Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, No. 83-1222
| Court | Court of Appeal of Florida (US) |
| Writing for the Court | DAUKSCH |
| Citation | 453 So.2d 107 |
| Parties | Claude W. MILLER, Sheriff of Brevard County, Florida, Appellant, v. CITY OF INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH, City of Palm Bay, City of Melbourne, City of Indialantic, City of Melbourne Beach, City of Cocoa Beach, City of Rockledge, City of Titusville, and City of Satellite Beach, all municipal corporations, Appellees. |
| Docket Number | No. 83-1222 |
| Decision Date | 28 June 1984 |
Page 107
v.
CITY OF INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH, City of Palm Bay, City of Melbourne, City of Indialantic, City of Melbourne Beach, City of Cocoa Beach, City of Rockledge, City of Titusville, and City of Satellite Beach, all municipal corporations, Appellees.
Fifth District.
Catherine A. Riley, of Blumenthal Schwartz & Riley, P.A., Titusville, for appellant.
T.M. Barlow, of Crofton, Holland, Starling, Harris & Severs, P.A., Melbourne, for appellees.
DAUKSCH, Judge.
This is an appeal from a judgment in a declaratory relief action. The various appellees,
Page 108
cities in Brevard County, sought a court declaration of their rights and duties under Brevard County Ordinance 77-30.The ordinance which became effective on August 16, 1977, provided:
1. Upon the conviction in the County or Circuit Court in and for Brevard County, Florida for violation of a state penal or criminal statute or upon conviction for violation of a county ordinance, every person so convicted shall be assessed One Dollar ($1.00) for law enforcement education for the Brevard County Sheriff's Department.
2. The whole of said assessment shall be paid by the Clerk of the Court to the appropriate fund of the County to be used exclusively in providing law enforcement education for the Brevard County Sheriff's Department.
The ordinance was created pursuant to Section 943.25, Florida Statutes (1977), which authorized the Division of Standards and Training to establish and supervise an advanced and highly specialized training program for training police officers and support personnel. Subsection (3) of that statute provided in part that:
All courts created by Art. V of the State Constitution shall assess $1 as a court cost against every person convicted for violation of a state penal or criminal statute or convicted for violation of a municipal or county ordinance. In addition, $1 from every bond estreature or forfeited bail bond related to such penal statutes or penal ordinances shall be forwarded to the state treasurer as hereinafter described.
Subsection (5) of that statute then stated that:
Municipalities and counties may assess an additional $1, as aforesaid, for law enforcement education expenditures for their respective law enforcement officers.
These statutory subsections were then amended in 1981 and renumbered as Sections 943.25(4) and 943.25(8)(A), FLORIDA STATUTES1 respectively. The amendment reflected a change in the sums to be assessed in subsections (3) and (5) from $1 to $2. Pursuant to this amendment Brevard County then amended its ordinance No. 77-30, renumbering it No. 81-54, to increase the $1 sum to $2.
Meanwhile, also in accordance with Section 943.25, Florida Statutes, each of the appellee cities also adopted ordinances providing for the setting aside of the statutory sum of $1 under the 1977 statute and, later, $2 under the 1981 revision, for fines and forfeitures collected from offenses committed within their respective city limits.
Beginning with the adoption of County Ordinance 77-30 in August, 1977, the Clerk of the Court, deducted $1 from each fine and forfeiture for a traffic violation committed within Brevard County, including its municipalities. This money was set aside for the Brevard County Sheriff's Department training fund. Likewise, in accordance with the various city ordinances, the Clerk also deducted one additional dollar for fines and forfeitures arising from violations occurring within municipalities and set it aside for the training funds of the cities. Finally, pursuant to Section 943.25(3), Florida Statutes (1977), the Clerk set aside a $1 sum from each fine or forfeiture for state law enforcement training purposes. Again, each of these deductions was increased to $2 beginning in 1981.
The net effect of Brevard County Ordinance No. 77-30, later No. 81-54, as it was implemented by the Clerk of the Court, was that four separate sums were deducted for law enforcement training from each fine and forfeiture assessed for a traffic violation within a city: $1 for the state
Page 109
(now $2), $1 for the Sheriff's Department training fund (now $2), $1 for the municipal police department training fund (now $2), and $1 (now $2) for the Clerk's fee for a total deduction of $4 (now $8).In contrast, where the identical traffic offenses were committed in an unincorporated area of the county, the Clerk deducted only a total of $3 under the 1977 county ordinance and $6 under the 1981 ordinance: $1 (now $2) for the state training fund, $1 (now $2) for the Sheriff's Department training fund, and $1 (now $2) for the Clerk's fee.
Thus, under the present statute and county ordinance, $8 is deducted by the Clerk for an offense committed within a city and $6 for the same offense in an unincorporated area of the county. After these deductions are made, the Clerk, under Sections 316.660 and 318.21, Florida Statutes, then returns the remaining balance of the fines or forfeitures to the general fund of either the city or the county, depending upon the geographical location of the violation in question. Assuming, then, that a fine is $25, for example, the city would get back $17 if the violation occurred within the city while the county would receive $19 if the violation occurred outside the municipality.
Because the Clerk's deduction procedure results in the fines and forfeitures returned to the cities being $2 less per fine than the balance returned to the county, even when the offenses are identical, the cities instituted this cause of action against Brevard County, the Clerk of the Brevard County Circuit Court R.C. Winstead, Jr., and Brevard County Sheriff Claude W. Miller. The gravamen of the cities' complaint was that the money which is being deducted for fines and forfeitures for offenses committed within the cities, and which is presently being applied to Sheriff's Department training, was money which should properly have been returned to the general fund of the cities as part of the fines or forfeitures returned under Sections 316.660 and 318.21, Florida Statutes. The declaratory relief sought under Count I of the Second Amended Complaint specifically sought a declaration of the cities' rights regarding the validity of Brevard County Ordinance 77-30 on its face, the validity of the Clerk's and Sheriff's procedure...
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Maddox v. State, No. 96-3590
...authorized by statute. See Laughlin v. State, 664 So.2d 61 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995); see generally Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984) (explaining the history of the assessment). Additionally, section 27.3455, Florida Statutes (Supp.1996) limits to $200 the ......
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Reyes v. State, No. 92-03336
...to a fine. Sec. 125.01(1)(t), Fla.Stat. (1991). See Thomas v. State, 614 So.2d 468 (Fla.1993); Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). Every county also has a fine and forfeiture fund. See generally ch. 142, Fla.Stat. (1991). But we can locate no statutory......
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Spence v. Hughes, No. 85-319
...We should avoid an interpretation which would produce unreasonable consequences. See, e.g., Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107, 112 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). Deel Motors, Inc. v. Carrington, 305 So.2d 811 (Fla.3d DCA 1974), cert. denied, 315 So.2d 197 (Fla.1975) (when a statut......
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Maselli v. Orange County, No. 85-1748
...the Synod of Florida, Inc., 239 So.2d 256 (Fla.1970); George v. State, 203 So.2d 173 (Fla.1967); Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107 (Fla. 5th DCA 1 Fla.R.App.P. 9.030(b)(2)(B). 2 Approximately two years previously the county, troubled by "old" subdivision plats which had ......
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Maddox v. State, No. 96-3590
...authorized by statute. See Laughlin v. State, 664 So.2d 61 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995); see generally Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984) (explaining the history of the assessment). Additionally, section 27.3455, Florida Statutes (Supp.1996) limits to $200 the ......
-
Reyes v. State, No. 92-03336
...to a fine. Sec. 125.01(1)(t), Fla.Stat. (1991). See Thomas v. State, 614 So.2d 468 (Fla.1993); Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). Every county also has a fine and forfeiture fund. See generally ch. 142, Fla.Stat. (1991). But we can locate no statutory......
-
Spence v. Hughes, No. 85-319
...We should avoid an interpretation which would produce unreasonable consequences. See, e.g., Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107, 112 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). Deel Motors, Inc. v. Carrington, 305 So.2d 811 (Fla.3d DCA 1974), cert. denied, 315 So.2d 197 (Fla.1975) (when a statut......
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Maselli v. Orange County, No. 85-1748
...the Synod of Florida, Inc., 239 So.2d 256 (Fla.1970); George v. State, 203 So.2d 173 (Fla.1967); Miller v. City of Indian Harbour Beach, 453 So.2d 107 (Fla. 5th DCA 1 Fla.R.App.P. 9.030(b)(2)(B). 2 Approximately two years previously the county, troubled by "old" subdivision plats which had ......