City of Sanford v. Orange County

• Decision Date: 10 December 1907
• Citation: 45 So. 479,54 Fla. 577
• Parties: CITY OF SANFORD v. ORANGE COUNTY.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

45 So. 479

54 Fla. 577

CITY OF SANFORD v. ORANGE COUNTY.

Florida Supreme Court, Division A.

December 10, 1907

Appeal from Circuit Court, Orange County; Minor S. Jones, Judge.

Bill by the city of Sanford against the county of Orange. Decree for defendant, and complainant appeals. Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

Where a county has collected taxes for road purposes, and a city claims under its charter the right to receive and disburse for street purposes a portion of such taxes, the claim will not be enforced in equity, when the city has for several years neglected to make demand for its proportion of the tax until the same has been disbursed by the county under statutory authority.

COUNSEL Massey & Warlow and A. M. Thrasher, for appellant.

Beggs &amp Palmer, for appellee.

OPINION

WHITFIELD J.

On December 19, 1903, the city of Sanford filed in the circuit court for Orange county a bill in equity against the county of Orange and H. H. Dickson, chairman of the board of county commissioners for Orange county, for an accounting and payment to the city of Sanford of one-half the amount realized by the county commissioners from county road and bridge taxes for the years 1893, 1894, 1895, 1897, 1898 1901, and 1902, upon property within the city of Sanford under a provision of chapter 4312, p. 349, Acts 1893 entitled 'An act to abolish the present municipal government of the city of Sanford, Florida, and organize a city government for the same, and to provide its jurisdiction and powers,' which provision is as follows: 'One-half of the amount realized from any and all road and bridge taxes levied on property within the city of Sanford by the county commissioners of Orange county shall be turned over annually to the municipal authorities of the city of Sanford, to be used in the repairing, working, improving and laying out the streets and bridges thereof, as may be prescribed by ordinance.'

The trial court held the quoted provision of the act to be not in conflict with section 16 of article 3 of the Constitution.

The defendant county answered in brief that it has always refused and declined to pay the complainant whatsoever claimed by virtue of the act referred to, although demand was made for the same, and the complainant, recognizing that it was not entitled to the said money, has made no claim therefor since the year 1894 for the taxes levied in 1893 until in September, 1903, when demand was made and refused as alleged; that at the time of the passage of chapter 4312, p. 349, Acts 1893, the defendant was acting under and by virtue of chapter 4065, p. 104, Acts 1891, which provided that the road tax collected in the county shall be paid to the county treasurer as a separate fund for public roads and bridges in the county and for no other purpose; that acting under this law the defendant refused to pay any sum to the city of Sanford out of the road fund of the county of Orange; that under said law a similar tax was levied on all of the property within the corporate limits of the various municipal corporations in the county, and that it never paid any sum of money to any such corporation; that in 1895 the Legislature amended chapter 4065 by providing that one-half of the amount realized from the road tax in incorporated cities and towns shall be turned over to the municipal authorities of said cities or towns, to be used in the repairing, working, and improving and laying out of streets thereof, as may be prescribed by the ordinances of said cities and towns; that under and by virtue of this amendment the defendant paid one-half of the said road tax to the various municipal corporations in the said county, levied for the year 1896, including the city of Sanford, whose claim was filed under the amendment, and not under the charter; that chapter 4596, p. 138, Acts 1897, amended chapter 4065, Acts 1891, by eliminating the provision for paying one-half the road tax collected in cities and towns to those cities and towns, and defendant then discontinued the payments to the municipalities, including the city of Sanford; that said city made no demand or claim under its charter for any portion of the road and bridge tax; that it accepted the amount paid under the amendment of...