State v. Florida Development Commission

143 So. 2d 8, 1962 Fla. LEXIS 2696
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided June 20, 1962·No. No. 31578·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

TERRELL, Justice.

The petitioner, Florida Development Commission, an agency of the State of Florida, filed petition in the Circuit Court of Leon County to validate Florida Development Commission, Road Revenue Bonds of Martin County, to be dated December 1, 1961, in the amount of $600,000. The petition alleged that on September 5, 1961, the Board of County Commissioners of Martin County, acting pursuant to Chapter 61-433, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1961, F.S.A. § 288.281, adopted a resolution requesting the petitioner to acquire the Martin County road project.

The resolution authorized the petitioner to enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the State Road Department. It was agreed that the payments of the rentals accruing to the petitioner were to be made by the State Road Department out of the 20.% surplus gasoline tax funds accruing to Martin County under and by virtue of Section 16, Article IX of the Constitution of Florida, F.S.A. together with any earnings which may accrue from the investments of bond proceeds pending their use for acquisition of the Martin County road project.

On September 11, 1961, petitioner at a meeting duly held in Tallahassee, Florida, adopted a resolution authorizing and directing the issuance of $600,000, Florida Development Commission, Road Revenue Bonds of Martin County, to be dated December 1, 1961. The issuance of the bonds in the sum of $600,000 was authorized payable on the dates and in the amounts specified in the form of the bonds; a lease-purchase agreement between the Florida Development Commission and the State Road Department was required; provision was made for leasing of the road project to the State Road Department for a consideration sufficient to pay and discharge said bonds, interest cost and expenses in connection with the issuance thereof, as and when the bonds became due. It was further provided that the rentals or payments that will be paid to petitioner under the lease-purchase agreement with the State Road Department shall be paid by the State Road Department out of the 20% surplus gasoline taxes that will accrue to Martin County under Section 16, Article IX of the Constitution of Florida.

The petition further alleged that the resolution passed by the Board of County Commissioners of Martin County on September IS, 1961, authorized the State Board of Administration to pay the State Road Department all of such Martin County’s 20% surplus gasoline tax funds as they accrue to the county to the extent necessary to pay the rentals required in the lease-purchase agreement.

October 24, 1961, the State Board of Administration at a regular meeting in Tallahassee adopted a resolution approving said issue of bonds as to legal and fiscal sufficiency. The petition also alleged that October 2, 1961, at a meeting held in Tallahassee the State Road Department adopted a resolution agreeing to the lease and purchase of said Martin County road project. The lease-purchase agreement was executed by the Florida Development Com[10]*10mission and the State Road Department on October 27, 1961.

October 31, 1961, the Board of County-Commissioners of Martin County adopted a resolution pledging the 20% surplus gasoline taxes for the rental payments under the 'lease-purchase agreement for the Martin County road project to be acquired and established by the state road department for and on behalf of the Florida Development Commission.

Upon filing the petition the rule nisi was issued and published in the Stuart News, a Florida newspaper published in Martin County, Florida, and in the Tallahassee .Democrat, a newspaper published in Leon -•County, requiring the State of Florida, by the State Attorney of the Second and Ninth Judicial Circuits of Florida to appear before the Circuit Court of Leon County in Tallahassee on February 15, 1962, at 10:00 A.M. to show cause, if any they had, why the prayers of the petition should not be granted and the proceedings authorizing the issuance thereof be validated and confirmed.

On the return day of the rule nisi, the state attorneys, William D. Hopkins and Arthur L. Steed, filed their answer setting up various and sundry reasons why the petition was defective and insufficient, concluding with a challenge to the constitutional validity of Chapter 61-433, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1961.

At the hearing before the chancellor February IS, 1962, the Florida Development Commission introduced in evidence the resolution of the Board of County Commissioners of Martin County requesting petitioner to issue and sell the bonds on behalf of the county. With this was included the other instruments detailed in the petition relating to the transaction, including the pledge of the 20% surplus gasoline tax funds for rental payments under the lease-purchase agreement.

The cause came on for final hearing when the chancellor entered a decree validating the bonds. In his decree the chancellor found that petitioner had authority under the Constitution and laws of Florida, particularly Chapter 288, Florida Statutes, F. S.A., and Chapter 61^433, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1961, to issue the road revenue bonds of Martin County for the project in question; that petitioner and the State Road Department had power to execute the lease-purchase agreement filed herein; that the bonds so issued were payable from Martin County surplus gasoline tax funds accruing under Section 16, Article IX of the Constitution and that the bonds „in question were legal as required by the law and Constitution of Florida. This appeal is from the final decree so entered.

First Question: Whether Chapter 61-433, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1961, authorizing the Florida Development Commission to issue and sell road revenue bonds in its own name for and on behalf of the County of Martin is unconstitutional and invalid in so far as it pledges the 20% surplus gasoline tax funds accruing to Martin County under Section 16, Article IX of the Constitution, for payment of principal and interest on the bonds.

This question charges that Chapter 61-* 433, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1961, is unconstitutional and void in so far as it authorizes pledging 20% surplus gasoline tax funds accruing to the several counties, particularly Martin County, under Section 16(c), Article IX. of the Constitution of Florida, to secure debt service on bonds issued by the Florida Development Commission for and on behalf of the several counties.

It is obvious that Chapter 61-433, Acts of 1961 [§ 288.281, Florida Statutes, F.S. A.], was designed to implement Article IX, Section 16(c), by defining the use to which the 20% surplus gasoline tax funds may be utilized by the Board of County Commissioners in the several counties. Section (1) of the act authorizes the Florida Development Commission, when the county [11]*11commissioners request, to issue and sell interest-bearing notes, bonds or certificates on behalf of the counties. Section (2) provides that the governing entity may prescribe the terms, conditions and limitations under which the bonds may be issued.

Section (3) of said act provides that such bonds, notes or certificates may be secured in whole or in part by the 20% surplus gasoline tax funds of the counties. It further permits pledging the 80% surplus gasoline tax funds accruing to the State Road Department under Section 16(c) when authorized by the State Road Department. Section (2) also authorizes pledging of tolls or other revenue derived from the operation of the project.

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State v. Florida Development Commission, 143 So. 2d 8, 1962 Fla. LEXIS 2696 (Fla. 1962).

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