Collier County considers dredging to fight beach erosion

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Siesta Key in Sarasota is ranked the best beach in the nation. Photo via Flickr by Mike Miller. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

NAPLES, Fla. Collier County officials are considering using dredging to fight beach erosion, but doing so will cost more than the current method of using trucks to haul sand.

“It’s always going to cost more to dredge, but it’s always going to last longer,” Naples city councilman Reg Buxton said.

While some suggest increasing the county’s tourist development tax from four cents to five cents could help pay for the dredging, Collier Count Commissioner William McDaniel Jr. has bigger ideas.

“There will not be a detraction from our beach renourishment efforts that we’ve ever had,” he said. “Going forward, they should only get better.”

McDaniel said is working to build a coalition of leaders to find ways to pay for future expensive beach projects.

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