Pinellas County v. Town of Belleair Shore

• Decision Date: 03 December 1965
• Docket Number: No. 5953,5953
• Citation: 180 So.2d 510
• Parties: PINELLAS COUNTY, O. Sanford Jasper, as Tax Collector of Pinellas County, Florida, Ray E. Green, as Comptroller of the State of Florida, Appellants, v. TOWN OF BELLEAIR SHORE, on behalf of all of the taxpayers of the Town, Town of Belleair, on behalf of all of the taxpayers of the Town, and R. Samuel Rileigh, on behalf of himself and all other taxpayers of Pinellas County, Florida, Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 510

180 So.2d 510

PINELLAS COUNTY, O. Sanford Jasper, as Tax Collector of Pinellas County, Florida, Ray E. Green, as Comptroller of the State of Florida, Appellants, v. TOWN OF BELLEAIR SHORE, on behalf of all of the taxpayers of the Town, Town of Belleair, on behalf of all of the taxpayers of the Town, and R. Samuel Rileigh, on behalf of himself and all other taxpayers of Pinellas County, Florida, Appellees.

No. 5953.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

Dec. 3, 1965.

Page S. Jackson, County Atty., John G. Fletcher, Asst. County Atty., Clearwater, for appellants.

Harry R. Chadwick, Jr., of Chadwick, Mensh & O'Connell, St. Petersburg, for appellees.

LILES, Judge.

Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 150, Fla.Stats., F.S.A., the Board of County Commissioners of Pinellas County voted to establish a free county library system and levied a one-half mill tax on all property in the county not already being taxed for public library purposes. Appellees filed an action for declaratory relief under the provision of Chapter 87, Fla.Stats ., F.S.A., attacking the actions of the Board of County Commissioners in levying the tax and the constitutionality of Chapter 150, Fla.Stats., F.S.A.

Appellants filed a motion to dismiss appellees' complaint on the grounds that it failed to show that two of the appellees, the Town of Belleair Shore and the Town of Belleair, had any direct interest in the matter. Appellants also alleged that the complaint failed to show that the other appellee, R. Samuel Rileight, had standing to bring the suit either individually or for all the taxpayers of pinellas County. The motion to dismiss was denied by the lower court, and appellants brought this interlocutory appeal.

Appellants contend first that it was error to deny their motion to dismiss as to the town of Belleair Shore and the Town of Belleair because the complaint did not show these municipalities had a direct interest in the relief sought. In an action for declaratory relief the complaining party must demonstrate that it has a judicially cognizable, bona fide and direct interest in the result sought by the action. McNevin v. Baker, Fla.App.1964, 170 So .2d 66. The complaint does not show such an interest on the part of the two municipalities. It does not allege that city owned property will be subject to the tax, nor that the city will be called upon to collect or otherwise administer the tax. In short, the complaint does not allege that any immunity, power, privilege or right of either municipality is dependent upon the alleged facts or the law applicable to those facts. See May v. Holley, Fla.1952, 59 So.2d 636. Thus, the lower court should have granted appellants' motion to dismiss as to the Town of Belleair Shore and the Town of Belleair.

The remaining appellee, R. Samuel Rileigh, brought suit on behalf of himself 'and all other taxpayers of Pinellas County, Florida, similarly situated,' and alleged that he was a resident of ...