Case Name: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. COUNTY OF PALM BEACH, Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1956-09-21
Citations: 89 So. 2d 607
Docket Number: 
Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. COUNTY OF PALM BEACH, Florida, Appellee.
Judges: HOBSON, ROBERTS and O’CON-NELL, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 89
Pages: 607–614

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. COUNTY OF PALM BEACH, Florida, Appellee.
Supreme Court of Florida. En Banc.
Sept. 21, 1956.
Phil D. O’Connell, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Harry A. Johnston and Henry F. Lilien-thal, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
TERRELL, Justice.
Pursuant to Chapter 75, Florida Statutes 1953, F.S.A., Palm Beach County petitioned the Circuit Court, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, to validate certificates of indebtedness, aggregating $750,000 for the purpose of constructing a County Office Building, a Children's Home and additions, extensions and improvements to the Courthouse Annex Building and for furnishing and equipping the Courthouse in Palm Beach County. Said construction and furnishing to be paid for with the proceeds of a tax of not exceeding five mills on all taxable property in the county levied pursuant to Sec. 135.01, Florida Statutes 1953, F.S.A., for not exceeding fifteen years.
The State, of Florida answered the petition alleging: (1) Petitioner is without lawful authority to impose the tax for the purposes expressed in the petition; (2) the pledge of the five mills tax levy for payment of the principal and interest on the certificates of indebtedness brings the "bonds" within the meaning of Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution, F.S.A. requiring that they be approved by a majority of the qualified electors who are freeholders; (3) petitioner is without authority to pledge the proceeds from the five mills tax imposed for financing the improvements enumerated in the petition. On the issues made by the petition and the answer the court entered final decree validating the certificates of indebtedness. This appeal is from the validating decree.
There is no controversy about the facts, the procedure leading up to issuance of the certificates of indebtedness, the statement of the case or the questions involved. Two points are raised for determination but they are treated as one. In our view the only point in the case is whether or not under Chapter 135, Florida Statutes 1953, F.S.A., Palm Beach County is authorized to issue certificates of indebtedness for the construction of a County Office Building, a Children's Home, and additions, extensions and improvements to the Courthouse Annex Building and for furnishing and equipping the County Courthouse in Palm Beach County, absent an approving vote of the taxpayer freeholders as required by Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution.
Prior to the enactment of Chapter 25469, Aits of 1949, this question might have required a negative answer as to the County Office Building and the Children's Home. Provision for other improvements listed would have been concluded by Leon County v. State, 122 Fla. 505, 165 So. 666; Tapers v. Pichard, 124 Fla. 549, 169 So. 39; Posey v. Wakulla County, 148 Fla. 115, 3 So.2d 799; State v. Pinellas County, 160 Fla. 549, 36 So.2d 216; State v. Florida State Improvement Commission, Fla., 48 So.2d 165; City of Jacksonville v. Nichols Engineering and Research Corp., Fla., 49 So.2d 529, and perhaps others. We have not overlooked State v. Florida State Improvement Commission, Fla., 60 So.2d 747. The theory on which these cases were decided was that Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution was not intended to inhibit governmental entities from entering into contracts for current governmental needs and requirements when done in due course of their authorized budgetary administration of public affairs.
Prior to the enactment of Chapter 25469, Acts of 1949, the pertinent part of Sec. 135.01, Florida Statutes 1941, provided, "to erect or repair any courthouse or jail or erect an addition or additions to any courthouse or jail". As amended by Chapter 25469, said provision reads, "to erect or repair any courthouse, jail, or other county building, erect an addition or additions to any courthouse, jail or 'Other county building". The 1949 amendment also extended the tax levy from five to fifteen years but that is not material at this time. The material part to this case is what was comprehended by the words emphasized, "or other county building".
The petition to validate contemplated certificates of indebtedness for a "County Office Building, a Children's Home and additions, extensions and improvements to the Courthouse Annex Building, and for furnishing and equipping the County Courthouse in Palm Beach County." In view of the cases last cited, it would hardly be questioned that the certificates of indebtedness or their proceeds could be expended for "additions, extensions and improvements to the Courthouse Annex Building and for furnishing and equipping the County Courthouse in Palm Beach County." Three of these cases, Leon County v. State, Tapers v. Pichard and Posey v. Wakulla County, had to do with the construction of courthouses and jails under the act involved in this case or similar acts. State v. Pinellas County had to do with the construction of a county office building outside the county site and is persuasive only. State v. Florida State Improvement Commission, Fla., 48 So.2d 165, had to do with the construction of a county health center. We held that it was a current governmental need, essential to administration of county government. City of Jacksonville v. Nichols Engineering and Research Corp. had to do with certificates for essential municipal improvements which we held did not require an approving vote of the freeholder electors.
The resolution for issuing the certificates of indebtedness in this case refers to a former like petition of 1954 for the issuance of $1,100,000 of certificates of indebtedness for the construction of additions, extensions ánd improvements to Courthouse, Courthouse Annex and jail. Some of the same improvements mentioned were to be done by the present certificates of indebtedness. In both of these proceedings the County Commissioners followed the course pursued in Tapers v. Pichard, supra. Construction trust funds and sinking funds were set upfor receiving and dispensing the funds derived from the certificates of indebtedness to provide the facilities listed.
Since we hold that the validity of the certificates of indebtedness to pay for additions, extensions and improvements to the Courthouse Annex • Building and for furnishing and equipping the County Courthouse is concluded by the cases last cited, the County Office Building and the Children's Home are the only items of improvement whose legality remains in question. As to them, the first question is whether or not they may be considered as "other county buildings," essential to the administration of county government like a courthouse or jail as contemplated by Chapter 25469, Acts of 1949. This court knows that Palm Beach County is over 50 miles from east to west; that it is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by Lake Okeechobee; that most of its population lives on a strip of land about ten miles wide on east side of the county and a strip less than ten miles wide on the west side; that the vast area between these strips is what is known as Everglades, fertile agricultural and grazing lands but sparsely populated. The people who own and cultivate these lands live in the populated areas east and west of them.
Approximately 27,000 of Palm Beach County's population live on the west side of the county and cultivate about 175,000 acres of the land referred to as Everglades. The County Office Building in question is designed to accommodate these people who. live from 40 to 55 miles from the county site. The building is to contain offices for the following county officers and employees: County Welfare worker; Assistant County Agricultural, Agent; Juvenile Counsellor; Veterans Service Officer; County Physician and members of County Health Department; Mosquito Control District; proposed sub-office for County Registrar; office where drivers' licenses may be sold (7,000 are sold in the area); automobile license office; proposed sub-office for Tax Collector; proposed sub-office for Clerk of the Circuit Court and in fact office space for deputies of all county officers.
Supporting the proposed Children's Home, the record discloses that it is designed to care for dependent, neglected and delinquent children who are under the juris-, diction of the Juvenile Court. The present home is 30 years old, has two dormitories, one for boys and one for girls, 6 years old and up. The number of children as to sex varies greatly. Present detention quarters for delinquents are very inadequate, making use of county jail for that purpose necessary; fire protection is inadequate. The Board of.Visitors provided by statute has recommended provision of a modern functional Children's Home. The home receives children who are neglected and dependent on others than parents, children deserted by parents, and children whose parents are unfit, requiring county authorities to take them in custody to provide a more wholesome environment. The County Commissioners ' are at present placing about 20 children per month in private homes for lack of facilities and paying their expenses from county funds; present facilities are inadequate for the purpose but could be renovated and used to house employees of county hospital and county Old Folks' Home but could not be renovated to meet current needs for all the children requiring county care. Children under 6 years old are at present housed in a separate facility at cost of $600 per month to county; no facilities are presently available for separating age groups and County Commissioners feel impelled to meet recommendation of the Board of Visitors. All of these facts were placed in the record by the County Commissioners of Palm Beach County.
It is also shown that after the enactment of Chapter 25469, Acts of 1949, the people of Florida amended the State Constitution by adding thereto Section 50, Article V, having to do with the establishment and jurisdiction of juvenile courts. Thereafter in 1951, the legislature enacted Chapter 39, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., implementing Section 50, Article V of the State Constitution. Under this chapter juvenile courts were given exclusive original jurisdiction of dependent and delinquent children. But see State ex rel. Watson v. Rogers, Fla., 86 So.2d 645. This chapter prohibits placing a child in a common jail, unless a detention home is unavailable. The desired results of the special treatment to be given juvenile offenders under our statutes is certain to be lost if they are to be housed with adult criminals in common jails.
Chapter 416, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., authorizes counties to establish and maintain detention homes and schools for delinquent children. This chapter provides that "A detention home shall not be deemed to be, nor treated as a penal institution, but [as] a home." From the recited provisions of the Constitution and statutes, we are driven to the conclusion that the functions of a juvenile court are essential to the administration of county government, and that a detention home, called a "children's home," or by any other name, is essential to the operatioh of a juvenile court. Such a detention home is equally essential to the proper functioning of a juvenile court, as a jail is to a court having criminal jurisdiction. The children who will occupy the home will, for the most part, be placed there under compulsion of court orders. The facility does not appear to be intended to serve a charitable purpose or to serve as an orphans' home, as the name might imply.
From this brief summary it is apparent that the County Office Building is a county facility designed to furnish accommodations to the people of the western part of Palm Beach County very much on the same pattern provided for the people of Pinellas County which we discussed and approved in State v. Pinellas County, supra. It is true that different means were provided for financing the Pinellas County project but when the legislature amended Section 135.01 by enactment of Chapter 25469, Acts of 1949, to include "other county buildings," it certainly must have contemplated such buildings as the County Office Building and the Children's Home in question. After being on the books 75 years applying only to courthouses and jails, the legislature amended it to include "other county buildings." We think the amendment must mean something more than window-dressing. The only logical conclusion is that it contemplated such improvements as are attempted here.
We have pointed out that the care and protection of juveniles under jurisdiction of the juvenile courts is by law made a function of the county government and requires facilities such as the Children's Home referred to in this opinion. Applying the rule of ejusdem generis, it is not unreasonable to assume that "other county buildings" would contemplate such, facilities. They are among the necessities to administer county government and must be provided at county expense. Chapter 135 has been on the books many years. It was first enacted in 1883, Chapter 3421, Laws of Florida, and included only courthouses and jails. A fair assumption would be that the 1949 amendment, "other county buildings," was not designed to-cover all county buildings, but only those from which county government is .conducted, like the courthouse. County government has expanded so the last twenty years that the old concept of courthouse is entirely inadequate to take care of the new services the county is furnishing and must have office space to accomplish. The 1949 amendment to the act under review was designed to meet this need. It must be limited to facilities for administering county government and has no reference to school buildings and • facilities otherwise provided for.
It is not amiss to point out that when courthouses, jails and other facilities for the administration of county government become inadequate and need replacement or repair, the county commissioners are the ones who determine the time and extent to which replacement and repair are necessary. It is not even suggested here that the county commissioners have abused their discretion in this or that they have precipitated an extravagant or unreasonable layout. It is shown on the other hand that they have provided that said certificates shall mature in five years and that the county will levy only such- tax, not to exceed five mills, as is necessary to service both issues of certificates and provide for their payment as they mature and become due; it is also shown that the proposed improvements are limited to necessities for the administration of county government under strict budgetary regulation as set out in Tapers v. Pichard, supra. It is further - shown that the contract for such facilities is being executed in due course by authorized budgetary requirements. We find no violation of Sec. 135.01, Florida Statutes 1941, as amended by Chapter 25469, Acts of 1949, F.S.A.
It is therefore our opinion that Palm Beach County has legal authority to issue certificates of indebtedness under Chapter 135, Florida Statutes 1953, F.S.A,, for the purpose of constructing a County Office Building, a Children's Home, as well as additions, extensions and improvements to the Courthouse Annex Building and for fur nishing and equipping the County Courthouse in the manner proposed without an approving vote' of the taxpayer freeholders as required by Section 6, Article IX of the Constitution.
The judgment appealed from is therefore affirmed.
Affirmed.
HOBSON, ROBERTS and O'CON-NELL, JJ., concur.
DREW, C. J., and THORNAL, JJ., concur specially with opinion.
THOMAS, J., dissents.