Florida Statute 30.51 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title V
JUDICIAL BRANCH

Chapter 30
SHERIFFS

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30.51 Fees and commissions.—

(1) No bills shall be rendered to the county for any services, nor shall any fees, commissions, or other remuneration for official services as sheriff be paid by the board of county commissioners of any county to the sheriff of the county except as provided by this section. All fees, commissions and other remuneration provided by law for services other than criminal shall be charged by the said sheriff to other authorities and parties doing business with their offices, and shall be paid over to the county as provided in this section.

(2) The fees authorized, or a deposit sufficient to cover them, shall be collected in advance from the party who requests the service; provided, that services may be performed for any governmental agency or unit without advance payment, and the officer shall bill and collect the fees earned from such agency after the service is performed or when the amount due is determined.

(3) Deposits for fees shall be placed in a depository trust account. The officer who receives the deposit shall keep an account with the depositor, and shall withdraw monthly from the deposits the fees earned and shall remit them to the county fund or funds as provided by this section.

(4) Fees or commissions commingled when received with other official collections may be deposited with such other collections in the trust account or accounts and distributed to the county fund or funds at the time that the other collections, with which they were received, are distributed.

(5) All fees, commissions, or other funds collected by the sheriff for services rendered or performed by his or her office shall be remitted monthly to the county.

(6) No sheriff shall render to another county a bill for service of process in any criminal matter.

History.—s. 5, ch. 57-368; s. 1, ch. 59-365; s. 8, ch. 69-82; s. 190, ch. 95-147; s. 26, ch. 2001-266.

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Amendments to 30.51

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 30.51

Total Results: 4 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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Abusaid v. Hillsborough Cnty. Bd. of Cnty. Commissioners, 405 F.3d 1298 (11th Cir. 2005).

Cited 60 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 6341, 2005 WL 858296

...Moreover, any “fees, commissions, or other funds collected by the sheriff for services rendered or performed by his or her office shall be remitted monthly to the county,” suggesting that sheriffs are financially accountable to their counties, not to the state. Id. § 30.51(5). Florida law also gives sheriffs’ great independence in their day-to-day operations, stating: “The independence of the sheriffs shall be preserved 16 concerning the purchase of...

...§ 30.231. However, the fact that the state has an interest in ensuring the uniformity of these fees does not alter the more important fact that the sheriff is required to pay any fees he collects directly into the county treasury. Id. §§ 30.231(5); 30.51(5). Perhaps the most significant indication of residual state control over county sheriffs is that Florida law expressly enumerates a list of functions that sheriffs must perform....

...n[] in issue” -- namely, 25 enforcement of county ordinances.7 Moreover, a sheriff is required to pay to the county any fees, commissions, or other money earned by his office, see Fla. Stat. § 30.51(5), again suggesting that he is financially accountable to the county....

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Franklin v. Dade Cnty., 230 So. 2d 730 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970).

Cited 4 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal

so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. § 30-51. The other, relating to authorized emergency vehicles

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Alachua Cnty., etc. v. Clovis Watson, Jr., etc. (Fla. 2022).

Published | Supreme Court of Florida

...collected by the County, that the Sheriff is spending each year. It is for this reason that “[a]ll fees, commissions, or other funds collected by the sheriff for services rendered or performed by his or her office shall be remitted monthly to the county.” § 30.51(5)....

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Ago (Fla. Att'y Gen. 1978).

Published | Florida Attorney General Reports

and payrolls to the proper budget accounts. Section 30.51, F. S., requires all fees, commissions, or other

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