Walden v. HILLSBOROUGH CTY. AVIATION AUTH.

375 So. 2d 283, 1979 Fla. LEXIS 4757
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 18, 1979
Docket52667
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 375 So. 2d 283 (Walden v. HILLSBOROUGH CTY. AVIATION AUTH.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walden v. HILLSBOROUGH CTY. AVIATION AUTH., 375 So. 2d 283, 1979 Fla. LEXIS 4757 (Fla. 1979).

Opinion

375 So.2d 283 (1979)

R.R. (Bob) WALDEN, etc., et al., Petitioners,
v.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY AVIATION AUTHORITY et al., Respondents.

No. 52667.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 18, 1979.
Rehearing Denied October 16, 1979.

David M. Mechanik and Jeanette M. Haag, Asst. County Attys., Tampa, for Tax Collector & Hillsborough Co.

Ted R. Manry, III, MacFarlane, Ferguson, Allison & Kelly, Tampa, for Tax Collector.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Harold F.X. Purnell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for Harry Coe, Jr., Dept. of Revenue.

Julian Clarkson, James M. Reed, Holland & Knight, Tampa, for Host Intern., Inc.

Morris E. White, Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal & Banker, P.A., Tampa, for Dobbs Houses, Inc.

Stewart C. Eggert, Allen, Dell, Frank & Trinkle, Tampa, for Hillsborough County Aviation Auth.

Malcolm P. Mickler, III, Gibbons, Tucker, McEwen, Smith, Cofer & Taub, Tampa, for Bonnani Exports, Inc.

ALDERMAN, Justice.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution, to review by petition for writ of certiorari the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Second District, in Walden v. Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, 351 So.2d 419 (Fla.2d DCA 1977). In this case, the district court affirmed the holding of the trial court that various lessees, all of whom had leased space in the Tampa International Airport from the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority for the purpose of conducting commercial enterprises within the airport terminal, were exempt from ad valorem taxation of their leasehold interest. We quash the district court's decision and hold that under the rationale of our decision in Williams v. Jones, 326 So.2d 425 (Fla. 1975), the leaseholds are taxable.

Respondent, Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, a public body, operates and *284 manages the Tampa International Airport, which is located on land owned by the Authority. The several buildings forming the terminal at the airport were constructed with funds obtained through the sale of revenue bonds. The terminal consists of a landside building, where passengers park their automobiles and handle their ticketing and baggage, and four airside buildings, where passengers actually embark and disembark the airplanes. Shuttle cars transport passengers between the landside building and the airside buildings.

Respondent, Host International, Inc., leased space from the Authority in the landside and the airside buildings to sell food and beverages to the public in a variety of ways including a buffet, a dining room, cocktail lounges, and fast food service facilities. Host also operated a cafeteria for airport employees and leased space for the sale of general merchandise and "special Florida products" such as fruits and gifts. Storage facilities were also leased by Host. Respondent, Dobbs House, Inc., leased space in the landside building from the Authority for the purpose of selling newspapers, tobacco products, magazines and books, as well as for the sale of certain types of other merchandise. Dobbs also leased storage space in the landside building. Respondent, Bonanni Exports, Inc., leased space in the landside building for the operation of a duty-free shop in which certain merchandise is sold duty free exclusively to passengers on international flights. In addition, Bonanni leased space in the landside building for use as a bonded warehouse. Host, Dobbs, and Bonanni, under the terms of their leases with the Authority, were required to pay all taxes upon their rights to use the property.

Petitioner, Hillsborough County Tax Assessor, placed respondents' airport leaseholds on the ad valorem tax rolls for the year 1972, and petitioner, Hillsborough County Tax Collector, issued tax bills based upon the assessment. Respondents exhausted their administrative remedies when their timely filed claims for exemption and subsequent petitions to the Board of Tax Adjustment contesting the taxation were denied. Lessees paid the 1972 ad valorem taxes under protest and thereafter filed a declaratory action against the Assessor, the Collector, and the Florida Department of Revenue, seeking to have the leaseholds declared exempt from ad valorem taxation and seeking a refund of the 1972 assessments. The gravamen of the complaint was that the leasehold interests of Host, Dobbs, and Bonanni were exempt from taxation under chapter 196, Florida Statutes (1971), because these lessees were performing public functions and purposes which could properly be performed by the Authority or which would otherwise be a valid subject for the allocation of public funds. The complaint was answered, and motions for summary judgment were filed. Amended complaints were filed by respondents putting in issue the 1973 and 1974 ad valorem tax assessments on the leaseholds which also had been paid under protest, and a refund was sought on the same ground.

The trial court first entered partial summary judgment in petitioners' favor, ruling that the leasehold interests of Host, Dobbs, and Bonanni were not exempt from taxation. Further proceedings, however, were held in abeyance pending a final decision in the case of Hertz Corporation v. Walden, 299 So.2d 121 (Fla.2d DCA 1974), aff'd, 320 So.2d 385 (Fla. 1975), which involved the question of whether Hertz's leasehold in the terminal building was exempt from taxation. It was ultimately determined in that case that Hertz's leasehold at the terminal building was exempt from taxation. After the decision in Hertz Corporation was rendered, the trial court set aside the partial summary judgment previously entered. Then, concluding that our subsequent decision in Williams v. Jones, 326 So.2d 425 (Fla. 1976), was not controlling, the trial court entered judgment in respondents' favor, holding:

That during the years 1972, 1973 and 1974 the Plaintiffs Host International, Inc., a Delaware corporation, Dobbs Houses, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and Bonanni Exports, Inc., a Florida corporation, and each of them, have been performing *285 a governmental and public purpose or function, as those terms are defined in Section 196.012(5) of the Florida Statutes, in the operation of their respective businesses conducted in and upon various spaces leased to them by the Plaintiff, Hillsborough County Aviation Authority in the Terminal Building at the Tampa International Airport in Hillsborough County, Florida, and that by reason thereof, and by virtue of the provisions of Section 196.199(2)(a) of said Florida Statutes, were exempt from taxation by Hillsborough County for each of said years 1972, 1973 and 1974.
.....

Petitioners appealed this judgment. Citing as authority its decisions in Hertz Corporation v. Walden and City of Tampa v. Walden, 323 So.2d 58 (Fla.2d DCA 1975), the district court affirmed.

Petitioners allege that our decision in Williams controls and overrules, directly or impliedly, all the pre-Williams cases relied upon by the trial court and the Second District Court of Appeal. They contend that under Williams the test to be used in determining if a public purpose exemption exists is whether the actual leasehold use constitutes a "governmental-governmental" or a "governmental-proprietary" function. It is the utilization of property leased from a governmental source, they argue, that determines if the leasehold is taxable. They maintain that these leaseholds are taxable because they are used for commercial, profit-making purposes and serve a "governmental-proprietary" function.

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