CopyCited 6 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 20083, 2014 WL 6910673
... reading of applicable state statutes compels the conclusion that the
property appraiser’s view of her budgetary process is correct, so we affirm
the order granting a writ of mandamus.2
Factual Background
By way of background, section 195.087, Florida Statutes (2013),
requires the Florida Department of Revenue (“the FDOR”) to determine the
budget for each county’s property appraiser....
...Under this statute, on or
before June 1 of each year, property appraisers must submit to the FDOR
“a budget for the operation of the property appraiser’s office for the ensuing
fiscal year beginning October 1,” and furnish a copy of such budget to the
subject county’s commissioners. § 195.087(1)(a), Fla....
...circulation in the county as provided in subsection (3), its intent to
finally adopt a millage rate and budget. A public hearing to finalize
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hearing to finalize the county’s budget and set its millage rate.
§ 195.087(1)(b), Fla....
...ser’s projected budget to
$14,886,000.
Notwithstanding the Board’s position on her budget, on May 31, 2013,
the property appraiser submitted to the FDOR her office’s proposed 2014
fiscal year budget, requesting $18,819,000. Consistent with section
195.087(1), the FDOR reviewed the budget request, made certain
amendments and changes, and on July 11, 2013, notified both the
property appraiser and the Board that it reached a tentative budget for the
office of $18,712,207....
...4
fiscal budget that appropriated less funds to the property appraiser than
the amount approved by the FDOR. During the hearing, Commissioner
Martin David Kiar moved to approve the property appraiser’s budget as set
by the FDOR, arguing that under section 195.087(1)’s statutory scheme,
a property appraiser “is entitled and should receive the Department of
Revenue approved budget.” In a sentiment joined by several
commissioners and the mayor, Commissioner Kiar explained:
[...
...After the county
countered with an offer of $3,963,750.00, the property appraiser filed a
petition for writ of mandamus in the circuit court against the Board,
requesting that the Board be compelled “to fully fund the [FDOR] approved
Fiscal Year-2014 operation budget, as required per Florida Statutes, §§
192.091 and
195.087.” Aside from the irreparable harm caused by her
inability to carry out her statutory duty, the property appraiser argued
that “[b]ecause the county commission’s duty to adhere to the [FDOR’s]
final budget is wholly ministerial, its refusal to fully fund the [p]roperty
[a]ppraiser [wa]s the ....
...type of agency inaction that mandamus is
designed to redress.”
After the trial court entered an alternative writ of mandamus,5 the
Board responded by characterizing the petition as an “improper attempt
to circumvent the exclusive appellate procedures established by the
Florida Legislature” in section 195.087(1)(b), involving an appeal to the
Administration Commission....
...entered a final order granting the property appraiser’s mandamus petition,
compelling the Board to “immediately fund [the property appraiser’s]
budget in accordance” with the FDOR’s final budget determination. In so
ruling, the trial court noted that while section 195.087(1)(b) provides either
the property appraiser or board of county commissioners the ability to
appeal the FDOR’s final budget determination to the Administration
5“If a petition for writ of mandamus shows a prima facie case for re...
...4th DCA 2012) (citing
Anthony v. Gary J. Rotella & Assocs., P.A.,
906 So. 2d 1205 (Fla. 4th DCA
2005)).
As its primary issue on appeal, the Board asserts the property appraiser
lacks a clear legal right sufficient to warrant mandamus relief since neither
section
195.087’s “statutory scheme nor case law expressly addresses a
duty to provide interim funding” in the amount approved by the FDOR,
where an appeal is pending with the Administration Commission....
...1970).
To place this issue in its proper context, it is essential to grasp the
FDOR’s role in establishing a county property appraiser’s budget, as
established by the Legislature. Thus, we begin our analysis by discussing
why the Legislature, through section 195.087(1)6, interjected the FDOR—
6S ection 195.087(1)(a), Florida Statutes (2013), provides in full as follows:
On or before June 1 of each year, every property appraiser,
regardless of the form of county government, shall submit to the
Department of Revenue a budg...
...408, 415-16 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2002)
(detailing the FDOR’s relationship with property appraisers).
8In the statute’s initial 1941 iteration, this responsibility fell upon the state’s
elected comptroller. See Ch. 41-20722, Laws of Fla.
9Section195.087(2), Florida Statutes (2013), still applies substantially the same
budget review system for tax collectors.
-8-
In 1973, the Legislature “substantially reworded” this budget review
scheme by enacting section 195.087, which provided the FDOR with
appreciably more guidance and safeguards, particularly as applied to
property appraisers....
...Att’y Gen. Fla. 73-389 (1973); see also In re Polygraphex Sys., Inc.,
275
B.R. 408, 414 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2002) (stating that the “main thrust” of
Chapter 195 “is to ensure uniformity in the collection and assessment of
property taxes”).
Viewing section
195.087 through this lens, with the insertion of the
FDOR as the arbitrator between property appraisers and county
commissioners in the budgetary process, the Legislature sought to shield
property appraisers from local political pressure to a...
...proposed budget,
without the distraction of the next election.
These considerations underscore why condoning the Board’s course of
action in this case would not only be contrary to the Legislature’s intent
but problematic in practice. Under section 195.087’s budget review
system, the board of county commissioners assumes the role of advocate
rather than decision-maker. As articulated by the Attorney General in
1997 when discussing section 197.087(2), which applies to an analogous
review for tax collectors, while section 195.087 “requires that a copy of the
budget be furnished to the board of county commissioners, it does not
provide for, or otherwise require, approval by the county commission.” Op.
Att’y Gen....
...Emphasis added). The
statute further directs that payments to the property appraiser “shall be
made quarterly by each such taxing authority.” §
192.091(1)(b), Fla.
Stat. (2013). (Emphasis added). These provisions, when read in pari
materia with section
195.087, express the legislative desire that the
FDOR’s final budgetary decision serve as the property appraiser’s
definitive budget for billing purposes....
...Rather, as section
192.091(1)(a) dictates, the FDOR’s budgetary determination must be
honored until a budget amendment or a decision by the Administration
Commission replaces it.
This notion is strengthened by the discretionary nature of the
Administration Commission’s appellate review. Pursuant to section
195.087(1)(b),10 the Administration Commission is neither compelled to
Section
195.087(1)(b) provides in full:
10
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hear budgetary appeals from the property appraiser or the board of county
commissioners, nor required to provide a timetable for making its decision.
Rather,...
...y be used and expended in
the same manner and to the same extent as funds budgeted for the
office and no budget amendment shall be required.
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To combat this conclusion, the Board contends section
195.087(1)(b)’s
linking of the deadline to file an appeal with the Administration
Commission to fifteen days after the conclusion of a section
200.065(2)(d)
hearing evidences the Legislature’s intent that county commissioners be
permitted to set an interim budget pending appeal....
