State v. Inter-American Center Authority

• Decision Date: 13 December 1955
• Docket Number: INTER-AMERICAN
• Citation: 84 So.2d 9
• Parties: STATE of Florida and the taxpayers, property owners and citizens thereof, including nonresidents owning property or subject to taxation therein, Appellants, v.CENTER AUTHORITY, a public corporation and an agency of theState of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 9

84 So.2d 9

STATE of Florida and the taxpayers, property owners and citizens thereof, including nonresidents owning property or subject to taxation therein, Appellants, v. INTER-AMERICAN CENTER AUTHORITY, a public corporation and an agency of theState of Florida, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Florida, En Banc.

Dec. 13, 1955.

George A. Brautigam, State Atty., Miami, and John S. Lloyd, Asst. State Atty., Tallahassee, for appellants.

Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and Phillip Goldman, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

TERRELL, Justice.

The Legislature of 1951 enacted Chapter 26614, now Chapter 554, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., creating the Inter-American Center Authority (hereinafter referred to as the Center Authority) as an agency of the state, ratifying and confirming the members of said Authority, prescribing the jurisdiction, powers and duties of said Authority, authorizing it to construct, maintain, operate and provide for the establishment, construction and operation of an Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center hereinafter referred to as the Trade Center, in or near the City of Miami as a permanent enterprise, to acquire land and buildings to operate said Trade Center, to issue revenue bonds without pledging the credit of the state or any subdivision thereof to pay them and for other purposes. Said Act also authorized the State Road Department to designate all roads within the Trade Center and approaching it as a part of the state road system and to expend state road funds to construct, reconstruct, improve, repair and maintain said roads as part of the state road system.

Chapter 26614 was amended by the following acts: Chapter 29830, Acts of 1955, granting Center Authority additional powers, including the right to fix and collect charges for admission to the Trade Center, such right not to be affected by the construction or the improvement of roads in or approaching the Trade Center; Chapter 29828, Acts of 1955, F.S.A. § 554.27, providing for a foreign trade zone within the Trade Center; Chapter 29827, Acts of 1955, F.S.A. § 210.20, providing for payment to the Trade Center of cigarette taxes collected on cigarettes sold at retail on property of the Trade Center, less 2 1/2% for administration; Chapter 29829, Acts of 1955, F.S.A. § 561.20, amending Sec. 561.20, Florida Statutes, to permit the issuance of not exceeding three liquor licenses to qualified applicants within the Trade Center. Chapter 30990, Sp. Acts of 1955, authorizing the City of Miami to sell and convey to the Center Authority properties in Dade County known as 'The Graves Tract' and then authorized said Center Authority to lease or trade any part of said property for any lawful purpose of the Center Authority and in turn authorized the City of Miami to construct any buildings or structures on the property so conveyed upon terms and conditions mutually agreeable.

In 1954 the Center Authority employed Ebasco Services Incorporated, a nationally recognized firm of consulting engineers, to prepare a report on the feasibility of constructing an Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center in Dade County. In October 1954, Ebasco Services Incorporated filed its report recommending construction of the proposed Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center on sites including The Graves Tract at the upper and of Biscayne Bay, which recited their estimates of cost and capital requirements, their estimate of revenues it would produce, the cost of operation and maintenance expenses. The report recommended that construction of the proposed Trade Center was feasible and that it would be self-liquidating. The Ebasco report also found 'the functional purpose of the proposed center is to increase trade and strengthen cultural relations among the nations of the Western Hemisphere. This objective is to be accomplished mainly through industrial, commercial, educational and cultural exhibits of countries of the Western Hemisphere and other nations. The project is to be self-sustaining and self-liquidating and to assure adequate attendance and income, concessions are to be granted and attractions provided which will result in operations with mass appeal comparable to those of the New York and Chicago World's Fair.' The report, pages 5-6, then goes on in more detail to define the ways and means by which these results may be accomplished.

August 5, 1955, the Center Authority adopted a resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds and the execution of a trust indenture securing them, the trust indenture being included in the bond resolution. The resolution and the trust indenture provided for the issuance of $70,000,000 in the bonds of the Center Authority to pay the cost of the Trade Center, such bonds to consist of two series, $43,000,000 to be designated 'Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center Revenue Bonds, Series A' and $27,000,000 to be designated 'Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center Revenue Bonds, Series B,' said bonds to be dated June 1, 1955, and to mature December 1, 1985, subject to redemption on or after December 1, 1961, Series A Bonds at premiums ranging downward from 6% and Series B Bonds at premiums ranging downward from 12%; Series A Bonds also subject to redemption on or after June 1, 1958, at a premium of 4% as defined in the trust indenture which provides the manner in which both series of bonds be expended. Notice and order to show cause was seasonably given and published, the state attorney on behalf of the State of Florida answered and at final hearing the court entered the decree dated September 9, 1955, validating the bonds. This appeal is from the validating decree.

It is first contended that the validation decree was unauthorized and unnecessary because Chapter 554, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., enables the Center Authority to issue bonds without any other proceedings.

It is true that Sec. 554.08(2), Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides that 'such bonds may be issued without any other proceedings,' but it does not prohibit validation proceedings and Sec. 554.18, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides that bonds issued by the Center Authority 'may be validated and confirmed by the circuit court of Dade county under the provisions of Chapter 75, Florida Statutes,' which applies to every kind of a taxing unit known to the state 'including also state agencies, commissions and departments authorized by law to issue bonds may, if deemed expedient, determine its authority to incur bonded debt or issue certificates of indebtedness and the legality of all proceedings in connection therewith, including proper cases, any assessment of taxes levied or to be levied, the lien of such taxes, and of proceedings or other remedies for their collection.'

In State v. City of Miami, 113 Fla. 280, 152 So. 6, 8, this court reviewed the history and purpose of the validation statute, Chapter 75, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., and since that decision it appears that Sec. 75.02 was amended in 1949 to include state agencies, commissions and departments authorized to issue bonds. So whether it was 'necessary' to validate the bonds in question was a matter for the Center Authority to decide and having so decided, the court was authorized to entertain jurisdiction of the validation proceedings. It is now the universal practice to validate bonds to remove questions raised as to their constitutional validity and proceedings for issuing them. See North Shore Bank v. Town of Surfside, Fla., 72 So.2d 659.

Appellants also contend that it was error for the chancellor to pronounce in his validation decree that the proposed bonds were for a public purpose when congress and the legislature had passed resolutions to like effect and evidence taken at the validation proceedings indicated that private enterprise would be primarily benefitted. We do not think there is any merit to this contention. Chapter 26614 recognizes that the continued prosperity and development of the United States and the State of Florida in particular, require improved relationships and increased trade with Latin-American Republics and other countries. Hence, creation of an Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center in Florida was unanimously endorsed by Congress and the President, Joint Res. Sept. 27, 1950, Public Law 853, 64 Stat. 1075. To make the assertions charged in the validation decree was purely discretionary and did not add to or subtract from its force or validity.

It is next contended that the construction of an Inter-American Cultural and Trade Center is not a public purpose and therefore violates Section 10, Article IX of the Constitution, F.S.A.

The functional and the overall purpose of the Trade Center we have alluded to in the forepart of this opinion by quoting from the Ebasco report. In numerous decisions of this court we have approved the imposition of taxes as being in aid of a public purpose. State v. City of Miami, Fla., 76 So.2d 294, dealing with an international trade mart; State v. Town of North Miami, Fla., 59 So.2d 779, 783, having to do with an advertising tax; C. V. Floyd Fruit Co. v. Florida Citrus Commission, 128 Fla. 565, 175 So. 248, 112 A.L.R. 562, approving a tax on citrus fruits for advertising purposes; State v. City of Daytona Beach, 160 Fla. 13, 33 So.2d 218, in which we upheld a tax for the construction of an auditorium, stadium, boat basin and a Negro recreational center designed to enhance the attractiveness of the city as a resort center; State v. Escambia County, Fla., 52 So.2d 125, in which we approved a tax for better recreational facilities for the local and the general public; Starlight Corp. v. City of Miami Beach, Fla., 57 So.2d 6, relating to the use of the municipal auditorium. In all of these cases we approved bond issues or taxes to encourage recreational, business or other facilities for a public purpose. Since the erection of a Trade Center is designed to strengthen cultural relations among the countries of the Western Hemisphere, it can not be said...