JOHN BROWN, AS TAX ASSESSOR OF LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
ST. JOE PAPER COMPANY, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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.
The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed a circuit court's denial of the tax assessor's motion to dismiss a challenge to the assessment of agricultural land, holding that agricultural lands must be assessed based solely on their agricultural use value, not fair market value, provided the landowner makes timely protest through proper administrative channels.
Agricultural lands must be assessed solely at their value for agricultural use purposes and not at fair market value, provided the landowner makes a timely return to the assessor or exhausts administrative remedies. Lands not being used for bona fide agricultural purposes must be assessed at fair market value without regard to present use.
“The Court finds, determines and declares that it does not matter if the value of a specific piece of agricultural property would be higher if assessed in accordance with the criteria provided in Section 193.021 only, but the Plaintiff must nevertheless assess agricultural lands at only their value for agricultural use, and must take no other factors into consideration.”
Establishes the core rule that agricultural lands must be assessed solely on agricultural use value without consideration of other factors.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSt. Joe Paper Company owned land in Leon County, Florida that was assessed for ad valorem tax purposes. The company alleged the land was agricultural …
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Bona Fide Agricultural Use cases and more on FLexlaw
By this interlocutory appeal, the appellant, tax assessor of Leon County, Florida, questions the validity of an order of the circuit court denying appellant’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint of the ap-pellee attacking the validity of assessment of lands of the appellee for ad valorem purposes which lands were alleged to be agricultural.
Timely protest of such assessments was made to the board of equalizers of the county.
The questions raised by appellant’s assignments of error, as viewed in connection with the order appealed from, have been definitely answered by both the Supreme Court of Florida and by this court.
In Markham v. Blount, 175 So.2d 526, the Supreme Court of Florida concurred in the findings and ruling of the chancellor wherein the chancellor stated: “The Court finds, determines and declares that it does not matter if the value of a specific piece of agricultural property would be higher if assessed in accordance with the criteria provided in Section 193.021 only, but the Plaintiff must nevertheless assess agricultural lands at only their value for agricultural use, and must take no other factors into consideration.” (Emphasis supplied). Also see Tyson v. Lanier, Fla., 156 So.2d 833 and Lanier v. Overstreet, Fla., 175 So.2d 521.
This court has made its own interpretation of F.S. § 193.11(3), F.S.A. and F.S. § 193.021, F.S.A. based on the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, supra, in Stiles v. Brown, 177 So.2d 672, opinion filed August 5, 1965 wherein it stated: “As we interpret the three decisions (Fla.Supreme Court), lands not being used for bona fide agricultural purposes must be assessed at fair market value without regard to their present use, but that agricultural lands must be assessed upon the basis of what somebody will pay for them for the purpose of raising timber, citrus, cattle, or for other farming operations.” In this latter case, however, this court agreed with the chancellor that the land owner desiring the beneficial treatment of Section 193.11 (3) had the duty of making the same known to the taxing authority by making timely return of his property or exhausting his administrative remedies. Because the land owner failed to do so, the assessment was held valid.
This court reiterates its holding in the Stiles v. Brown case, supra, as to the necessity for agricultural lands to be assessed for agricultural purposes only, pursuant, to *608F.S. § 193.11(3), F.S.A., if timely return therefor is made to the assessor or administrative remedies exhausted.
Accordingly, the interlocutory appeal is dismissed.
RAWLS, C. J., and CARROLL, DONALD K., and JOHNSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Lanier v. Overstreet, 175 So. 2d 521 (Fla. 1965)
- Tyson v. Lanier, 156 So. 2d 833 (Fla. 1963)
- Markham v. Blount, 175 So. 2d 526 (Fla. 1965)
- Stiles v. Brown, 177 So. 2d 672 (Fla. 1st DCA 1965)