quickly.鈥�
The referendum first proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis provided an 鈥渙pening salvo鈥� of $250,000 in tax cuts on homesteaded property as the country celebrates its 250th birthday, with more to come. That would mean as many as 50 percent of homes in Broward would no longer be taxed, he said. To help offset losses, DeSantis proposed a state-run trust fund.
鈥淓very tax base is not the same,鈥� DeSantis said. 鈥淢iami, c鈥檓on. They鈥檝e got a massive tax base.鈥�
In South Florida, a patchwork of independent and county-run mosquito control programs operate across some of the worst mosquito zones surrounding the Everglades. The region, with its international travel and commerce, also often serves as a gateway to mosquito-born diseases in the U.S., from dengue to chikungunya. Over the years, the special districts, including one in Monroe County where $20 million is spent annually to fight mosquitoes, have helped bolster county programs.
鈥溾�奙osquito control is probably one of the most misunderstood government organizations in Florida because nobody really connects the dots between our impact on the economy or anything else,鈥� said Phil Goodman, a retired chemical industry executive who chairs the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District created more than 75 years ago.
鈥淣obody remembers when yellow fever and dengue fever and malaria were really rampant,鈥� he said. 鈥� Nobody remembers when our seaside communities were closed in the summertime because nobody wanted to come to Florida.鈥�
And with climate change raising temperatures and fueling more intense rainfalls, mosquito season is likely to expand, meaning diseases spread by mosquitoes will also likely increase. The World Health Organization says 80 percent of the world's population once considered only tropical.
Long before county programs, special mosquito control districts were established, beginning in the 1920s, when Florida pioneers were still digging ditches and toting around smudge pots filled with burning grass to ward off mosquitoes. Before then, mosquitoes ruled Florida. Most of the Atlantic coast, from what鈥檚 now Volusia County to Palm Beach, was part of Mosquito County until it was dissolved in the mid 1800s.
But after Miami suffered an outbreak of dengue fever that spread around the state, Goodman said, a Daytona Beach women鈥檚 group helped form the Florida Anti-Mosquito Association.
鈥娾�漈he chart was set then that mosquitoes were gonna be controlled in Florida,鈥� he said.
Lawmakers began funding local mosquito control districts, with the first established in Indian River County, in part because of the viscous swarms of mosquitoes emanating from the Indian River Lagoon. The creation of districts tended to follow the swarms.
鈥溾�奡ome were organized by the county, run by the county commission. Some were special taxing districts, like we have in the Florida Keys,鈥� Goodman said. 鈥淏y 1960, dengue fever, yellow fever [and] malaria were no longer endemic in the state of Florida. And this really opened up Florida for tourist travel.鈥�
Which can lead to a another problem: complacency.
鈥娾�滻've had people ask me, 鈥榃hy do we even have mosquito control in the Keys? We don't have any mosquitoes there,鈥�" Goodman said. 鈥淚 say, 鈥楾hank you very much.鈥欌��
In 2016, Miami-Dade County learned what scaling back mosquito control can do when Zika slammed the county. County officials had spent the previous decade chipping away at the county program after dodging Keys鈥� outbreaks of dengue and Chikungunya. By the time Zika arrived, the county mosquito staff was down to just 17.
Despite dire warnings that Miami could become ground zero for transmission, the county and took no special measures, operating on a budget of just $1.6 million. Eventually, two transmission zones developed, in Miami and Miami Beach, and led to 300 local cases. Statewide, 1,600 people were infected.
In the aftermath, the county on mosquito control to $16 million and hired an entomologist recognized for his work fighting mosquitoes.
Mosquito control today, Goodman said, is merely part of good infrastructure.
鈥娾�漃eople don't come here to see the marvels of mosquito control. They come to Florida for the natural beauty, the beaches, the resorts, the fishing,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut mosquito control is really a prerequisite before you would have any of that.鈥�
Advances in technology have also greatly changed how mosquito wars are fought. Rather than go after swarms once they hatch, programs now rely on surveillance and larvicide to kill the bugs first. The Keys district operates a fleet of five helicopters. Lee County鈥檚 mosquito control district, the state鈥檚 largest covering a territory of 1,200 square miles, operates both helicopters and drones.
鈥溾�奧e have entomologists. We have biologists. We have zoologists,鈥� Goodman said. 鈥娾�滻t's a pretty high-tech thing, but there's a real labor element as well.鈥�
Control measures changed drastically with improvements in larvicide, which may explain why dusk in the Lower Keys is no longer a swat fest.
Programs are also guided by law on how they operate, meaning certain thresholds have to be met to trigger control efforts, like spraying with trucks-mounted buffalo foggers or aerial treatments, Burroughs said.
鈥娾�漇ometimes residents don't even think that we were in their environment because they didn't see a plume, they didn't hear us,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e're using such a limited amount of pesticide that's utilized for effective control. And we're utilizing drone applications so we can have more precision on our treatments.鈥�
When it comes to the proposed tax cuts, Burroughs said, the association hopes to convince lawmakers to designate mosquito control as a core service, like firefighting and policing, to preserve funding.
The goal, she said, is 鈥渢o ensure the policymakers recognize that mosquito control is an essential public health infrastructure, and that they understand the unintended consequences that could occur without appropriate protections.鈥�
The wording on the referendum came into question this month when a newly formed nonprofit, Save Our Voters, filed a lawsuit in Leon County saying parts were misleading or unclear. The group argues that rather than be neutral, the ballot language endorsed 鈥渂enefits鈥� to taxpayers.
Goodman says he could care less about the politics.
鈥娾�滻f you stop mosquito control here in the Florida Keys for two weeks,鈥� he said, 鈥測ou would see what it was like in 1950. 鈥奜ne mosquito can produce tens of billions of mosquitoes in one season here in the Florida Keys. Just one mosquito, and we have a lot more than one.鈥�
