State v. City of Miami

• Decision Date: 16 July 1946
• Citation: 27 So.2d 118,157 Fla. 726
• Parties: STATE et al. v. CITY OF MIAMI.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

27 So.2d 118

157 Fla. 726

STATE et al. v. CITY OF MIAMI.

Florida Supreme Court

July 16, 1946

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dade County; Marshall C wiseheart, judge.

Glenn C. Mincer and S. O. Carson, both of Miami, for appellants.

J. W. Watson, Jr. and Sidney S. Hoehl, obth of Miami, and Masslich &amp Mitchell, of New York City, for appellee.

BUFORD, Justice.

The Legislature of Florida at its regular session in 1945 enacted Chapter 23407. The title of the Act defined the powers and duties confered thereby on the City of Miami, a municipal corporation in Dade County, Florida, and is as follows:

'An Act conferring additional powers upon the city of Miami, a municipal corporation in Dade County, Florida, in relation to the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage, including industrial wastes: authorizing and empowering the city to construct, improve, extend, enlarge, reconstruct, maintain equip, repair and operate sewage disposal systems and other sewer improvements; prescribing the powers and duties of the City Commission and of the Water and Sewer Board of said city in connection with such construction and the financing thereof; authorizing the levy of special assessments upon property benefited by the construction or reconstruction of such other sewer improvements; providing for paying the whole or a part of the cost of a sewage disposal system or systems, of extensions and additions thereto, and of other sewer improvements, or any one or more thereof, by the issuance of either (1) general obligation bonds of the city payable from ad valorem taxes or from ad valorem taxes and the proceeds of sewer service charges or special assessments or both, or (2) sewer revenue bonds of the city payable solely from sewer service charges or from sewer service charges and special assessments; providing for the levy of a sufficient ad valorem tax for the payment of general obligation bonds; providing for the imposition and collection of charges for making connections with the sewer system of the city, for the imposition and collection of rates, fees and charges for the use of the services and facilities of such sewage disposal system or systems, for the imposition and collection of rates, fees and charges for the use of the services and facilities of such other sewer improvements, and for the application of such revenues; authorizing and empowering the city to require connection with sanitary sewers served or which may be served by any sewage disposal system; granting to the city power to acquire necessary real and personal property and to exercise the right of eminent domain; giving the consent of the State of Florida to the use of all state lands lying under water which are necessary for the accomplishment of the purposes of this Act; exempting from taxes and assessments any sewage disposal system of the city; authorizing the city to accept grants and contributions in aid of the purposes of this Act; authorizing the pledge of surplus water revenues; authorizing the issuance of sewer revenue refunding bonds; authorizing the combination of the water and sewer systems of the city for financing purposes and the issuance of water and sewer revenue bonds; prescribing the powers and duties of the city in connection with the foregoing and the rights and remedies of the holders of any bonds issued pursuant to the provisions of this Act; and providing for a referendum election on this Act.'

Pursuant to this enactment a special referendum election was held in the affected area and the provisions of the Act were adopted to by a majority affirmative vote of those voting in such election held on October 23, 1945. The act is referred to as the Sewer Financing Act.

Under authority of Sec. 4 of the Sewer Financing Act the Water and Sewer Board of the City of Miami, pursuant to a request and resolution passed and presented by the City Commission, caused surveys, investigations, studies, borings, maps, plans, drawings and estimates of costs and of revenues to be made, and prepared and submitted to the City Commission a full and comprehensive report setting forth the type of treatments and estimate of cost of a sewage disposal system, the construction of which was said to be admitted by the said Water and Sewer Board to be desirable and feasible for the City of Miami and which report, plans, etc., showed the proposed location of each and every integral part of the facilities proposed to be constructed and also setting forth the sewer improvements as defined in the Sewer Financing Act which the said Board deemed necessary to construct and maintain to protect the health of the inhabitants of the city, consisting of sanitary sewers and laterals, together with the location by terminal points and routes for each of such improvements, with a description thereof, by designating its material nature, character and size and estimate of the cost of its construction.

Thereafter, on March 13, 1946, under authority of the Sewer Financing Act, the City Commission, at a meeting duly held, passed and adopted Ordinance No. 3053 entitled: 'An Ordinance authorizing the construction and operation of a Sewage Disposal system for the City of Miami, Florida; authorizing the issuance, under the provisions of the Miami Sanitary Sewer Financing Act, of Sewer Revenue Bonds payable solely from Sewer Service Charges and Surplus Water Revenues, to provide funds for paying all or a part of the cost of such system; providing that such Sewer Revenue Bonds shall not constitute a debt of the City or a pledge of its faith and credit; requiring connections with sanitary sewers which will be served by such system; providing for the imposition and collection of rates, fees and charges for the use of the services and facilities of such system, and for the creation of certain special funds; pledging to the payment of the principal of and the interest on such Sewer Revenue Bonds the net revenue of such system and, to the extent required, surplus water revenues available for such purpose; and setting forth the rights and remedies of the holders of such bonds.'

This ordinance authorized the construction of the Sewage Disposal System therein described, together with all appurtenances, equipments, rights, easements and franchises relating thereto and all extensions, improvements, called collectively Sewage Disposal System, and authorized the issuance of sewer revenue bonds of the City of Miami designated 'Sewer Revenue Bonds' in the aggregate principal amount of $10,600,000 for the purpose of paying all or a part of the cost of such sewage disposal system.

Prior to the adoption of this ordinance the City Commission had found and determined the estimated cost of the Sewage Disposal System for the payment of which the said bonds are to be issued, the estimated annual revenues of the Sewage Disposal System and the estimated annual cost of maintaining, repairing and operating the Sewage Disposal System and it was made to appear from such estimates that the annual revenues of the Sewage Disposal System will be sufficient to pay the cost of maintenance, repair and operation and interest on said bonds, together with the principal, as and when such interest and principal shall become due according to the terms thereof.

On February 26, 1946, the City Commission adopted its Resolution No. 19206 setting forth the preliminary schedule, fixing and classifying the proposed rates, fees and other charges for the use of and for the service and facilities furnished or to be furnished by the Sewage Disposal System to be apid by the owner, tenant or occupant of each lot or parcel of land which may be connected with or use the Sewage Disposal System by or through any part of the sewer system of the City of Miami as defined in said ordinance and fixing March 13, 1946, at 2 o'clock p. m. at the regular meeting place of said Commission in the city hall, as the date, hour and place for a public hearing thereon and notice of such public hearing was duly advertised by publication in the Miami Herald, a newspaper published in the City of Miami, on a date at least ten days before the date set for the hearing. A public hearing was had at the time and place mentioned in said notice and all persons prospective users of the Sewage Disposal System and owners, tenants or occupanys of property served or to be served thereby, and all others interested, were given an opportunity to be heard concerning the proposed rates, fees and charges, and at such hearing Resolution No. 19277 was duly passed and adopted by the City Commission and thereby said preliminary schedule of rates, fees and charges, as modified and amended, was put into effect.

The City Commission, having thus determined to issue bonds in the sum of $10,600,000, proceeded to issue same under Ordinance No. 3053, supra, dating same April 1, 1946. The bonds, pursuant to the Resolution authorizing their issuance, pledge for the payment of and limit the pledge for such payment in the following language:

'This bond shall not be deemed to constitute a debt of the City or a pledge of the faith and credit of the city, but shall be payable solely from the special fund provided therefor from revenues and the City is not obligated to pay this bond except from such special fund. The issuance of this bonds shall not directly or indirectly or contingently obligate the City to levy or to pledge any taxes whatever therefor or to make any appropriation for its payment except from such revenues.

'This bond is one of a duly authorized issue of sewer revenue bonds of the City known as its 'Sewer Revenue Bonds' (herein called the 'bonds'), issued or to be issued to provide funds for paying all or a part of the cost of a sewage disposal system for the City (such system, together...