Source: http://www.myfloridalegal.com/ago.nsf/Opinions/278FB2200F118C408525801200642CE7
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 09:17:53+00:00

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RE: CHARTER SCHOOLS – MUNICIPALITIES – SPECIAL ASSESSMENT – EXEMPTION – whether the city may levy a special assessment against the property of a charter school.
May a municipality levy a special assessment against the property of a charter school under Chapter 170 of the Florida Statutes?
Section 1002.33(18)(d), Florida Statutes, specifically exempts charter schools from assessments for special benefits; hence, the city may not levy a special assessment against the school.
You suggest that the final phrase in section 170.201(2) – “if a municipality so desires” – gives municipalities the discretion to choose whether to recognize an exemption from a special assessment for a charter school.
In 2006, the Fifth District Court of Appeal considered whether a charter school was subject to a special assessment levied by a community development district located in Osceola County, in Remington Community Development District v. Education Foundation of Osceola. The charter school claimed it was exempt from special assessments based upon a statute in the Education Code, but the court pointed out that such provision, as well as most of the statutes in the Code, did not apply to charter schools. The court considered the provision that you rely upon – section 170.201(2), Florida Statutes – in a footnote, observing that it was “not a model of legislative clarity,” and that it appeared to give the levying authority the discretion whether to impose an assessment against school property. This is consistent with your interpretation.
Any ambiguity or possible conflict between sections 1002.33(18)(d) and 170.201(2), Florida Statutes, is resolved by general rules of statutory interpretation. The Legislature is presumed to intend that laws will operate harmoniously, such that a specific statute addressing a particular subject will control over a more general statute addressing the same subject. “[T]he specific statute is seen as an exception to the general statute.” In addition, in the event of inconsistency between statutes, “the last expression of legislative will prevails.” Section 170.201(2), Florida Statutes, is a general provision addressing exemptions from assessments for a variety of public facilities “if the municipality so desires,” and was enacted in 1996. In contrast, section 1002.33(18)(d), Florida Statutes, addresses only charter schools, provides an express and definite exemption, and was added in 2007.
Therefore, it is my opinion that section 1002.33(18)(d), Florida Statutes, controls and prohibits the City of Miami from levying a special assessment against a charter school.
 941 So. 2d 15 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006).
 Section 1002.33(16)(a), Fla. Stat., exempts charter schools from all the provisions in Chs. 1000 through 1013, Fla. Stat., except for those enumerated in the statute.
 941 So. 2d at 17 n.1.
 Id. at 17 n.3. On motion for rehearing, the Fifth District granted the charter school’s motion to certify two questions of great public importance, one of which asked: “Are charter schools, which are deemed by statute to be public schools, exempt from special assessments?” Id. at 18. The Florida Supreme Court denied review. Educ. Found. of Osceola v. Remington Cmty. Dev. District, 946 So. 2d 1069 (Fla. 2006).
 In the session law that contained the assessment amendment, the Legislature singled out the provision amending paragraph (18)(d) to apply retroactively to July 1, 1996, ten years earlier. Ch. 2007-234, s. 10, Laws of Fla.
 See Palm Beach Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1273, 1287 (Fla. 2000); McKendry v. State, 641 So. 2d 45, 46 (Fla. 1994).
 Stevens v. State, 127 So. 3d 668, 669-70 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013).
 Askew v. Schuster, 331 So. 2d 297, 300 (Fla. 1976). See also In re Sepe, 421 So. 2d 27, 28 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).

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