Phil Ammann
On Wednesday, an appeals court backed Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish in a budgetary dispute with the Broward County Commission.
The decision by the Fourth District Court of Appeal addressed the section of state law allowing the Florida Department of Revenue to approve budgets for property appraisers.
Counties are required to pay operation costs; any differences over funds must be appealed to the governor and the Florida Cabinet.
Prompting the suit was a decision last year by the Broward County Commission to earmark less money for Parrish’s office than what was approved by the Department of Revenue. The County Commission decided to appeal to the governor and Cabinet since as the state Administration Commission, they handle such matters.
Parrish received a quarterly amount from the county, which was less than the amount approved by the Department of Revenue. Subsequently, she filed suit.
The County Commission maintains the lawsuit sidestepped the proper process of bringing disputes to the governor and Cabinet. However, a circuit judge ruled the county must pay the amount set by the Department of Revenue as the governor and Cabinet take up the dispute.
A three-judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld the lower court decision, noting that the governor and Cabinet will clearly not address the dispute since the 2013-14 fiscal year has passed.
The Department of Revenue’s participation in approving property appraisers’ budgets is related to limiting political pressure during the appraisal process, the court said.
According to the appeals court ruling:
“Since raising taxes is politically unpopular, county commissioners have a powerful incentive to pressure their property appraiser to arrive at higher property valuations. If a county’s real property valuation increases, it is market forces and the property appraiser, not the county commissioners, who shoulder the tax hike blame.
“For this reason, the property appraiser’s budget is established by an unelected, independent entity — the FDOR (Florida Department of Revenue) — instead of county commissioners. Free from political pressures, the FDOR may hone in on the adequacy of the property appraiser’s proposed budget, without the distraction of the next election.”
