State v. City of St. Petersburg

• Citation: 135 Fla. 642,185 So. 451
• Parties: STATE v. CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG.
• Decision Date: 27 December 1938
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

185 So. 451

135 Fla. 642

STATE v. CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG.

Florida Supreme Court

December 27, 1938

Proceeding by the City of St. Petersburg, a municipal corporation against the State to validate gas plant revenue certificates issued by the City of St. Petersburg. From a decree of validation, the State appeals.

Affirmed. Appeal from Circuit Court, Pinellas County; T Frank Hobson, judge.

COUNSEL

Chester B. McMullen, of Clearwater, for the State.

Carroll R. Runyon, Lewis T. Wray, and Harry I. Young, all of St Petersburg, for appellee.

OPINION

TERRELL Chief Justice.

In November, 1938, the City Council of the City of St Petersburg adopted a resolution authorizing the issuance of $238,000 of Gas Plant Revenue Certificates hereinafter referred to as 'certificates' for the purpose of constructing a Utilities Administration Building, the said certificates to be payable solely from the net revenues derived from services rendered by the Municipal Gas Plant of the City, and to be issued without an approving vote of the taxpayers as contemplated by Section 6, Article 9 of the Constitution.

The resolution was predicated on a finding of fact that the City of St. Petersburg was the owner and operator of its Municipal Gas Plant which had for years paid a net income over operating expenses, that the construction of a Utilities Administration Building is essential and necessary, that the present Utilities Administration Building is totally inadequate, is unsafe, antiquated, and does not begin to respond to the present and growing needs of the City, that the City is authorized by resolution to issue said certificates and that the net income from the Gas Plant is sufficient to pay said certificates as they mature in addition to operating and other expenses.

Petition to validate said certificates was filed in the Circuit Court November 22, 1938, order to show cause and notice to taxpayers was duly given and published as required by law. Answer was filed, testimony was taken as to all material facts and requirements and on final hearing, a decree was entered validating the certificates. The instant appeal is from the decree of validation.

Seven questions are urged here for reversal of the validating decree. Some of them are in reality questions of fact, on which we deem the finding of the City final or they are such as have no legal bearing on the validity of the certificates and are not treated in...