State v. Everglades Drainage Dist.

• Decision Date: 05 January 1945
• Citation: 155 Fla. 403,20 So.2d 397
• Parties: STATE v. EVERGLADES DRAINAGE DIST. et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

20 So.2d 397

155 Fla. 403

STATE v. EVERGLADES DRAINAGE DIST. et al.

Florida Supreme Court

January 5, 1945

Rehearing Denied Jan. 29, 1945.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Broward County; George W. Tedder judge.

J. Tom Watson, Atty. Gen., and Lamar Warren and Fred M. Burns, Asst Attys. Gen., for appellant.

Giles J Patterson, of Jacksonville, and M. Lewis Hall, of Miami, for appellees.

TERRELL, Justice.

This suit was brought by the Attorney General in the name of the State against the Board of Commissioners of Everglades Drainage District and others to secure a declaratory judgment as to the validity of Everglades Drainage District taxes upon the following classes of State lands:

(a) Murphy lands owned by the State under Chapter 18296, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1937, F.S.A. § 192.35 et seq.:

(b) Settlement lands acquired by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund in a settlement with the Board of Commissioners of Everglades Drainage District under Section 65, Chapter 14717, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1931, F.S.A. ch 298 Appendix § 1530(66);

(c) Swamp and overflow lands held by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund under the Swamp Land Grant Act of Congress;

(d) Reclaimed lands held by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund under Section 253.36, Florida Statutes, 1941, F.S.A. and Chapter 7861, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1919, F.S.A. ch. 298 Appendix § 1566 et seq.; and

(e) Sovereignty lands which vested in the State on its admission into the Union.

It is contended by the bill of complaint that State owned lands in the Everglades Drainage District cannot be taxed and that the attempt to make the lien of Everglades Drainage District taxes equal in dignity to the lien of State and County taxes on State owned lands is invalid because (1) the title of Chapter 14717, Acts of 1931, and amendments thereto, F.S.A ch. 298 Appendix § 1530(1) et seq., violate Section 16, Article 3 of the Constitution in that no intention is shown to tax State owned lands; (2) a tax on State owned lands is contrary to Section 4, Article 12 of the Constitution relating to the public school fund; (3) Section 298.36, Florida Statutes of 1941, F.S.A. in so far as it applies to Murphy lands and settlement lands is unconstitutional; (4) the title of Chapter 14717, Acts of 1931, is not sufficient to make the lien of State and County taxes and the lien of Everglades Drainage District taxes of equal dignity; (5) Murphy lands and settlement lands being tax forfeited lands are not subject to taxation; (6) reclaimed lands acquired by the State from the recission of Lake Okeechobee are not taxable; and (7) lake bottom or sovereignty lands are not taxable.

The Chancellor granted a motion to dismiss the bill of complaint on the theory that all questions raised by it had been answered contrary to the contention of the Attorney General in former decisions of this Court except the question of taxing lands in the bed of Lake Okeechobee, and as to such lands, he held that the applicable statutes would not be construed as being sufficient to tax them. The final decree also held that under Chapter 21820, Acts of 1943, F.S.A. § 87.01 et seq. (the act under which the bill was brought), the Attorney General was authorized to bring suit to construe statutes defining the power by State officers over lands owned by the State of Florida. This appeal is from the final decree.

Numerous questions are argued but the only question we are required to consider is whether or not this is such a suit as was authorized under Chapter 21820, Acts of 1943.

It may be admitted that the Attorney General is authorized to bring suit to construe Statutes of Florida relating to the power of State officers over lands belonging to the State but the instant suit goes much farther than that, and for the reasons stated hereafter, we do not think a suit like this was contemplated by Chapter 21820, Acts of 1943.

The Everglades is a portion of the vast domain that was acquired by the State of Florida from the Federal Government under the Swamp Land Grant Act of 1850, 43 U.S.C.A. § 982 et seq. The movement to drain the Everglades had its inception more than 100 years ago but no definite policy looking to that end was formulated until Honorable N. B. Broward became Governor. Governor Broward made his campaign on that issue and commenced drainage operations in 1903; the first drainage tax was imposed by Chapter 5377, Acts of 1905; this was increased by Chapter 5709, Acts of 1907, and in 1913, by Chapter 6456, the Everglades Drainage District was created, composed of approximately 4,000,000 acres of land, and an acreage tax, according to benefits, was spread over the entire area.

Chapter 6456, Acts of 1913, has been repeatedly amended, all amendments having to do with administration and zoning the area in the Everglades Drainage District so as to graduate the tax according to benefits. Prior to 1931, the Board of Commissioners...