Bass v. General Development Corp.

• Decision Date: 28 June 1979
• Docket Number: No. 52146,52146
• Citation: 374 So.2d 479
• Court: Florida Supreme Court
• Parties: James W. BASS, etc., et al., Appellants, v. GENERAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation, Appellee.

Page 479

374 So.2d 479

James W. BASS, etc., et al., Appellants, v. GENERAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, a Delaware Corporation, Appellee.

No. 52146.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 28, 1979.

Rehearing Denied Sept. 21, 1979.

Daniel C. Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, William F. Willes of Willes, Bittan & Willes, Fort Pierce, and Gaylord A. Wood, Jr., Fort Lauderdale, for appellants.

Parker D. Thomson and Susan B. Werth of Paul & Thomson, Miami, for appellee.

SUNDBERG, Justice.

Appellants appeal to this Court following a final judgment of the Circuit Court for St. Lucie County, Florida, declaring Section 193.461(4)(a)4, Florida Statutes (1975), unconstitutional. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.

Appellee owns certain realty which, from 1970 to the date of final judgment, was under a cattle grazing lease and was exclusively devoted to agricultural activity. In 1971 and 1972, appellee's land was classified as agricultural for ad valorem tax purposes.

In 1972, the legislature enacted Chapter 72-181, Section 1, Laws of Florida, which amended Section 193.461(4)(a) to read The assessor shall reclassify the following lands as nonagricultural . . . .

4. Land for which the owner has recorded a subdivision plat subsequent to the enactment of this law.

The effective date of Chapter 72-181, Laws of Florida, was July 1, 1972, and it applies to ad valorem taxes levied after December 31, 1972.

In September, 1972, appellee filed a subdivision plat for a portion of its land. Relying upon Section 193.461(4)(a)4, Florida Statutes, appellant James W. Bass, as St. Lucie County property appraiser, denied appellee an agricultural tax classification on this platted land for the tax year 1973. In June, 1973, appellee filed subdivision plats on its remaining lands. For the years 1974, 1975, and 1976, the property appraiser denied an agricultural tax classification for appellee's parcels again relying on Section 193.461(4)(a)4. For each of the tax years in question, appellee sought review of the denial of agricultural classification. In 1973, the St. Lucie County Board of Tax Adjustment overturned the property appraiser's denial, but the denial was reinstated by the Department of Revenue. In 1974, 1975, and 1976, the Board of Tax Adjustment upheld the denial of an agricultural tax classification.

Beginning in 1974, appellee filed four suits challenging the annual denial of an agricultural tax classification and attacking the constitutionality of Section 193.461(4)(a), as amended. ¹ The statute was challenged, Inter alia, on the grounds that: (1) it violated Article VII, Section 4(a), Florida Constitution; (2) it violated the equal protection and due process clauses of both the Florida and Federal Constitution; and (3) it conflicted with Section 195.062, Florida Statutes (1975). Appellee's cases were consolidated and summary judgment was entered in its favor. In its summary judgment, the trial court found that Section 193.461(4)(a)4, Florida Statutes (1975), is unconstitutional because it violates due process by creating an irrebuttable presumption that land for which the owner has recorded a subdivision plat is nonagricultural. In reaching its decision, the court expressly declined to reach the equal protection question and the challenge based on Article VII, Section 4(a), Florida Constitution. Further, the court did not address the statutory conflict claim asserted by appellee. Final judgment was entered on the summary judgment in favor of appellee.

In his final judgment, the trial judge ordered, in part, that:

2. Any real property taxes levied against Plaintiff General Development Corporation (appellee) in excess of the taxes which Plaintiff has already paid for 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976 on tax parcels nos. 3420-730-0001.000/8, 3420-735-0001.000/3, 3420-740-0002.000/6 and 3420-740-0003.000/3 in St. Lucie County (collectively the "Property"), solely because of the non-agricultural reclassification of such parcels, are declared illegal, erroneous, invalid and void. The levy of such taxes is set aside and Defendants are enjoined from any collection thereof.

For the reasons hereinafter expressed, we conclude that the circuit judge was correct in declaring Section 193.461(4)(a)4, Florida Statutes (1975), to be unconstitutional.

The first question for our consideration is whether Section 193.461(4)(a)4., which requires the property appraiser to reclassify as nonagricultural land upon which the owner has recorded a subdivision plat, is repugnant to Article VII, Section 4(a) of the Florida Constitution. The latter provision provides that "(a)gricultural land . . . may be classified by general law and assessed solely on the basis of character or use." Appellee contends that the statute precludes strict allegiance to the constitutional requirement that land be Assessed on the basis of character or use. This mandate can only be complied with, it is argued, if land is also Classified on the basis of character or use.

Appellee fails to take into account the distinction between classification and assessment of land. Classification of land for ad valorem tax purposes is a matter committed to the legislature. It is separate from and precedes the Assessment of land on the basis of character or use, which is the domain of the property appraiser based on statutory guidelines. As evidenced by Section 193.461(3)(b) and (6)(a), Florida Statutes (1975), the distinction between classification and assessment is observed in the legislative enactments which implement Article VII, Section 4(a), Florida Constitution. Subsection (3)(b) sets out seven criteria to be utilized in determining whether land should be Classified as agricultural. The criteria to be considered in Assessing property under subsection (6)(a), however, differ from the standards used in subsection (3)(b) to determine its classification. In Straughn v. K & K Land Management, Inc., 326 So.2d 421 (Fla.1976), we elucidated this distinction between classification and assessment. There, we rejected an argument that Section 193.461(4)(c), Florida Statutes (1975), impermissibly impinges upon the constitutionally authorized assessment under Article VII, Section 4(a), Florida Constitution. That statute creates a rebuttable presumption that land which is purchased for more than three times its appraised agricultural value is not used primarily for commercial agricultural purposes, which use is a prerequisite to an agricultural classification. The Circuit Court of Polk County, Florida, declared Section 193.461(4)(c), Florida Statutes (1975), unconstitutional as a violation of the requirement in Article VII, Section 4(a), that assessment be made solely on the basis of character or use. In reversing this ruling on appeal, we concluded that the statute affects only the Classification of land for tax purposes, rather than its Assessment :

Nor are we persuaded that the challenged statute is unconstitutional under Article VII, Section 4(a), Florida Constitution, which provides that "agricultural land or land used exclusively for non-commercial recreational purposes may be classified by general law and assessed solely on the basis of character or use." It is alleged that the statutory presumption impinges upon the nature of the assessment authorized by the Constitution. We conclude, however, that the challenged statutory language affects only the Classification of purportedly agricultural property, not its assessment.

326 So.2d at 424 (emphasis in original).

In the case before us, the statute in question also affects only the Classification of land.

Although Article VII, Section 4(a) of our State Constitution mandates that the Assessment of agricultural land be based upon its character or use, no similar restriction governs the criteria according to which such land is classified. In Rainey v. Nelson, 257 So.2d 538 (Fla.1972), we sustained a legislative enactment which classifies land as nonagricultural according to criteria completely unrelated to the actual use of the taxpayer's property. The statute at issue in Rainey, Section 193.461(4)(b), Florida Statutes (1973), ² conferred upon county agricultural zoning boards the authority to deny an agricultural classification if the property was bounded by urban or metropolitan development on two or more sides and the board found that continued use of the property for agricultural purposes would deter orderly community expansion. Section 193.461(4)(b) was sustained due, in part, to our determination that Article VII, Section 4(a), is permissive rather than mandatory; that it empowers the legislature to remove the favored treatment of agricultural property. As we noted in Rainey, "there is no 'right' to (this) special treatment . . . ." We further concluded that the enactment constituted a valid exercise of the State's police power and, consequently, appellant was not denied equal protection or due process of law. This is so because the public welfare is fostered by the removal of favored tax treatment from those lands, the continued agricultural use of which has ceased to serve the best interests of the community, by hindering its growth and development.

Appellee's argument that land must be Classified for ad valorem tax purposes according to the use to which it is put purportedly draws support from the opinion of this Court in Straughn v. Tuck, 354 So.2d 368 (Fla.1977). There, we reviewed the legislative history of the enactments regarding agricultural classifications:

Florida's original "Greenbelt Law," Chapter 59-226, Laws of Florida (1959) extended preferential treatment to lands "used exclusively for agricultural purposes . . ." and all subsequent enactments have been consistent, at least with reference to the use requirement. In the leading case on this subject, the Fourth District Court of Appeal unequivocally stated:

The favorable tax treatment provided by this statute is predicated on...