Board of County Commissioners v. McKeever

436 So. 2d 299, 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 22564
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 4, 1983
DocketNo. 82-1758
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 436 So. 2d 299 (Board of County Commissioners v. McKeever) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of County Commissioners v. McKeever, 436 So. 2d 299, 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 22564 (Fla. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., Judge.

Appellants appeal from a summary final judgment holding that Marion County Ordinance 82-22 is unconstitutional. This ordinance, which was enacted on November 9, 1982, by the Board of County Commissioners, following approval in a referendum, provides as follows:

AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR AN ADDITIONAL ONE CENT TAX UPON EVERY GALLON OF MOTOR FUEL AND SPECIAL FUEL SOLD IN MARION COUNTY; PROVIDING FOR AN ADDITIONAL ONE CENT TAX UPON EVERY GALLON OF MOTOR FUEL AND SPECIAL FUEL SOLD IN MARION COUNTY; PROVIDING FOR THE PERIOD OF TIME SAID ADDITIONAL TAX ON MOTOR FUEL AND SPECIAL FUEL IS TO BE IN EFFECT; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of County Commissioners of Marion County, Florida, that:
SECTION I: ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ADDITIONAL ONE CENT TAX UPON EVERY GALLON OF MOTOR FUEL AND SPECIAL FUEL SOLD IN MARION COUNTY.
A one cent tax upon every gallon of motor fuel and special fuel sold in Marion County is hereby imposed in addition to other taxes required by law for the purpose of paying the cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and drainage of roads and streets. SECTION II: ESTABLISHMENT OF TIME PERIOD ADDITIONAL ONE CENT TAX SHALL BE IN EFFECT The additional one cent tax upon every gallon of motor fuel and special fuel sold in Marion County as established in Section I above shall remain in effect for a period not to exceed ten (10) years from the effective date of this ordinance. A cap of .25 mills of ad valorem taxes for the County Transportation Trust Fund shall be in effect during the period for [301]*301which the additional one cent tax upon every gallon of motor fuel and special fuel sold in Marion County remains in effect.

The ordinance included a severability clause and was to become effective on January 1, 1983. It was enacted pursuant to section 336.021, Florida Statutes (1981), which permits counties, subject to a referendum, to impose a one cent gas tax on fuel sold in the county for the purpose of constructing and maintaining roads and streets.

On November 10,1982, appellee McKeever sued for declaratory and injunctive relief claiming that the ordinance is unconstitutional because, among other things, appellant Board improperly imposed a limit on the millage which may be levied for the County Transportation Trust Fund (CTTF) in future years. The trial court agreed and entered summary judgment against appellants.

We conclude that the trial court was correct and that the Board acted unconstitutionally in imposing the millage cap on ad valorem taxes for a period of up to ten years.

Marion County is a non-charter county, which under Article VIII, section 1(f), Florida Constitution, has “such power of self-government as is provided by general or special law” and may enact “county ordinances not inconsistent with general or special law.” In Speer v. Olson, 367 So.2d 207 (Fla.1978), however, the supreme court, in considering the powers of non-charter counties in light of section 125.01, Florida Statutes,1 observed:

The first sentence of section 125.01(1), Florida Statutes (1975), grants to the governing body of a county the full power to carry on county government. Unless the legislature has pre-empted a particular subject relating to county government by either general or special law, the county governing body, by reason of this sentence, has full authority to act through the exercise of home rule power.

367 So.2d at 211.

Therefore, in the instant case, Marion County had the power to enact Ordinance 82-22 so long as it is not inconsistent with general or special law.2 The trial court found that the ordinance (or more particularly the millage cap) was in conflict with general law regarding the formation of county budgets (Chapter 129, Florida Statutes (1981)) and the determination of ad valorem tax millages (Chapter 200, Florida Statutes (1981)). The court further found that because the millage cap would be effective for ten years, it would impermissibly bind successor commissions with respect to the taxing power.

An ordinance is inconsistent or conflicts with general law if the ordinance and the legislative provision cannot co-exist. Board of County Commissioners of Dade County v. Wilson, 386 So.2d 556 (Fla.1980). In that case, the supreme court found that an ordinance which would set Dade County’s millage rate through the initiative process was in direct conflict with section 200.191, Florida Statutes which provided the exclusive manner for setting county-wide millage rates. The instant case differs in that here we deal with a millage cap (of a ten-year duration) applicable to one of the county’s funds, the County Transportation Trust Fund, as opposed to a provision setting the county millage at a certain rate.

Chapter 129, Florida Statutes, establishes a budget system for county governments and mandates that the county commission prepare, approve, adopt and execute “for each fiscal year” an annual budget “for such funds as may be required by law or by sound financial practices and generally accepted accounting principles.” § 129.01(1), Fla.Stat. This budget controls “the levy of [302]*302taxes and the expenditure of money for all county purposes during the ensuing fiscal year.” Id.

Section 129.011(1), which permits consolidation of separate budgetary funds into a single general fund, contains the following exception for the County Transportation Trust Fund:

[T]he road and bridge tax shall be levied under s.336.59 and all revenue and expenditures of the county transportation trust fund established pursuant to s.339.-083 shall be shown as a separate budgetary fund.

Section 129.02(2) provides in relevant part that:

The County Transportation Trust Fund budget shall contain an estimate of receipts by source ... and an itemized estimate of expenditures that need to be incurred to carry on all work on roads and bridges in the county....

Finally, chapter 129 requires that the county, in preparing its tentative budgets, estimate for each budget the proposed tax millages, balances, reserves, receipts and expenditures. After the tentative budget has been prepared, the county must advertise and hold public hearings thereon prior to adoption. §§ 129.03(3); 200.065(2)(d), Fla.Stat. (1981). There is, however, currently no specific requirement in chapter 129 that the Board annually set the millage rate for the County Transportation Trust Fund.3

Chapter 200, entitled “Determination of Millage” provides that the county commission “shall determine the amount to be raised for all county purposes” and “the rates to be levied for each fund.” § 200.-011, Fla.Stat. (1981). One of these funds is the County Transportation Trust Fund which each county is required to establish and maintain and which is solely for transportation related revenues and expenditures. § 339.083(1), Fla.Stat. (1981). Chapter 336, Florida Statutes, requires that the commission levy a tax “on all property in their county each year for road and bridge purposes,” § 336.59, Fla.Stat. (1981),4 and these proceeds must be included in the Trust Fund. 1979 Op.Att’y Gen. Fla. 79-41.

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Ago
Florida Attorney General Reports, 1984

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436 So. 2d 299, 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 22564, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-county-commissioners-v-mckeever-fladistctapp-1983.