BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – After two drownings this week, a Brevard commissioner says he’d be willing to raise taxes to put lifeguards on every beach in the county.
The reality on most of the Brevard County coastline is there aren’t lifeguards to save someone in an emergency.
Lifeguards year-round are only working at six of the busiest beaches.
Tuesday, Cocoa Beach said a man and a woman from different states drowned almost a mile away from the nearest lifeguard tower at Coconuts on The Beach.
The county told your Cocoa Beach Community Correspondent, James Sparvero, that the victims were the second and third people to drown in a rip current just this year.
The first person who died was also swimming where there wasn’t a lifeguard.
Sparvero asked County Commissioner Thad Altman what it would take to put lifeguards on every beach in the county.
“It would be a significant budget increase,” Altman answered.
The commissioner said tourists now help pay lifeguards through the tourism tax the county collects while they spend money during their stay.
It’s not enough, though, to put lifeguards everywhere someone’s swimming.
That money would have to come from residents.
Sparvero asked Altman if increasing the budget would have to be done with a tax increase.
[WATCH: Why rip currents at the beaches are dangerous and how to escape one]
“It would be, and I would be for increasing the budget,” Altman answered. “I think it’s important that we provide as much safety as possible.”
Right now, the county’s trying to hire 45 new lifeguards, but that’s just to cover a shortage.
Stick with News 6 and ClickOrlando.com to learn if Altman plans on bringing any proposal before the commission about staffing more lifeguards on beaches and what it would cost.