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The following article appeared in
the
Tallahassee Democrat
regarding the opinion. The editorial notes (in blue) have been added for
clarification or emphasis.
Supreme Court knocks down
taxing precedent
By Paul Flemming
Florida Capital Bureau
TALLAHASSEE
-- Florida's Supreme Court Thursday struck down an Escambia County special
tax district, reversing established law and calling into question how such
so-called tax-increment finance districts are set up statewide.
Immediately, it invalidates Escambia County's plan to pay for up to $135 million
in road widening with a special tax district that the court said required
approval by a vote of the people.
"This is serious, serious decision," said Kerry Ann Schultz, one of the
attorneys for Gregory Strand, who opposed the tax-increment finance district.
"This is just a landmark today. It not only affects Escambia County, but this
sets the ball in motion for precedent. For the Supreme Court to do this to a
county is very serious."
The Florida Association of Counties filed a brief in the case, in support of
Escambia County's now-invalid action.
The decision blocks the Escambia County Commission's efforts to create a tax
increment finance district that would have paid off up to $135 million in bonds
to four-lane Perdido Key Drive.
(and adjacent roadways) The court, reversing its established precedent
of more than two decades, said the commission couldn't do it on its own, but
that a vote of the people was required.
"In effect, the County wants to pledge revenue from ad valorem taxation for
thirty-five years as the primary source of funding a road improvement project
without the consent of the electorate," Justice Kenneth Bell -- a Pensacola
native appointed to the court in 2002 by former Gov. Jeb Bush -- wrote in the
court's unanimous opinion released Thursday. "We are concerned that allowing
this would abrogate the referendum requirement of" Florida's constitution.
That's a change of heart. In a 1980 decision, the state's highest court approved
the Legislature's tax-increment financing law in a South Florida case and said
that, as long as only revenues from property taxes and not the ability to levy
property taxes itself, was used, it was OK for local governments to set up the
districts without a public vote.
The Escambia County commission approved creation of the district in May 2006, a
decision that was certified by an Escambia County Circuit Court in August 2006.
But Gregory Strand intervened in the case and asked the Supreme Court to
overturn the certification.
"He intervened because he felt as if the (tax increment financing district) was
invalid," Schultz said.
Schultz, a Gulf Breeze attorney, said the Supreme Court's decision also helps
the Perdido Key Association, of which Strand is a member, and its aim to block
county efforts to
(remove the dwelling cap
and allow inappropriate density increases in a Coastal High Hazard Area) increase development in coastal Southwest Escambia County.
"This is a milestone for us, legally, against the county, with the invalidation
of this bond, which ultimately would have been helping (the commission) to
pursue development" on the key.
The county attorney and lawyers who represented the county were not immediately
available.
Tallahassee Democrat, September 6,
2007
Dr. Greg Strand is a Pensacola resident and member of PKA, who chose to
quietly, and at his own expense, challenge the legality of the county committing
millions of tax dollars to a long term debt, without a vote of the county
taxpayers.
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