Palm Beach County v. Green, 33727

• Decision Date: 27 October 1965
• Docket Number: No. 33727,33727
• Citation: 179 So.2d 356
• Parties: PALM BEACH COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Florida, et al., Appellants, v. Ray E. GREEN, State Comptroller of the State of Florida, et al., Appellees.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 356

179 So.2d 356

PALM BEACH COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Florida, et al., Appellants, v. Ray E. GREEN, State Comptroller of the State of Florida, et al., Appellees.

No. 33727.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Oct. 27, 1965.

Harry A. Johnston, R. Bruce Jones, Jones, Adams, Paine & Foster, West Palm Beach, Ford L. Thompson, Starry & Thompson, Tallahassee, for appellants.

Greene, Ayres, Swigert & Cluster, Ocala, for Glades County, Hendry County, Okeechobee County and Martin County, appellees.

O'CONNELL, Justice.

By Chapter 63-200, Laws of Florida, the 1963 Legislature established new boundaries for Glades, Hendry, Okeechobee, Martin and Palm Beach Counties. Under the statute the area of Lake Oleechobee, which therefore had been wholly in Palm Beach County, was so divided that each of the other four counties were given a pie-shaped portion thereof.

The appellants sued for declaratory decree contending that: (1) Chapter 63-200 is unconstitutional because the boundary descriptions were deficient, the title thereto was defective and the act contained two subject matters in violation of Section 16, Article III, Florida Constitution, F.S.A.; (2) Section 16, Article IX, Florida Constitution irrevocably allocated the 'second gasoline tax' for the full term of fifty years 'on the area and road contribution factors existent on adoption thereof;' (3) the distribution of the 'seventh cent' of gasoline taxes and the tax on certain motor fuels levied pursuant to Sections 208.44 and 209.02, F.S.A., respectively, should not be affected by the passage of Chapter 63-200.

In his final decree the chancellor held that: (1) Chapter 63-200 was valid; (2) Section 16, Article IX, Florida Constitution, does not irrevocably allocate the second gasoline tax for the full term of fifty years on county areas in effect on its adoption and in no way restricts the power of legislature to change county lines as authorized in Section 3, Article VIII, Florida Constitution; and (3) the distribution of the 'seventh cent' of gasoline and other motor fuel taxes would have to be made on basis of new county areas established by Chapter 63-200. The decree provided that the proceeds of the second gasoline tax which were pledged to the payment of certain Palm Beach County road and bridge revenue bonds prior to the enactment of Chapter 63-200 must continue to be allocated and distributed in accordance with the area of Palm Beach County, as it existed prior to adoption of said statute, until all of the obligations of the bonds had been discharged or provision for payment made. The parties agree that this provision is proper. Section 6, Chapter 63-200 contains such a provision. We have held the same. State v. Florida Development Commission, Fla.1962, 143 So.2d 676.

On this appeal appellants again urge that the subject statute is invalid because the boundary descriptions are too vague and indefinite; that Section 16, Article IX, irrevocably allocates the second gasoline tax for a period of fifty years on the basis of county area and road construction contribution as these factors existed on January 1, 1943 and July 1, 1931, respectively; and that the seventh cent is also irrevocably allocated on the same basis. In addition appellants contend, for the first time, that the statute is invalid because passed by an unconstitutionally apportioned legislature.

We will consider these questions in the order stated above.

A careful reading of Chapter 63-200 and a plotting of the county boundaries described therein is necessary for a full understanding of the defects complained of by the appellants. The chancellor discussed the variances at length. Nothing can be gained by repeating or summarizing either those portions of his decree or the testimony of experts as to the descriptions and the difficulty attendant on their use.

The chancellor correctly found the legislative intent to be to divide the area of Lake Okeechobee, previously entirely within Palm Beach County, among all counties bordering the lake. He further found that to accomplish this division the legislature intended to define a common point near the center of the lake 'and to this point extend a line from the several points along the shore of Lake Okeechobee where the prior existing boundaries of the several counties reach such shore. This would produce within each county a 'wedge' of the lake, spreading from the common point to the upland of each county bordering the lake.'

As appears from a reading of the statute the common point selected is the NE Corner of Section 36, Township 40 South, Range 34 East. Since the lake area has never been surveyed, this is a fictional point. In actuality there is no such Section 36. However, as the chancellor stated, the description of Palm Beach County in Section 5, Chapter 63-200,

'reveals an unambiguous meaning of the term 'northeast corner of Section 36, Township 40 S, 34 E.' This is so because it is clear that the point so described is to be found at the intersection of two perpendicular lines, namely, one located by commencing at the point on the shore of Lake Okeechobee where the line dividing Range 34 E from Range 35 E and being the prior boundary between Palm Beach and Hendry Counties, and thence proceeding in a straight line due or true north and the other line which is located by proceeding due or true west from the point on the margin of Lake Okeechobee where the prior boundary between Martin and Palm Beach Counties reach said water's edge. Within the language of Section 5 there are references to actual established section and township lines whose extension true north in one case and true west in the other to the point of intersection would serve to establish the precise point the Legislature intended to constitute the northwest corner of Palm Beach County and define that county's portion of Lake Okeechobee. As the boundaries of all of the other counties refer to the same point, it is obvious that the legislature intended that point, to be established as aforesaid, to constitute the one definite common point in the boundaries of each of the counties.'

The chancellor's answer to appellant's contention on this point is correct. The descriptions contained in the statute might not be adequate in a conveyance or contract involving property rights or transfers of land. But boundary descriptions in legislative acts establishing county lines are not required to be drawn with the same exactness and nicety.

The rule applicable in cases such as this is well stated in State ex rel. Cheyney v. Sammons, 1911, 62 Fla. 303, 57 So. 196. There, this court, 57 So. at page 200, said:

'A defect in the description of the territory included in the new county does not render the act unconsititutional or invalid. The act is not void unless the legislative intent cannot be effectuated, because the description is so defective as not to include substantially all of the intended territory, or because the defective description will include or exclude territory not intended, so as to make it appear that the act would not have been passed if the defective description had been known, or because it is so entirely defective as to be unintelligible or to render the act unenforceable in its essential features.'

The statute, as interpreted and construed by the chancellor meets the test of this rule. The chancellor correctly held it not to be invalid because of defective description.

We come next to appellants' contention that Section 16, Article IX, adopted in 1942, and effective January 1, 1943, irrevocably allocates the proceeds of the second gasoline tax on the basis of county areas as they existed on the effective date of the amendment, i. e., January 1, 1943.

Section 16, Article IX, provides that for fifty years beginning January 1, 1943 the proceeds of two cents (2cents) per gallon of the gasoline tax (the Second Gas Tax) and the tax on other fuels shall be divided into three equal parts and distributed monthly to the several counties as follows:

'* * * one part according to area, one part according to population, and one part according to the counties' contributions to the cost of State road construction in the ratio of distribution as provided in Chapter 15659, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1931 * * *.'

Chapter 15659, supra, now appearing in part as F.S. Section 208.11, F.S.A., prescribes the method of determining the contributions of the counties to the cost of state road construction, and requires that it be done within 90 days of the effective date thereof. The effect of this statute and Section 16, Article IX is to fix irrevocably the factor by which one third of the second gas tax is to be distributed. Thus, during the entire fifty year period one third of the second gas tax will be distributed on a basis of the counties' contributions to state road construction prior to July 1, 1931 as determined by the certificates filed with the state comptroller in 1931 pursuant to Chapter 15659. The distribution of this third of the second gas tax is not in dispute here.

Appellants do not contend that the one third of the second gas tax distributable on the basis of couty population is fixed by the population of the several counties as of January 1, 1943. They argue only that the one third of the tax distributable according to county area was fixed as of January 1, 1943 and that a subsequent change in county boundaries and area cannot affect any county's share of the tax.

The chancellor held that appellants' contention was without merit. We concur.

Appellants argue first that there have been numerous changes in county boundaries since the adoption of Section 16, Article IX, but that the state comptroller has never recognized such changes in computing the distribution of the one third of the tax allocated on a basis of area. They seek to convert this alleged action by the comptroller into an administrative construction which they say should not be disturbed...