State Ex Rel. Bottome v. City of St. Petersburg

• Decision Date: 19 November 1936
• Citation: 126 Fla. 233,170 So. 730
• Parties: STATE ex rel. BOTTOME v. CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

170 So. 730

126 Fla. 233

STATE ex rel. BOTTOME v. CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG et al.

Florida Supreme Court

November 19, 1936

En Banc.

Proceeding by the State, on the relation of Sterling Bottome, for a peremptory writ of mandamus to compel the City of St Petersburg and others to levy a tax for the payment of bonds and interest coupons and to set aside a separate fund for the benefit of relator.

Peremptory writ awarded, but issuance and service stayed and arrested until further order.

COUNSEL Erle B. Askew, of St. Petersburg, for relator.

Carroll R. Runyon, City Atty., of St. Petersburg, W. B. Dickenson, of Tampa, and Hardee & Martin, of St. Petersburg, for respondents.

OPINION

DAVIS Justice.

This is a case of original jurisdiction in which the relator seeks a peremptory writ of mandamus to compel the respondent officers of the municipality of St. Petersburg to levy a tax for the payment of bonds and interest coupons thereon issued under the terms of chapter 9914, Special Acts of 1923, and to require the respondents to set aside in a separate fund for the benefit of relator the proceeds of such levy. Motion to quash the amended writ has heretofore been overruled. The case is now before the court for consideration of the respondents' return upon a motion by relator for a peremptory writ, the return to the contrary notwithstanding.

The return of the respondents shows that the City of St Petersburg is now in process of attempting to refund all of its bonded debt, amounting to approximately $20,000,000, of which amount $7,500,000 is past due; that sums approximating $100,000 are falling due each and every month; that since 1930 it has been impossible for the City of St. Petersburg to meet its obligations as they respectively mature; that huge taxes have been levied against properties in the city the greater percentage of which were levied for debt service but only a relatively small percentage of which have been collected; that the city has decreased its operating budget to an absolute minimum in an effort to do all that was possible to do to maintain its credit and financial structure; that thirteen separate suits are now pending in the circuit court of Pinellas county demanding the full and immediate payment of matured obligations without reduction of interest or extension of principal; that in realization of the plight faced by the City of St. Petersburg a bondholders' committee representing approximately 90 per cent. of the city's outstanding indebtedness have agreed to and are recommending to the owenrs of the bonds represented by it that they accept refunding bonds proposed to be issued by the City of St. Petersburg in lieu of those now held by them, which new bonds will mature thirty-five years from the date of their issuance and will bear annual interest for the first ten years at a rate of not exceeding 3 per cent., graduating thereafter to a maximum of 5 per cent for the last ten years; that if the proposed refunding agreement is successfully consummated it will result in reduction amounting to a saving of more than $6,000,000 in interest charges to the taxpayers of the City of St. Petersburg, as compared to the contract rate of interest currently accruing on the bond outstanding; that the consummation of the refunding proposition of the city to its bondholders is predicated and conditioned upon the refunding agencies of the city and the bondholders' committee aforesaid being able to obtain the acceptance of the refunding plan by a sufficient number of holders of bonds issued by the City of St. Petersburg to assure the municipality and the committee that the city will be able to provide and safeguard proper funds for the payment of interest as it matures and create a sinking fund for the ultimate retirement of all the refunding bonds proposed to be issued; that pending the negotiations for the issuance of refunding bonds the holders of all bonds represented by the committee have agreed to accept and are accepting 3 per cent. interest in lieu of their contract rate of interest, and they are withholding legal actions to enforce collection of all past due principal; that if the demand made by the relator in this suit is presently enforced by...