Jackson v. McGrath
| Decision Date | 16 February 1945 |
| Citation | 20 So.2d 907,155 Fla. 565 |
| Parties | JACKSON et al. v. McGRATH et al. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied March 5, 1945.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Dade County; Ross Williams Judge.
Dunn & Wilson, of Miami Beach, for appellants.
Daniel P Galen, of Miami Beach, for appellees.
Chapter 18691 Sp.Laws of Florida, 1937, authorizes the City of Miami Beach to establish a pension, annuity and retirement system for its officers and employees. By virtue of the authority conferred by the statute the City of Miami Beach, on December 3, 1937 enacted ordinance No. 498 creating and establishing such a system of pensions and other relief benefits for employees in the service of said city, the system to become effective as of March 1, 1938. On August 7, 1939, the City of Miami Beach adopted ordinance No. 558 assessing and imposing an excise or license tax on all insurance companies insuring property in the city against loss or damage by fire or tornado, the ordinance prescribing that the tax was 'to be payable and collected in the manner provided for by chapter 19112, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1939, F.S.A. § 175.01 et seq., providing for the creation and administration of a Firemen's Relief and Pension Fund in certain Cities and Towns.' Contained in the ordinance was the provision that 'all moneys derived from the taxes imposed by this ordinance is hereby appropriated to the Firemen's Relief and Pension Fund of the City of Miami Beach, which shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of chapter 19112, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1939 * * *'. Thereafter, the insurance companies affected by the ordinance paid into the treasury of the State of Florida, in pursuance of section 6, chapter 19112, supra, the amounts of such excise or license taxes duly assessed against them.
During the years 1940, 1941 and 1942 the comptroller of the State of Florida issued his warrant to the City of Miami Beach in the sum of $14,326.07, drawn on the state treasurer for the full amount of money then within state treasury in the Municipal Firemen's Pension Fund to the credit of the City of Miami Beach as the net proceeds of the excise or license taxes paid by the insurance companies to the state treasurer, as state insurance commissioner, for the benefit of the firemen's relief and pension fund of the City of Miami Beach, pursuant to ordinance No. 558 adopted by the city on August 7, 1939. After the City of Miami Beach had received the money a dispute arose between the members of the fire department and the other employees of the city as to the proper disposition to be made of such proceeds; it being contended by the members of the Miami Beach fire department that by the terms of the statute authorizing the imposition and collection of such excise or license taxes (chapter 19112, Laws of Florida 1939, chapter 175, Florida Statutes 1941, F.S.A. § 175.01 et seq.) the money received from the State Municipal Firemen's Pension Fund is payable to firemen and their dependents only, and not to all employees of the city who are entitled or eligible to receive benefits under the General Employee Pension Annuity and Retirement Fund of the City of Miami Beach established by ordinance No. 498.
Being a mere stakeholder of the fund, without direct pecuniary interest in the controversy, the City of Miami Beach filed its bill of complaint in the circuit court of Dade County seeking to interplead all classes of interested city employees in order that Chapter 19112, Laws of Florida, 1939, so far as its provisions affected Miami Beach and its employees, might be judicially interpreted and the monies from the State Municipal Firemen's Pension Fund properly administered in accordance with law. All classes of interested persons became parties to the suit and filed answers. At the conclusion of the trial the court entered its final decree adjudicating that 'the money formerly held by the City of Miami Beach, now in the registry of the court, in the sum of $14,326.07, which accrued by virtue of chapter 19112, Laws of Florida, 1939, and ordinance No. 558 of the City of Miami Beach, is payable into the General Employee Pension Annuity and Retirement Fund of Miami Beach, Florida, created by virtue of chapter 18691, Sp.Laws of Florida, Acts 1937, by ordinance of said city approved by the voters in Miami Beach, Florida, January 18, 1938, and that all sums now on hand and all future sums which the City of Miami Beach, Florida, shall receive by virtue of chapter 19112, Laws of Florida, 1939, and ordinance No. 558 of the City of Miami Beach, Florida, shall be payable into the General Employee Pension Annuity and Retirement Fund of Miami Beach, Florida, for the benefit of all its members and all such sums shall be considered part of the General Fund of the General Employee Pension Annuity and Retirement Fund of the City of Miami Beach, Florida, for the benefit of all its members.'
The members of the Fire Department of the City of Miami Beach have taken an appeal from the final decree, and have presented two main questions for decision: (1) May the monies paid over to the City of Miami Beach by the state comptroller from the 'Municipal Firemen's Pension Fund' created by Sec. 7, ch. 19112, Laws of Florida, 1939, be lawfully placed and kept in the General Employee Pension, Annuity and Retirement Fund of the City of Miami Beach by ordinance No. 558, or must the City of Miami Beach create a separate 'Firemen's Relief and Pension Fund', or a 'City Pension Fund for Firemen and Policemen' for the receipt and disposition of such monies? (2) May the monies derived from the State Municipal Firemen's Pension Fund be used for the payment of pensions and other benefits to all city employees who are members of such pension system, or must it be held and administered solely for the use and benefit of members of the City Fire Department and their dependents?
It appears to us from a study of the applicable statutes that the monies received from the state comptroller may be lawfully placed and kept in the General Employee Pension, Annuity and Retirement Fund of the City of Miami Beach, but that they must be there held and administered for the sole use and benefit of firemen members and their dependents and not for all employees in the service of the city.
As we view the effect of chapter 19112, Laws of Florida, 1939, Chapter 175 Florida Statutes, 1941, F.S.A. § 175.01 et seq., this controlling statute creates a Firemen's Relief and Pension Fund in such incorporated cities or towns in the State of Florida as have a regularly organized fire department owning and using fire apparatus and equipment of a value exceeding $5,000 for the extinguishment of fires, and which do not have at the time of the passage of the act a similar relief and pension fund. See section 175.01, Florida Statutes 1941. By the terms of the statute all cities and towns in which a...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
City of Miami v. Carter
...pension fund or into its pension fund for firemen and policemen, where such latter fund existed; the Supreme Court, in Jackson v. McGrath, 1945, 155 Fla. 565, 20 So.2d 907, held that funds so received must be held and administered for the sole use and benefit of firemen members and their de......
- Gilhart v. Gilhart
-
Bailey v. City of Tampa, 33558
...be affected or reduced by the funds provided by the other law. The District Court of Appeal examined the cases of Jackson v. McGrath (1945), 155 Fla. 565, 20 So.2d 907, and City of Miami v. Carter (Fla.1958), 105 So.2d 5, relied upon by appellants, but concluded they did not support appella......
-
Bailey v. City of Tampa, 4041
...175; however, it is obvious that Chapter 185 is patterned after Chapter 175 and those decisions are controlling in this cause. In Jackson v. McGrath, 1 the Supreme Court of Florida considered the utilization by the City of Miami Beach of the proceeds of funds generated by Chapter 175. The S......