STATE ET AL.
v.
CITY OF MIAMI
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The Florida Supreme Court upheld the City of Miami's authority to issue sewer revenue bonds (Series of 1953) without a freeholder vote, holding that revenue bonds payable solely from utility charges rather than ad valorem taxes do not require constitutional approval.
The City of Miami is fully authorized to issue sewer revenue bonds (Series of 1953) without an approving freeholder vote. Revenue bonds issued for a public purpose and payable solely from revenues derived from utility services do not require a freeholder vote under Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution.
“We have repeatedly held that revenue bonds issued for a public purpose, payable solely from revenues derived from the utilities service, excise taxes, licenses or other sources than ad valorem taxes, do not require an approving vote of the freeholders under Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution.”
Establishes the core holding that revenue bonds not dependent on ad valorem taxes are exempt from the constitutional freeholder vote requirement.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe City of Miami sought to finance a sewage disposal system through a combination of general obligation bonds and sewer revenue bonds (Series of 1953…
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TERRELL, Justice.
The essential facts in this ease are stated in the companion case, same title, decided this date, Fla., 62 So. 2d 405. The companion case had to do with the validation of sewage disposal system bonds serviced by ad valorem taxes, while the instant case has to do with sewer revenue bonds (Series of 1953) serviced by charges for use of the facility.
The first question here challenges the authority of the city to issue sewer revenue bonds (Series of 1953) for the purpose of paying only a part of the cost of the sewage disposal plant, the balance to be paid by the issuance of general obligation bonds of the city. Our view is that said question was answered by what we said in the companion case and does not require further comment here.
It is next contended that issuance of sewer revenue bonds (Series of 1953) in the manner and form provided by Ordinance 4573, without an approving vote of the freeholders, will violate 'Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution, F.S.A. We have repeatedly held that revenue bonds issued for a public purpose, payable solely from revenues derived from the utilities service, excise taxes, licenses or other sources than ad valorem taxes, do not require an approving vote of the freeholders under Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution. State v. City of Miami, 157 Fla. 726, 27 So. 2d 118; State v. City of Daytona Beach, 160 Fla. 204, 34 So. 2d 309; State v. City of Winter Park, 160 Fla. 330, 34 So. 2d 740.
No 'ad valorem taxes are directly or indirectly pledged to service the proposed sewer revenue bonds, the bond resolution and the face of the bonds so states, consequently Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution has no application to this case. In fact, the questions in this and in the companion case were in the main settled by State v. City of Miami, 157 Fla. 742, 27 So. 2d 112 and State v. City of Miami, 157 Fla. 726, 27 So. 2d 118.
It is therefore our view that the City of Miami is fully authorized to issue and finance the proposed sewage disposal system by the issuance of general obligation bonds in payment of a part of the cost and the issuance of sewer revenue bonds (Series of 1953) in payment of the balance of the cost and that issuance of the latter without an approving vote of the freeholders will not violate Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution.
The decree appealed from is therefore affirmed.
Affirmed.
SEBRING, C. J., and ROBERTS, J., and WALKER, Associate Justice, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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State v. City of Miami, 62 So. 2d 405 (Fla. 1953)
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State v. Monroe Cnty., 81 So. 2d 522 (Fla. 1955)…lely from revenues derived from the utilities service, excise taxes, licenses or other sources than ad valorem taxes, do not require an approving vote of the freeholders under Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution.” State v. City of Miami, Fla., 62 So. 2d 407; City of Jacksonville v. Savannah Machine & Foundry Co., Fla., 47 So. 2d 634; State v. City of Coral Gables, Fla., 48 So. 2d 741; State v. City of Homestead, Fla., 59 So. 2d 742; State v. City of Coral Gables, Fla., 72 So. 2d 48. Some contention is…
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Sandey v. Town OF Redington Shores, 103 So. 2d 638 (Fla. 1958)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed on the authority of State v. City of Miami, Fla., 62 So. 2d 405, 62 So. 2d 407 (two cases). TERRELL, C. J., and THOMAS, HOB-SON, ROBERTS and DREW, JJ., concur.…
Authorities Cited
- State v. City of Winter Park, 160 Fla. 330 (Fla. 1948)
- State of Fla. & the Taxpayers v. THE City OF Miami, 157 Fla. 726 (Fla. 1946)
- State of Fla. & the Taxpayers v. The City of Daytona Beach, 160 Fla. 204 (Fla. 1948)
- State of Fla. Ex rel. Estelle Hardwick v. Mitchell, 160 Fla. 330 (Fla. 1948)
- State v. City of Miami, 62 So. 2d 405 (Fla. 1953)
- State of Fla. & the Taxpayers v. THE City OF Miami, 157 Fla. 742 (Fla. 1946)
- Rice v. Melva S. Rice, 159 Fla. 637 (Fla. 1947)