Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...We are unpersuaded, moreover, that the limitations, which the city has in fact placed on fees collected pursuant to Dunedin, Fla., Code §§ 25-31, 25-71(c) and (d), can suffice to make those fees "just and equitable", within the meaning of Fla. Stat. § 180.13(2) (1973)....

...There are no provisions in Chapter 180, Florida Statutes, expressly governing capital acquisition other than through deficit financing, [8] but it is provided that the "legislative body of the municipality... may establish just and equitable rates or charges" for water and sewerage. Fla. Stat. § 180.13(2) (1973)....

...Aurora Sanitary District, 23 Ill.2d 109, 177 N.E.2d 214 (1961); Home Builders Ass'n of Greater Salt Lake v. Provo City, 28 Utah 2d 402, 503 P.2d 451 (1972). It is also established that differential utility rates and charges may be "just and equitable". Fla. Stat. § 180.13(2) (1973); Hayes v....

...See Clein v. Lee, 146 Fla. 306, 200 So. 693, 694 (1941) ("He who enjoys the benefit without participating in the burden does so at the expense of those who pay."). [5] For purposes of paying its utility bills, DOT is a "person" within the meaning of section 180.13(2), Florida Statutes (2000), which provides: The city council, or other legislative body of the municipality, by whatever name known, may establish just and equitable rates or charges to be paid to the municipality for the use of the u...

...For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the legislature intended to include the state and its agencies within the meaning of "persons" as used in section 704.01. Here, too, context requires reading "person" to include state agencies. For the same reasons the balancing of interests test takes into account, section 180.13(2), Florida Statutes (2000), should not be construed to exempt state agencies from having to pay for municipal utility services....

...ls all special acts or general laws of local application to the extent they conflict with section 235.26, the section has no effect on three provisions in the statutes that are general laws of general application — sections 153.83, 153.11(1)(b) and 180.13(2)....

...unty agency. Obviously as already indicated the subject amendment does not conflict with that, as the legislature is not such an agency and the exemption provision here under attack does not give the school board supervisory or regulatory authority. Section 180.13(2) authorized fixing and collecting of municipal utilities rates and charges....

...§ 180.22 (1985) grants municipalities the power of eminent domain in connection with the activities authorized by Chapter 180 while Fla.Stat. § 166.411 (1985) authorizes the use of eminent domain for, among other municipal purposes, the use of water pipes, sewage and drainage purposes, and Fla.Stat. § 180.13 (1985) grants the power to fix water rates....

...The court below concluded that the connection charge was, in reality, a tax. If this is so, it cannot be sustained because a municipality cannot impose a tax, other than ad valorem taxes, unless authorized by general law. [2] In construing Fla. Stat. § 180.13 (1971) our Supreme Court in Cooksey v....

...City of Miami, 1946, 157 Fla. 726, 27 So.2d 118. In our view, connection fees such as those involved in this case do not constitute a tax [3] but a charge which may be made for the use of the utility service pursuant to the authority of its charter and Fla. Stat. § 180.13 (1971), [4] providing they meet the criteria hereafter set forth....

...es within the meaning of "persons" as used in section 704.01. Layton, 402 So.2d at 598; see also City of Gainesville v. State, Dep't of Transp., 778 So.2d 519, 528 n. 5 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)(Department of Transportation is a "person" within meaning of section 180.13(2), Florida Statutes (2000))....

...Although the City concedes that its stormwater utility was enacted under Chapter 403, it contends Chapter 180's waiver of sovereign immunity as to certain utilities also applies to the City's stormwater utility. In support of its position, the City relies on section 180.13(2), Florida Statutes (2009), which provides as follows: The city counsel, or other legislative body of the municipality, by whatever name known, may establish just and equitable rates or charges to be paid to the municipality for the u...

...(Emphasis added). Relying on the above contentions, and the fact that the First District in City of Gainesville v. Florida Department of Transportation, 778 So.2d 519, 529 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001) (" Gainesville I ") concluded that the word "person" in section 180.13 includes "state agencies," the City argues that section 180.13 authorizes the City to recover the College's unpaid stormwater utility fees "by suit in court" and, therefore, expressly waives sovereign immunity. We conclude that Chapter 180, and specifically section 180.13, does not apply to stormwater utilities....

...y enacted its stormwater utility under Chapter 403; (3) Chapter 180 does not expressly waive sovereign immunity; and (4) sovereign immunity must be expressly waived, we find that the waiver of sovereign immunity as to certain enumerated utilities in section 180.13 cannot and does not by inference apply to the City's stormwater utility fees....

...ter 180."). Alternatively, the City contends that even if stormwater utility services were not originally included in Chapter 180, the 2006 addition of section 180.03(3) brought stormwater utilities within the purview of Chapter 180, and, therefore, section 180.13's waiver of sovereign immunity now applies to stormwater utility fees....

...ame at its pleasure, after conducting a public hearing or hearings pertaining to rate changes." Appellant contends that the foregoing act is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. We find that the standards laid down in Florida Statute § 180.13(2), F.S.A....

...ing rates. [4] Accordingly, the order of the trial court, denying summary judgment and upholding the validity of Chapter 67-1754, Laws of Florida, is affirmed. It is so ordered. ROBERTS, C.J., and ERVIN, McCAIN and DEKLE, JJ., concur. NOTES [1] F.S. § 180.13(2), F.S.A.: "The city council, or other legislative body of the municipality, ......

...§ 180.22 (1985) grants municipalities the power of eminent domain in connection with the activities authorized by Chapter 180 while Fla.Stat. § 166.411 (1985) authorizes the use of eminent domain for, among other municipal purposes, the use of water pipes, sewage and drainage pur *714 poses, and Fla.Stat. § 180.13 (1985) grants the power to fix water rates....

...rate. When the city declined after hearings before the city council, the unit owners brought this action for a refund of what they argued were overcharges or "phantom" charges. The trial judge granted a summary judgment in their favor. He found that section 180.13(2), Florida Statutes (1989), required that the city's rates be just and equitable....

...erse. Whether to charge a condominium building for waste collection and removal on the basis of how many containers are necessary or on the basis of how many residential units there are in the building is a legislative judgment for the city to make. § 180.13(1), Fla....

...Nor does this record betray why the city should not be able to charge the greater of the two, if it has provided by ordinance as here that that is what it will charge. We certainly can see nothing inherently unjust or inequitable in charging on the basis used here. The term "just and equitable" as used in section 180.13(2) is a brake primarily on the legislative rate-making, not on later judicial review....

...es. Insofar as the City of Miami Beach has become a purveyor of water to other municipalities, it is acting as a public utility. In this connection, it is important that a city-owned and operated water plant is exempt from regulation. See Fla. Stat. § 180.13....

...[Footnote omitted.] 382 So.2d at 310-11. We agree with Judge Melvin. We perceive no constitutional infirmity. When all factors are considered, we find that the ordinances and the rates charged, are neither arbitrary, unreasonable, nor discriminatory. Section 180.13(2), Florida Statutes (1977) reads in part as follows: The city council, or other legislative body of the municipality, by whatever name known, may establish just and equitable rates or charges to be paid to the municipality for the use...

...1968, 216 So.2d 78, cited by appellant, is not determinative because there is no showing that any municipal function was involved. In City of Miami Beach v. City of North Bay Village, Fla.App. 1975, 313 So.2d 126 (1975), this court pointed out that because of Fla. Stat. § 180.13, a city-owned and operated water plan is exempt from ordinary regulation as to rates....

...isions of the United States Constitution as well as the Florida Constitution. The complaint also includes an action for relief from Defendant’s method of calculating deposits which is allegedly unreasonable, unjust and inequitable, in violation of § 180.13, Florida Statutes....

...The complaint in this case was filed August 24, 1990, and contained the following counts: 1) an action for relief against Defendant under provisions of the United States and Florida Constitutions, and 2) Defendant’s method of calculating deposits is unreasonable, unjust and inequitable, in violation of § 180.13, Florida Statutes....

...The Florida Statutes and Florida caselaw support Miami Shores' arguments that waste collection is indeed a traditional municipal function. See Fla. Stat. § 180.06(5) (1997) (authorizing municipalities to "provide for the collection and disposal of garbage"); id. § 180.13(2) (1997) (authorizing municipalities to "establish just and equitable rates or charges to be paid to the municipality for the use of [a] utility by each person, firm or corporation whose premises are served thereby"); United Sanitation Servs....

...of Directors of Lee County, 38 F.3d 1184, 1187-88 (11th Cir.1994)). Plaintiffs argue that Miami Shores fails both the second and third parts of the Crosby test. [6] In support of its assertion of state action immunity, Miami Shores relies on Florida Statutes §§ 180.06(5) and 180.13(2). Florida Statutes § 180.06(5) authorizes municipalities to "provide for the collection and disposal of garbage." Florida Statutes § 180.13(2), in turn, grants municipalities the power to "establish just and equitable rates or charges to be paid to the municipality for the use of [a] utility by each person, firm or corporation whose premises are served thereby ...." This Court concludes that Florida Statutes §§ 180.06(5) and 180.13(2) "generally authorize" Miami Shores to provide waste collection services, see Crosby, 93 F.3d at 1532, and also constitute a "clearly articulated and affirmatively expressed" state policy to displace competition in the area of waste collection....

...ection, and that the Court need not determine whether the Ordinance technically complies with the SWMA, as long as Florida has expressed a policy which contemplates anticompetitive behavior by the municipality. Although Fla. Stat. §§ 180.06(5) and 180.13(2) satisfy the state action test, thereby immunizing Miami Shores' anticompetitive behavior from the federal antitrust laws, the Court finds that Florida's SWMA expresses a policy supporting competition in waste processing involving "source-separated recovered materials" (SSRMs)....

the rates and charges be “just and equitable.” § 180.13, Fla.Stat. (1987). Under the Metropolitan Dade

...Federal Power Comm’n v. Hope Natural Gas Co., 320 U.S. 591 , 64 S.Ct. 281 , 88 L.Ed. 333 (1944); Cooksey v. Utilities Comm’n, 261 So.2d 129 (Fla.1972); Pinellas Apartment Ass’n., Inc. v. City of St. Petersburg, 294 So.2d 676 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974); § 180.13(2), Fla.Stat....

...the City of Key West’s argument that the Legislature had waived sovereign immunity in Chapters 403 and 180 “with respect to imposition of stormwater fees.” 81 So. 3d at 497. This Court reasoned “the waiver of sovereign immunity as to certain enumerated utilities in section 180.13 cannot and does not by inference apply to the City’s stormwater utility fees.” Id....

...e meaning of “persons” as used in section 704.01. Layton, 402 So.2d at 598 ; see also City of Gainesville v. State, Dep’t of Transp., 778 So.2d 519 , 528 n. 5 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)(Department of Transportation is a “person” within meaning of section 180.13(2), Florida Statutes (2000))....

collection for the services which they provide. Section 180.13(2), F. S., reads as follows: (2) The city

1971. See also ss. 159.17 and 159.18, F.S. Section 180.13(2), F.S., permits the city council to establish

the local water utility service. Pursuant to section 180.13, Florida Statutes, the governing body of a