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In order to impose ad valorem taxes only against coastal property, the County would be required to establish a municipal service taxing unit or create a special district. Since ad valorem taxes imposed within a municipal service taxing unit must be included within an included municipality's ten (10) -mill limitation, each included municipality must approve creation of the unit by ordinance. Section 2.09 of the Vero Beach City Charter prohibits the City from expending tax dollars for this purpose, directly or indirectly, and may prohibit the City from approving creation of a municipal service taxing unit. Special districts also may impose ad valorem taxes. However, referenda would be required both to impose ad valorem taxes and to pledge them as security for bonds. In addition, if a dependent special district is created, the millage must be included within the County's ten (10) -trill limitation. In terms of equity, there may not be a direct relationship between taxable property value and the relative amount of storm protection benefit derived by any specific parcel of property. Special assessments are available as an alternative to ad valorem taxes. As established by case law, two requirements exist for the imposition of a valid special assessment: (1) the property assessed must derive a special benefit from the improvement or service provided and (2) the assessment must be fairly and reasonably apportioned among the properties that receive the special benefit. The storm protection element of the project clearly provides a special benefit to coastal property and the methodology used in this report to determine the storm protection benefit received by each parcel of property provides a sound basis for allocating the cost. No referendum is rcquired to impose special assessments or to pledge them as security for bonds, Recreational Benefit State grant funds will be available to defray a portion of the project cost attributable to recreational benefit. Funds derived from tourist development taxes and the local government infrastructure sales surtax are candidates to fund the