Sarah Heard has served on the Martin County Commission for 23 years and has lived in the county for 37 years. She is running for reelection to the District 4 seat. Heard said her core priorities, stopping overdevelopment, protecting clean water, and keeping taxes low, have remained largely unchanged since she first ran for office.
New Growth Pressures Since the Pandemic
Heard said Martin County has seen a significant wave of new residents since the pandemic, which she said has created a need to help newer residents understand the county’s approach to managing growth, protecting water quality, maintaining roads, and funding public safety.
The Property Tax Referendum
Heard said she plans to vote against a statewide property tax referendum on the November ballot, citing concerns about its effect on county revenue. She said Martin County relies heavily on residential property taxes, particularly from homesteaded properties, and that county estimates project the impact would grow substantially over the first several years if the measure passes, with a large share of the county’s budget tied to funding public safety.
Responsible Growth & the Comprehensive Plan
Heard said Martin County’s comprehensive plan, in effect since 1982, governs where and how growth is allowed, including the pace of development and the services required to support it. She said the plan can be amended by a majority vote of the commission, but that following its existing framework is what allows the county to manage growth responsibly.
Affordable Housing & Live Local Act Developments
Heard said the county generally responds to development applications rather than initiating housing projects itself, working in partnership with federal and state agencies, Habitat for Humanity, and a county land trust that evaluates surplus county-owned land for potential affordable housing use.
She also discussed the effect of Florida’s Live Local Act, which allows certain affordable housing developments to bypass local commission approval and move forward administratively. She said several Live Local applications are currently underway or under construction in District 4, including a project called Baron’s Landing on the site of a former golf course, and said she believes local governments should push back against what she described as the erosion of home rule authority over local land use decisions.
Decades of Water Quality and Everglades Restoration Work
Heard said her involvement in water quality issues began in 1998, following a period of severe fish kills and lesions in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon tied to large-scale discharges from Lake Okeechobee. She said that period contributed to the passage of the Everglades Forever Act in 2000 and, later, federal authorization of the Indian River Lagoon South restoration program in 2007, a joint state and federal effort focused specifically on water quality in Martin County…