FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What
is the timeline for having our case (1108 Ariola v. Jones) heard by the Florida
Supreme Court? The Supreme Court has discretion as to which
cases it chooses to review. Having the case
certified by the First District Court of Appeal does not guarantee that
the Supreme Court will consider the case.
Our attorneys have to file briefs on the jurisdiction questions by
Thanksgiving. While judicial procedure
has established deadlines for filings by attorneys, the Courts themselves are
not subject to deadlines for acting on parties’ requests. It is reasonable to expect that the Supreme
Court will not make a decision on accepting jurisdiction in our case until
after the first of the year. If they do
accept the case, we might anticipate arguments before the Court in the late
summer or early fall of 2012.
I
paid the taxes or my mortgage company paid on my behalf. What happens if the Florida Supreme Court
reverses the decision? It all depends on how the Supreme Court rules
in this case. That said, there is a provision in Florida law for the refund of
contested taxes. The refund request is
filed with the Florida Department of Revenue which directs the local Tax
Collector to return the money. The Tax
Collector goes to the taxing authorities and asks for the money back. If a taxing authority such as Escambia County
does not have the money to make the refund, the law requires that they put the
sum of money required into the budget for the next year. The refund process is not tried and true
which is why we were advised early on not to pay the taxes. The issue of refunds of paid taxes and
interest will be explored in more detail when the time comes. A great number of plaintiffs have this concern
and a great deal of money would be at stake.
It is worth noting that
there is a clear paper trail of who has been named plaintiffs in our litigation
on the improvements each tax year
since 2004. The Tax Collector was able
to refund the interest difference to leaseholders who paid the taxes at the 18%
delinquent tax rate rather than the statutory 12 % when Judge Jones ruled in
our case in December, 2009. There is
also a record of taxes paid and who paid them when you click on the Prior Years
Payment History near the bottom of your tax record on the Tax Collector’s web
site: http://escambiataxcollector.governmaxa.com
I
didn’t get a refund of the property taxes I paid the last time we were taxed on
Pensacola Beach. Why would it be
different this time?
The easy explanation of why the bulk of the leaseholders did not get a
refund after the favorable decision in the 1980’s Bell v. Bryan case is that
they were not named plaintiffs. A
handful of people hired attorneys to represent them in the taxation of their
leasehold property. All leaseholders
benefitted from the decision and were not taxed for 16 years, but the Court did
not treat them the same as the named parties in subsequent rulings. In other words, make sure you are in the
court record for each parcel that you have a leasehold interest in, or you may
not benefit from the court’s action.
Should
I pay the 2011 tax bill?
Our attorneys’ advice has been not to pay the ad valorem tax. There is a legal stay prohibiting the Tax
Collector from trying to collect taxes on improvements. Once the attorneys meet the filing deadline
for the 2011 law suit contesting taxes on the land, the stay will apply to those
taxes as well. Note that the tax bill
does NOT break down the amount of
tax between land and improvements. There
is no provision for paying one and not the other. Also keep in mind that the last day you can
pay your 2011 tax bill without incurring interest is 3/31/2012. There are discounts for early payments. We hope that the Florida Supreme Court will
decide whether they will take jurisdiction of the Pensacola Beach case on improvements
and/or the Navarre Beach case on land early in 2012.
What
if I was a plaintiff in the case on improvements but have sold my leasehold
interest on a Pensacola Beach property? You are still being represented by the law
firm in the appeal on the improvements.
It is important that you keep your contact information current. This can be done by sending an email to beachtaxes@gmail.com Please include the address of your former
leasehold property.
What
can be done about the 12 percent interest that is added on to the unpaid taxes?
Our attorneys
researched the interest rate a number of years ago. Florida law is very clear on the 12 percent
interest rate. They could find nothing
in the statute or case law to support challenging the 12 percent interest. The Court cannot change the statute. Only the Florida Legislature can do that.
If
we do not get the relief we seek from the Florida Supreme Court, how long do I
have to pay the taxes once the case is final? There is no statute that sets a deadline. Hopefully we will be able to obtain a court
order specifying a date for paying without being charged the higher interest
rate.
Are
there negative implications to our legal challenge of taxes on our leasehold
property from the effort to get the U.S. government to allow Escambia County to
grant fee simple title to the property on Pensacola Beach? Before the Pensacola Beach Advocates (PBA)
board initiated contact with the County Commission to proceed with the effort
to get fee simple title, they consulted with our attorney. He said there are no adverse implications to
our challenge of the legality of taxing leasehold property. There is language in the Escambia County
Resolution of May, 2011 that states that the County intends to offer fee simple
title only if the Courts rule that the leased land is taxable.
How
can we be expected to continue to pay lease fees when we are being assessed ad
valorem taxes on the land and the improvements? The attorneys are challenging the legality of
the taxes. Pensacola Beach Advocates
(PBA) has brought the issue of “double taxation” to the attention of the
Escambia County Board of Commissioners and the Santa Rosa Island
Authority. These two entities are trying
to work out some arrangement to escrow taxes to provide for either a refund if
the Courts decide the tax is not legal, or some method to refund the lease
fees, if the tax is deemed to be legal.
For more information
please refer to the PBA web site www.pbadvocates.org