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Brevard commissioners back water-control district request to remove user-fee caps in local bill
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution supporting the Melbourne Tillman Water Control District's request that the legislature amend local law to remove caps on district user fees and allow a 10% annual budget increase with CPI adjustment; district leaders said the change is needed to maintain drainage infrastructure.
The Brevard County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously on Sept. 16 to support a local bill requested by the Melbourne Tillman Water Control District seeking to remove statutory caps on district user fees and to permit defined annual increases.
Commissioner Altman read a resolution into the record that asked the Florida Legislature to amend the relevant local act (quoted in the resolution as “Florida statute 2,001 dash 3 3 6, laws of Florida”) to remove caps on user fees while leaving the county's budget-approval role intact and capping annual budget increases at 10 percent with an annual consumer price index adjustment tied to South Region U.S. Department of Labor data.
District leaders told the board the district was established in 1922 and maintains major water-control infrastructure across portions of unincorporated Brevard County, Palm Bay and West Melbourne. Phil Weinberg, president of the district board, thanked the commissioners and said, “We feel that this bill is critical for the district, in order for us to continue, serving, the residents of our district to help prevent flooding as we've done for the last hundred and 3 years.”
Board action: Commissioner Altman moved the resolution; Commissioner Atkinson seconded. The clerk called the roll and the vote was recorded as 5-0 in favor.
Why it matters: The resolution directs the county to support a local bill that would change how the district collects and indexes fees used to fund drainage and flood-control maintenance. District officials said the flexibility is needed to meet maintenance demands and avoid infrastructure failure that could harm nearby communities.
Ending: District representatives said they plan to present the proposal to the Brevard legislative delegation at its Sept. 30 meeting; the county's recorded 5-0 vote signals official local support for that delegation request.
