Gov. Ron DeSantis has used one of his first vetoes as governor to kill a bill that would have changed the way a South Brevard County water control district sets its user fees.

The bill, related to the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District, had a total of 153 supporters in the Florida Senate and Florida House. And one opponent — Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican from South Brevard, who is a strong ally of the governor.

Fine said he is "pleased that Gov. DeSantis saw the legislation the same way I did, and was willing to stand with me to protect the taxpayers of South Brevard. He and I have built a great relationship that has and will pay dividends for Brevard, and I am honored to be the only elected official from Central Florida accompanying him on his first official overseas trade mission this week" to Israel.

There are 76,133 parcels of property within a 100-square-mile area of South Brevard that are affected by the bill.

The bill DeSantis vetoed — House Bill 1417 — was sponsored by Rep. Thad Altman, R-Indialantic.

Currently, the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District's fees are approved by a majority vote of the five-member Brevard County Commission. But that majority must include both commissioners whose districts are within the affected area in South Brevard — currently, District 3 Commissioner John Tobia and District 5 Commissioner Kristine Isnardi, who now chairs the County Commission.

Altman's bill proposed two changes:

• Requiring a "supermajority" vote of four of the five county commissioners for approval.

• Required at least one — and not both — of the commissioners representing District 3 and District 5 to reach that supermajority.

During comments to a pre-session meeting of the Brevard delegation to the Florida Legislature, Joseph Hale, president of the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District board of directors, said the proposed change "allows a little more flexibility in getting a vote for raising our fees, if that's needed."

In his veto message, DeSantis said he didn't like the second change.

"This measure dilutes the representation of the citizens living within the special district, of whom the increase in taxes would affect," DeSantis said. "Those who are saddled with additional taxation should have the ability to hold someone accountable. Since the Brevard County Commission districts are not at-large and have boundaries, I believe there should be more than a 50% necessity for approval when attempting to increase of change the fees on the citizens you represent."

Fine had a similar take in why he voted against the bill.

"When I ran for office, I promised I would never raise taxes on my hard-working constituents, and in opposing HB 1417, I kept my promise," Fine said. "This bill did one and only one thing — made it easier for local politicians to raise taxes. Today, 100% of the county commissioners who represent Brevard County families that live in the Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District have to approve any tax increase. Had this legislation been signed, that number would have dropped to 50%. There is no more important issue to me than improving our water quality, but we do not need to allow local politicians to tax us even more to get it done."

The bill was approved 114-1 in the Florida House on April 11, with Fine voting no. It earlier received unanimous support in the House Local, Federal and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee and in the House State Affairs Committee.

It was approved 39-0 in the Florida Senate on May 1.

Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman

Facebook: /dave.berman.54

Support local journalism: It you would like to read more tourism and cruise news, and you are not a subscriber, please consider subscribing. For details, go to offers.floridatoday.com.