State v. City of Jacksonville

• Decision Date: 05 January 1951
• Citation: 50 So.2d 532
• Parties: STATE et al. v. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 532

50 So.2d 532

STATE et al. v. CITY OF JACKSONVILLE.

Supreme Court of Florida, en Banc.

Jan. 5, 1951.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 24, 1951.

Herman Ulmer, William A. Carter, and Stockton, Ulmer & Murchison, and William A. Hallowes, III, all of Jacksonville, for appellants.

William M. Madison and Giles J. Patterson, Jacksonville, for appellee.

Fred H. Kent, Jacksonville, and Henry L. Gray, Gainesville, amici curiae.

SEBRING, Justice.

This appeal involves the right of the City of Jacksonville to issue revenue certificates to finance the installation in its municipally owned radio station of equipment for broadcasting television programs.

On March 21, 1950 the City of Jacksonville filed its petition in the Circuit Court of Duval County for the validation of what it described as 'Radio Station Revenue Certificate in the aggregate principal amount of $400,000 to aid in Financing the Cost of the Enlargement, Extension and Improvement of the Municipal Radio Broadcasting Station.' The State of Florida and certain intervenors answered the petition, alleging that the equipment and facilities proposed to be acquired constituted the component parts of a 'television' station, as distinguished from a 'radio' station and that the City had no legal authority to construct and operate the proposed facilities or to issue revenue certificates to finance the proposed project.

Evidence was presented on the issues and at final hearing the trial judge entered his decree in which he found and decreed that the City of Jacksonville has owned, maintained and operated a municipal radio broadcasting station since the fall of 1925, has improved its equipment and facilities from time to time, and now finds it necessary and desirable to install television equipment and facilities therein; that the existing facilities of the station are inadequate to meet the demands, requirements and progress of modern developments in the fields of audible and visual radio transmission and that the facilities proposed are essential in order to provide the operating conditions and facilities necessary to guarantee continued service by the station, to obtain the greatest public benefit therefrom, and to protect the investment of the City and its citizens; that the construction, installation and use of the equipment and facilities, which will permit the broadcast of both sound and vision by radio, commonly known as television, will be an improvement, extension and enlargement of the present radio station and not the construction of an entirely new and different station for television broadcasting; that the present radio station has contributed, and with the addition of television equipment will continue to contribute, to the recreation, entertainment, education, happiness, contentment and general welfare of the citizens of the City; that the applicable statutes and ordinances authorize the City to make the contemplated improvements, extensions and enlargements and to issue revenue certificates to finance the construction thereof; that the certificates to be issued are to be paid from net revenues derived from the operation of the radio station, and will not directly, indirectly, or contingently obligate the City to levy or pledge any form of taxation for their payment or make any appropriation out of other City funds therefor; that the City will have no power to levy or pledge any form of taxation for the payment of the principal of or the interest on said certificates; and that the revenues from the operation of the broadcasting station will be sufficient for the purpose of financing the project.

An appeal has been taken from this ruling, the defendants raising as primary questions for determination (1) whether the operation of the municipally-owned broadcasting station by the City of Jacksonville constitutes a municipal purpose; (2) whether the statutory grant of power authorizing the City to acquire, construct, own and operate radio broadcasting stations and all improvements as the City may deem necessary or desirable for use in connection therewith is broad enough to include and embrace the installation and use of television equipment in the City's radio broadcasting station; and (3) whether statutory authority exists for financing the installation of television facilities by certificates of indebtedness which are to be issued without an approving vote of the freeholders.

That the legislature may validly confer proprietary functions and powers upon municipal corporations is not open to question. What shall constitute a municipal function is for the legislature to determine and its decision in the matter will not be subject to interference by the courts unless a clear abuse of discretion is shown. See Saunders v. City of Jacksonville, 157 Fla. 240, 25 So.2d 648; State v. Florida State Improvement Commission, Fla., 47 So.2d 627. The City of Jacksonville derives its authority to operate and maintain a municipally-owned radio broadcasting station from chapter 10711, Laws of Florida 1925, as amended by chapter 11565, Laws of Florida, Ex.Sess. 1925, which reads as follows:

'The City of Jacksonville shall have the power, and it is hereby authorized to acquire, construct, own and operate * * * radio broadcasting stations * * * and all such buildings and improvements as said City may deem necessary or desirable for use in connection therewith * * * and said City may charge reasonable admission to or rentals or fees for the use or enjoyment of any of the aforesaid improvements, facilities or things, and may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations for the use and operation thereof.'

'That * * * radio broadcasting stations * * * set out in Section 1 of Chapter 10711 of the Laws of Florida, Acts of 1925, each and every, be and the same are hereby declared to be for municipal purposes and, as such, the City of Jacksonville is hereby empowered and authorized to acquire, construct, own and operate the same.'

In the light of the modern concept as to what may constitute a municipal purpose we are unable to say that the determination by the legislature that the City of Jacksonville should be empowered and authorized to acquire, construct, own and operate a radio broadcasting station and to make improvements thereto, constituted a 'clear abuse of discretion.' Though there was a time when a municipal purpose was restricted to police protection or such enterprises as were strictly governmental that concept has been very much expanded and a municipal purpose may now comprehend all activities essential to the health, morals, protection and welfare of the municipality. See Saunders v. City of Jacksonville, 157 Fla. 240, 25 So.2d 648. We hold that the maintenance and operation of the radio broadcasting station by the City, and the making of improvements thereto, constitute a valid municipal purpose.

The second question presented by the defendants relates to the right of the City of Jacksonville to install television equipment in its present radio broadcasting station. The defendants maintain that no such right exists for the reason that the statutes upon which the City relies for the exercise of the right make no mention of television (the word 'television' being commercially unknown at the time of the enactment of the statutes) and that the power of the City to own and operate radio broadcasting stations and to make enlargements, extensions or improvements thereto does not carry with it the implied power to make the installations contemplated.

Many pages of testimony were taken on this issue in the court below; particularly as to whether the installation of television equipment in the City broadcasting station would amount to the construction of a new and separate station or would merely be an enlargement, extension and improvement of existing facilities. The evidence on the issue was in hopeless conflict. Testimony offered by the defendants' witnesses was to the effect that 'in the terminology of radio and television' the construction of a television station would constitute something more than a mere extension, enlargement or improvement of a radio station and would be 'the creation of a new business entirely.' Testimony given by plaintiff's witnesses (at least one of whom was conceded by defendants' counsel to be an expert in the field of radio communications) was that a new station would not be created by the introduction of the facilities contemplated, because television was only 'a new and improved phase of broadcasting by the same station,' that radio and television were 'two distinct phases of a single function.'

Upon this issue the trial judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff; his finding being that 'The construction, installation, and use of equipment and facilities, such as are set forth in the Petition herein which permits Radio Station WJAX to broadcast both sound and vision by radio, commonly known as television, is an improvement extension and enlargement to said Municipal Radio Broadcasting Station.'

Pages of scientific data and argument have been inserted in the briefs filed by the defendants on this appeal for the purpose of demonstrating the error of this ruling; but inasmuch as there is substantial, competent evidence in the record to sustain the findings of the trial judge the conclusions reached by him on the issue will not be disturbed.

In the present case the grant of power to the City is broad, comprehensive and prospective in nature. Under the statute the City not only is empowered to operate and maintain radio broadcasting stations but also to acquire such buildings, enlargements, extensions...