H. H. BASKIN, H. D. YERXA, ET AL., AS AND CONSTITUTING THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF CLEARWATER, FLORIDA; ET AL. PLAINTIFFS IN ERROR,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, EX REL. J. W. WALL, DEFENDANT IN ERROR

Fla. | 1933-05-08
Whitfield, Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur., Ellis and Brown, J. J., concur in the conclusion.
110 Fla. 110 Florida Supreme Court (1933) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 149 So. 333
Cited by 3 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reversed a mandamus writ ordering city officials to disburse bond payment funds, holding that while mandamus can require officials to levy taxes and raise funds for bond payments, the writ cannot command disbursement through procedures that violate the city charter's statutory requirements for authorization and countersignature.


Holding

The writ of mandamus cannot command disbursement of funds in a manner not authorized by the city charter's administrative procedures, even though mandamus may properly require officials to raise and place funds in a special account for bond payment. City officials must follow statutory procedures for fund disbursement.


Key Quotes

“a writ of mandamus ex proprio vigore confers no power, and in itself creates no duty as to authorize other than the lawfully designated town officials to take the steps required by law and the contract to be taken”

Establishes the fundamental principle that mandamus does not grant authority beyond what statutes provide

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Relator sought a writ of mandamus against Clearwater city officials to compel them to levy a required statutory tax for bond payment, have it assessed…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
Davis, C. J.

*111Davis, C. J.

While a peremptory writ of mandamus requiring town officials’ to levy a required statutory tax for payment of bonds, the assessor to assess it, the tax collector 'to collect it, and the treasurer to place it in a special fund, and pay over the same to the relator bond-holder when collected, has been held by this Court not to be too broad when the proceeding in mandamus has been instituted in the Circuit Court (See Humphreys v. State, 108 Fla. 92, 145 Sou. Rep. 858) and the object of the writ i’s to secure the single result of payment, by certain statutory means prescribed, (Board of County Comm’rs of Labette County v. U. S. ex rel. Moulton, 112 U. S. 217, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 108, 28 L. Ed 698) yet it is nevertheless true that a writ of mandamus ex proprio vigore confers no power, and in itself creates no duty as to authorize other than the lawfully designated town officials to take the steps required by law and the contract to be taken, and if the alternative writ is made to run to officials' not required, or permitted, by the statutes to do the acts commanded, or some of them, the motion to quash the alternative writ should be granted, with leave to make appropriate amendments to conform to statutory procedure.

In this case Section 66 of Chapter 9710, Acts of 1923*, the City Charter of Clearwater, requires payment by checks upon any board, interest or sinking fund account, to be accomplished only on the signature of the City Auditor and Clerk and. the City Manager with the counter-signature of the Mayor Commissioner or the Acting Mayor-Commis*112sioner, whereas the command of the alternative writ, and of the peremptory writ in this case, if given effect, would dispense with such statutory prerequisite.

The point just mentioned is the proposition in controversy on this writ of error,, and was duly raised in the Court below. The Circuit Court should not have issued a peremptory writ requiring bond monies to be disbursed in a manner not authorized by the City Charter, even though such monies may by mandamus be required to be raised by a special tax and placed in a special fund for relator’s individual benefit.

Monies required to be raised by a special tax to pay bonds, whether to build up a general interest and sinking fund account, or a special interest and sinking fund account for a particular relator in mandamus, are nevertheles's earmarked as interest and sinking fund monies, and should not be required to be paid out by town officials, who have no legal authority under the statutes to make disbursements of town revenues ear-marked as having been raised for interest and sinking fund purposes.

This does not mean that because the obligations sued on are payable at a New York Bank, the money raised to pay them cannot be ordered paid over directly to relator, for whose benefit the writ of mandamus was issued. . Relator by asking for payment direct, waives payment in New York.

The point decided is that money raised by the city officials should not, by mandamus, be required to be withdrawn from the municipal treasury in a mariner, or by a means, not authorized by the administrative features of the law governing the functions and duties' of the municipality’s officers.

The judgment is reversed with directions to quash the alternative writ, permit appropriate amendments to same, and have such other proceedings as may be according to law.

*113Whitfield, Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur.

Ellis and Brown, J. J., concur in the conclusion.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Treat v. State, 118 Fla. 899 (Fla. 1935)
    …keep functioning the administrative course of procedure set forth in terms in the statutes and contracted to be faithfully and seasonably followed by the municipality as a means of dis [*903] charging its bonded debts. Baskin v. State, ex rel. Wall, 110 Fla. 110, 149 Sou. Rep. 333; City of Clearwater v. State, ex rel. Union Mutual Life Ins. Co., 108 Fla. 623, 147 Sou. Rep. 459; County Commissioners of Columbia County v. King, 13 Fla. 451; State, ex rel. DuPont Ball, Inc., v. Livingston, 104 Fla. 33, 139 Sou…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw