State v. Manatee County Port Authority
| Decision Date | 14 December 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 35386,35386 |
| Citation | 193 So.2d 162 |
| Parties | The STATE of Florida et al., Appellant, v. MANATEE COUNTY PORT AUTHORITY, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Paul Antinori, Jr., Tampa, and John Burton, for appellant.
Richard A. Hampton, of Goodrich, Hampton & Boylston, Bradenton, for appellee.
This appeal brings to us the decree of the Circuit Court of Manatee County, dated 2 May 1966, validating Manatee County Port Authority Revenue Bonds in the amount of 18.5 million dollars proposed to be issued to construct port facilities at a place called Piney Point.
The petition to validate the bonds was filed by the Board of County Commissioners of Manatee County in their capacity as Manatee County Port Authority.
An exhaustive presentation is made here of the source of revenue for the retirement of the bonds, the anticipated commerce which would be drawn to the port, the equipment required to operate the facility, the effect of the installation upon the Port of Tampa, the convenience of the loading facilities and their accessibility to the phosphate fields in the Lakeland-Bartow area and, generally, on the advantages to the immediate territory and the disadvantages to the Port of Tampa, away from which the business would be drained.
It is proposed to acquire 570 acres of land, 327.5 acres of which would be immediately devoted to development of facilities for loading phosphate on ocean going ships and a sizeable part of the proceeds from the bonds would be used to construct a 14,000 foot channel, 400 feet in width and 35 feet in depth, with a turning basin connecting the installation with the present channel in Tampa Bay, so that phosphate could be transferred by ships to the open sea.
The record indicates that 60 per cent of the land to be acquired and 98 per cent of the land improved will be devoted to the phosphate facility. A relatively small area adjacent to the space assigned to load ships with phosphate would be useable for the handling of general cargo.
It appears from the record that a phosphate loading elevator with incidental trackage sheds and storage facilities costing at least $12,500,000 would occupy the 327.5 acres of the development to which we have alluded. A slip is intended to be constructed next to the elevator especially designed to load phosphate.
The pivotal and vital feature in this litigation is the lease to the railroads, Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Airline, which has already been executed, granting what appears to be exclusive use of the phosphate loading facilities for 40 years, with privilege of renewal for a like period For use of the property the railroads are to pay $749,440 yearly, plus maintenance costs of the facility and a substantial amount of the expenditures for the upkeep of the channel.
Many questions have emerged from the voluminous record consisting of 216 pages of pleadings, 316 pages of testimony and 710 pages of exhibits and are presented in seven briefs, totaling 231 pages, and the questions posed are many and varied. For instance, the validity of Chapter 315, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., is Challenged; the ruling of the trial court on the failure of Manatee County Port Authority to get approval of Hillsborough County and Tampa Port Authority for construction of the improvement is questioned; the pledge of race track funds to payment of the bonds is criticized, and so on.
Despite the interest of counsel who have diligently and, we may say, expertly presented them, we think the primary question determinative of this litigation is whether or not the proposed issue and the operation in respect of it offends against Section 10 of Article IX of the Constitution, F.S.A.. If it does, then discussion of the ancillary questions would become merely academic. Further, to bring the problem into clearer focus, we must go a bit further with the factual background to determine just how much of the proposed improvement is to redound to private enterprise in proportion to the amount available for public use.
It appears that the improvement, except the relatively small space for the accomodation of general cargo, is designed for the handling of phosphate and phosphate products to be delivered to the dock by two railroads, the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line. Not only is such a plan obvious, but the Port Authority has already,...
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Orange County Indus. Development Authority v. State
...generally proscribing industrial revenue bonds as an invalid lending of public credit for private purposes. See State v. Manatee County Port Authority, 193 So.2d 162 (Fla.1966); State v. Town of North Miami, 59 So.2d 779 (Fla.1952). It was only where the private benefit was strictly inciden......
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State v. Dade County by Bd. of County Com'rs, Dade County Port Authority, 36867
...in nature as to warrant them in approving the plan of financing. Likewise is there a distinction in State of Florida et al. v. Manatee County Port Authority, 193 So.2d 162 (Fla.1966), from the one now before us. In the Manatee case the overall purpose was private rather than It is our concl......
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State v. Jacksonville Port Authority
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