Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/the-dissolution-of-the-town-of-cedar-grove/
Timestamp: 2020-04-08 12:08:56
Document Index: 279540053

Matched Legal Cases: ['§2', '§165', '§165', '§165', '§165', '§171', '§165', '§165', '§165', '§165', '§607']

The Dissolution of the Town of Cedar Grove – The Florida Bar
Vol. 87, No. 5 May 2013 Pg 24 Terrell K. Arline City, County and Local Government
F.S. Ch. 165 addresses the formation, merger, and dissolution of municipalities.4 With regard to dissolution, the statute provides that the “ charter of any existing municipality may be revoked and the municipal corporation dissolved ” by either a special act of the legislature, or by an “ordinance of the governing body of the municipality, approved by a vote of the qualified voters.”5 When the ordinance is adopted, the local government must set a date of the election for “the next regularly scheduled election or a special election.”6 The statute provides that if the local municipal body fails to act, the county “shall” schedule the election.7 In any case, the election cannot be scheduled until at least 30 days after the adoption of the dissolution ordinance. Notice has to be published “at least once each week for [two] consecutive weeks prior to the election.”8
There is surprisingly little guidance provided in the statute on the dissolution process. The law is more focused on how municipalities are created or merged. There is, however, mention of certain “standards” and “conditions” for dissolution.9 The statute requires that the municipality “must not be substantially surrounded by other municipalities.. . [t]he county or another municipality must be demonstrably able to provide necessary services to the municipal area proposed for dissolution” and “an equitable arrangement must be made in relation to bonded indebtedness and vested rights of employees of the municipality to be dissolved.”10
Finally, the statute anticipates the potential problem caused by a drop in gross tax revenues. Obviously, when a municipality is dissolved, its tax base disappears. This may leave the county with insufficient revenue to pay municipal debts. In such a situation, the successor county may levy and collect additional “ad valorem taxes. . . for repayment of any assumed indebtedness through a special district created for such purpose in accordance with chapter 189.”14
The plan set a date of October 22, 2008, when “financial decisions of the [t]own. . . shall be made by the county manager with input from the [t]own [c]lerk and the [m]ayor.” All real and personal property, including all the town’s buildings, lands, leases, easements, roads, rights of way, and all infrastructure, including the water and wastewater distribution lines, stormwater, and drainage systems were conveyed to the county.28
1 Roughly 33 percent of the town’s 3,610 registered voters went to the polls. Seven hundred twenty-three, or 60.71 percent of those voting decided to dissolve the town.
2 Over the years, the legislature has adopted hundreds of special acts rescinding the charters of various municipalities. Dissolutions essentially ceased with the adoption of the municipal home rule in the 1968 Constitution and Fla. Stat. Ch. 166.
3 This provision was carried forward from the 1885 Florida Constitution, which essentially codified the common law prohibition on the dissolution of municipal corporations without protection of creditors. See State ex rel. J.B. Johnson v. Goodgame, et al., 108 So. 836 (Fla. 1926); State ex rel Landis v. Peacock, 151 So. 4 (Fla. 1933).
4 In Sullivan v. Volusia County, 679 So. 2d 1206 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), the court used the term “dissolution” interchangeably when referring to the term “abolished” in Fla. Const. art. VIII, §2.
5 Fla. Stat. §165.051 (emphasis added).
9 Fla. Stat. §165.061(3).
11 Fla. Stat. §165.071.
15 Cedar Grove Ordinance No. 446.
16 Fla. Stat. §165.022 states in part, “The provisions of this act shall be the exclusive procedure pursuant to general law for forming or dissolving municipalities in this state, except in those counties operating under a home rule charter which provides for an exclusive method as specifically authorized by s. 6(e), Art. VIII of the State Constitution.” See Correspondence from the Attorney General to Janet Beier, Town of Cedar Grove Commissioner (August 3, 2007). The attorney general has concluded that municipal charters may not provide for amendments that are inconsistent with Fla. Stat. Ch. 166. The attorney general has stated that “the charter amendment provisions in section 166.031, Florida Statutes, prevail over conflicting provisions in a municipal charter.” See 88-30 Op. Att’y Gen. (1988); 2003-36 Op. Att’y Gen (2003). In Treadwell v. Town of Oak Hill, 175 So. 2d 777 (Fla. 1965), the court wrote, “a citizen of Florida does not have the right to have a municipal government established, continued or abolished. Such ‘rights’.. . are within the exclusive province of the legislature.”
17 This statutory condition precedent appears to reflect the legislature’s antagonism to the creation of enclaves. See generally the annexation statute Fla. Stat. Ch. 171 and specifically Fla. Stat. §171.044(5).
18 See court records of Citizens Coalition to Preserve Cedar Grove v. Town of Cedar Grove, Case No. 2008-3805-CA. The petition for writ of certiorari was dismissed on October 24, 2008. The geography of Cedar Grove presented a real challenge. The town had an older core area, which was probably substantially surrounded. Saving the dissolution initiative was the existence of a large area of recently annexed lands running north and away from the core area, like a finger through unincorporated lands. When the border of the annexed area was added to the border of the core area, the proponents of dissolution were able to rationally argue that the total border of the town was not substantially surrounded by other municipal lands. The petitioners alleged that the town of Cedar Grove was substantially surrounded by other municipalities. Opponents cited a California case holding that a municipality that was surrounded 16 percent by other municipalities was substantially surrounded.
19 In hindsight, a pre-election dissolution plan could have actually impacted the results. Had the plan fully explained in intricate detail all the issues associated with municipal dissolution, the voters would have been more informed at the outsight. This might have tipped the scales one way or another. History will never know the implications of prior planning because Cedar Grove did not adopt the dissolution plan until after the election.
20 The town had approximately $3.6 million in outstanding revenue bonds.
21 Prior to 2004, the statute included a section authorizing the state to dissolve “inactive” municipal corporations. Fla. Stat. §165.052. This was repealed in 2004 at the request of the Department of Community Affairs due to budgetary concerns. 2004-305 Laws of Fla.
22 Fla. Stat. §165.061.
23 Id. Prior to its repeal in 2004, Fla. Stat. §165.052(3) provided that if the legislature dissolved an “inactive” municipality, its property or assets “shall be subject to legal process for payment of such debt.” Afterwards “the remainder of its property or assets shall escheat to the county wherein located.” This section went to mirror Fla. Stat. §165.061 authorizing the county to impose taxes on the area pursuant to Ch. 189.
24 Fla. Stat. §607.1402.
25 Town of Cedar Grove Resolution No. 08-12.
26 The Bay County Attorney’s Office worked closely with counsel for the town to develop a workable draft dissolution ordinance. Such offline coordination proved essential to the success of the dissolution effort.
27 The employees were not dismissed all at one time. Many stayed on to assist with the transition. All were let go by November 30. They were each given six weeks of severance pay. The town paid half of their health insurance premium after they left employment for three months.
28 Bay County engineering staff is still working to complete stormwater projects initiated by the town.
29 A creative traffic device used by the town was to place a blow up doll, dressed in a police uniform, in a parked police car on a busy highway. After dissolution, the county was unable to find the doll. A Star Wars car fashioned for a local parade and left in the town’s garage also disappeared.
30 Email from author to Mr. Eubanks (January 9, 2013). Ray Eubanks of the Department of Economic Opportunity, who has been tracking plan amendments for years confirmed that this was one of the largest future land use map amendments in the state’s history.
31 Bay County previously opposed the Cedar Grove CRAs. See Bay County v. Cedar Grove, 992 So. 2d 164 (Fla. 2008).