Ordinance 009-1975 •
ORDINANCE NO . 9 -1975
AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE CREATION, ESTABLISHMENT,
MERGER AND ABOLITION OF A MUNICIPAL SERVICE TAXING OR
BENEFIT DISTRICT FOR ALL OF THE UNINCORPORATED AREAS
OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING
GARBAGE, TRASH, WASTE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL, WITHIN
SAID DISTRICT FROM FUNDS DERIVED FROM SERVICE CHARGES ,
SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS , OR AD VALOREM TAXES WITHIN SAID
DISTRICT, UNDER THE NAME OF : THE MONROE COUNTY MUNICIPAL
SERVICE DISTRICT : SETTING FORTH THE TERRITORIAL BOUNDARY
OF SAID DISTRICT: PROVIDING FOR GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRA-
TION OF SAID DISTRICT: DEFINING THE POWERS AND PURPOSES OF
SAID DISTRICT AND GOVERNING BOARD THEREOF; AUTHORIZING
AND EMPOWERING THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF SAID DISTRICT
TO ACQUIRE BY GIFT OR PURCHASE SUCH WASTE , TRASH AND
GARBAGE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL EQUIPMENT AND EMPLOY
SUCH PERSONNEL AS MAY BE DETERMINED BY THE BOARD OF
GOVERNORS , REASONABLY NECESSARY TO PROVIDE WASTE, TRASH
AND GARBAGE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL SERVICES WITHIN SAID
DISTRICT: AUTHORIZING AND EMPOWERING SAID BOARD TO ESTA-
BLISH, CONTRACT FOR, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN WHATEVER FACILI-
TIES WHICH MAY BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE SAID SERVICES ;
AUTHORIZING AND EMPOWERING SAID BOARD TO ENTER INTO INTER-
LOCAL AGREEMENTS WITH OTHER GOVERNMENTAL BODIES AND
DISTRICTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FLORIDA STATUTES CHAPTER
163; AUTHORIZING AND PROVIDING FOR THE LEVYING AND COLLEC-
TION OF AD VALOREM TAXES WITHOUT REFERENDUM FOR THE OPERA-
TION OF SAID DISTRICT; AUTHORIZING AND EMPOWERING SAID
BOARD TO BORROW MONEY ON NOTE OR NOTES OF SAID DISTRICT;
PROVIDING THAT THE TITLE TO ALL EQUIPMENT AND PROPERTIES
OF ALL KINDS HEREAFTER ACQUIRED BY THE DISTRICT CREATED
HEREIN AND THEREAFTER ABOLISHED . SHALL BECOME THE PROPERTY
OF THE MONROE COUNTY COMMISSION; AUTHORIZING AND PROVIDING
GENERALLY THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF
SAID DISTRICT HEREIN CREATED; PROVIDING FOR CONCURRENT
JURISDICTION WITH THE FLORIDA KEYS AQUEDUCT AUTHORITY AND
WITH THE MONROE COUNTY WASTE COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL
DISTRICT; PROVIDING FOR PARTICIPATION IN SAID DISTRICT BY
MUNICIPALITIES ; PROVIDING EFFECTIVE DATE.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY,
FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS :
Section 1. Upon this Ordinance becoming a law, all of the
unincorporated lands in the County of Monroe, State of Florida, shall
become and be incorporated into a municipal service taxing or benefit
unit as authorized by Florida Statute Chapter 125 , as amended by
Chapter 75-63, Laws of Florida for the purpose of providing garbage,
trash, waste collection and disposal within the territorial limits
of said area, which shall be a public corporation to be known as the:
Monroe County Municipal Service District.
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Section 2. At anytime after this Ordinance becomes law,
any or all of the incorporated municipalities in Monroe County may,
by Interlocal Agreement, duly and regularly adopted by its respec-
tive governing body, elect to participate in the municipal service
taxing or benefit unit created hereby.
Section 3. The governing body of the newly created Monroe
County Municipal Service District, hereinafter termed "the District"
or "said District" shall be known and designated as the Board of
County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida, hereinafter termed
"the Board" or "said Board". Said Board, constituted under the
Ordinance, shall have all the powers of a body corporate, including
the power to contract, interlocally, under the provisions of Chapter
163, Florida Statutes, or otherwise, and to be contracted with in
behalf of said District; to sue and to be sued; to adopt and use a
common seal and to alter the same at pleasure; to acquire, to
purchase, hold, lease, and convey such real estate and personal
property, including equipment as said Board may deem proper or
expedient to carry out the purposes of this Ordinance; to employ
such experts, agencies and employees as said Board may require or
deem advisable; to borrow money and to issue negotiable promissory
notes, certificates of indebtedness as hereinafter provided; and to
generally exercise the powers of a public authority organized and
existing for the purpose of waste, garbage, trash collection and
disposal within the territorial limits of said District.
Section 4. The said Board shall at all times consist of
no less than five (5) members, who all shall be County Commissioners
of Monroe County, Florida. The said members of the Board shall serve
until their respective term as County Commissioners shall expire or
until such time as their successor is appointed. It shall be an
essential qualification that the membership of the Board be County
Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida.
Section 5. As soon as practicable, after this Ordinance
becomes a law, the Board of the newly created District shall meet
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and organize by the election from their Board, a chairman and a
vice-chairman. The Clerk of the Circuit Court of the Sixteenth
Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida, as County Clerk, shall
be an ex officio clerk, treasurer and director of finance of said
Board. Three (3) members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.
A majority of a quorum shall be necessary for the transaction of
business. The chairman shall vote at all meetings of said Board.
Section 6. The Board shall not receive compensation for
their service upon said Board, except that travel expenses to and
from District meetings or while on District business may be reim-
bursed by the District to the members actually incurring said
travel expenses.
Section 7. The books of said District shall be audited by
the same officers and in like manner as the books of county officers.
The said Board shall have the power and authority to hold, control
and acquire, by gift or purchase, for the use of the District, any
real or personal property and to pay the purchase price in install-
ments or deferred payments; and to condemn any lands needed for the
purpose of said District.
Section 8. The Board is hereby authorized and empowered,
in order to carry out the purpose of this act, to borrow money
and issue certificates of indebtedness therefore upon such terms
and at such rates of interest as said Board may deem advisable and
in accordance with the provisions of ARTICLE VII, Section 12 of
the Florida Constitution of 1968 and Florida Statutes 125 and other
special and general laws and said certificates of indebtedness
may be a charge upon all revenues derived from taxes in that
year or maybe made payable from budgetary requirements in due
course of law, as said Board may elect.
Section 9. The funds of said District shall be deposited
in the name of the District in a bank authorized to receive deposits
of County funds, which bank shall be designated by a resolution of
the Board. Such designations of such bank, and deposit of funds
therein, shall be the exercise of due care and diligence on the
part of said commissioners for the safekeeping of said funds. No
funds of the District shall be paid out or disbursed save and
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except by check.
Section 10. No funds of said District shall be used for
any purpose other than the administration of the affairs and business
of said District, for the construction, care, maintenance, upkeep,
operation and purchase of garbage, trash and waste collection and
disposal equipment for the District as the Board may determine.
Section 11. The said Board of the District shall have the
power and authority to acquire by gift or purchase and to pay the
purchase price for such garbage, trash and waste collection and
disposal equipment as is deemed reasonably necessary for the
providing of municipal services related thereto in said municipal
taxing District; and shall have authority to hire garbage, trash
and waste collection and disposal personnel and to prescribe rules
and regulations pertaining thereto so long as the same is not
inconsistent with the provisions of general or special law.
Section 12. The Board of the District shall have the power
and express authorization to enter into Interlocal Agreements with
any municipality, political subdivision, agency, or officer of
the State of Florida, including but not limited to state government,
county, city, school district, single or multipurpose special
district, single or multipurpose public authority; to provide for
joint exercise of any power, privilege or authority which said
District may have in common and which each might exercise separately,
specifically said District may by Interlocal Agreement contract with
the Monroe County Waste Collection and Disposal District for the
providing of services which said Monroe County Municipal Service
District is empowered and authorized to provide under this
Ordinance and may pay said Monroe County Waste Collection and Dis-
posal District for providing said services in behalf of the Monroe
County Municipal Services District.
Section 13. The officers of said Board shall have the
duties usually pertaining to, vested in, and incumbent upon, like
officers. A record shall be kept of all meetings of said Board.
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The Board may adopt such rules and regulations as it may deem
necessary in and about the transaction of its business, and in
carrying out the provisions of this act.
Section 14. The Board shall, on or before the first day
of November, make an annual report of its actions and accounting
of its funds as of the 30th day of September of each year, and
shall file said report in the office of the clerk of the circuit
court of Monroe County, Florida, whose duty it shall be to receive
and file said report and hold and keep the same as a public record.
The fiscal year of said District is hereby fixed as commencing on
October 1st and ending on September 30th.
Section 15. The funds of said District shall be paid out
only upon warrant signed by the chairman of the board, and having
thereto affixed the corporate seal of the District; and no warrant
shall be drawn or issued against funds of said District except for
a purpose authorized by this act, and no such warrant against funds
of said District shall be drawn or issued until after the account
or expenditure for which the same is to be given in payment has
been ordered and approved by the Board of said municipal taxing
district.
Section 16. The Board of said municipal service taxing
or benefit unit created hereby is authorized, empowered and
directed annually to levy upon all the real and personal taxable
property, including homesteads, in said District, a sufficient tax
to pay the necessary costs for the maintenance, operation and
support of the District, but the said levy to pay for the costs of
operation, maintenance and support of said District shall not exceed
two (2) mills on the dollar for anyone year. In addition, if the
County of Monroe, State of Florida shall create another Municipal
Service Taxing or Benefit Unit under the authorization contained in
Florida Statute 125.01, then in that event the total millage
authorized under this Ordinance shall be decreased by the amount of
millage levied in anyone year by said other municipal service taxing
or benefit units in Monroe County, Florida toward the end that in
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no one given year shall the ad valorem millage of the District
created by this Ordinance together with the millage levied by the
Monroe County Waste Collection and Disposal District and any other
municipal service taxing or benefit unit in Monroe County, Florida,
when added together, be in excess of ten (10) mills.
Section 17. The levy by said Board of the taxes authorized
by any provision of this Ordinance shall be resolution of said
Board duly entered upon the minutes of the Board. Millage shall
beset and ad valorem taxes levied thereon in accordance with the
provisions of general law and in like manner as required for the
setting of millage and levy of ad valorem taxes by a county. It
shall be the duty of the County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida to order and require the County Property Appraiser of said
county to assess and the County Tax Collector of said county to
collect the amount of taxes so assessed or levied by the Board of
Commissioners of said District upon the taxable property, including
homesteads to the extent that taxes may be lawfully levied upon
homesteads, in said District at the rate of taxation adopted by
said Board of Commissioners of said District for said year and
included in the warrant of the Property Assessor and attached to the
assessment roll of taxes for said year and included in the warrant
of the Property Assessor and attached to the assessment roll of
taxes for said county each year. The Tax Collector of said county
shall collect such tax so levied by said Board in the same manner
as other taxes are collected, and shall pay the same over to the
Board of said Monroe County Municipal Service District within the
time and in the manner prescribed by law for the payment by the Tax
Collector of county taxes shall be held by said Board and paid out
by them as provided in this act.
Section 18. It is herein and hereby determined and
declared that the municipal service taxes herein provided for
garbage, trash and waste collection and disposal are municipal
assessments for municipal or peculiar benefits accruing to the
properties within the Municipal Taxing District herein created
against which properties the said levies are directed to be made.
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It is also herein and hereby found, determined and declared, that
waste, garbage and trash collection and disposal within said
District herein created, are public purposes, and are also County,
District and Municipal purposes.
Section 19. The Board is authorized to pay from the funds
of the aforesaid Municipal Taxing District all expenses of the
organization of said Board and all expenses necessarily incurred in
the formation of said District and all other reasonable and necessary
expenses of an attorney in the transaction of the business of the
Municipal Taxing District, and in carrying out and accomplishing
the purposes of this act.
Section 20. At least once in each year the Board shall
publish once in some newspaper published in said Municipal Taxing
District, a complete detailed statement of all monies received and
disbursed by them since the creation of the District, as to the
first published statement and since the last published statement
as to any other year. Such statements shall also show the several
sources from which said funds were received and shall show the
balance on hand at the time of the published statement. It shall
show a complete statement of the condition of the Municipal Taxing
District.
Section 21. When required by the laws of Florida, any
obligation issued or incurred by the District shall be approved by
the qualified electors.
Section 22. Whoever shall wilfully damage any of the
property in the Municipal Taxing District created under this
Ordinance shall be punished as proved in the general law for
punishments for malicious injury to property.
Section 23. Any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or
part of section, of this act which for any reason may be declared
invalid, may be eliminated from this act and the remaining portion
thereof shall be in force and valid as if such invalid clause,
section or part of section had not been incorporated herein.
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Section 24. It is intended that the provisions of this
Ordinance shall be liberally construed for accomplishing the purposes
provided therefore, or intended to be provided for by this act, and
where a strict construction will result in the defeat of the accom-
plishment of any of the purposes provided for by this Ordinance,
and a liberal construction would permit or assist in the accomplish-
ment thereof, the liberal construction thereof shall prevail.
Section 25. All Ordinances and parts of Ordinances in
conflict herewith are herein and hereby repealed.
Section 26. This Ordinance may be subsequently amended
by the same procedure in its original enactment.
Section 27. The within Ordinance is full authority for
the establishment of District projects. The Board shall have
jurisdiction and control over all of the District, including, but
not limited to, all waste collection and disposal facilities,
except to the extent otherwise provided in this Ordinance. It
shall not be necessary for the District to obtain any license,
permit or other authorization from any Board, Commission or like
instrumentality of Monroe County or any political subdivision
therein in order to construct, reconstruct, acquire, extend,
repair, improve, maintain or operate any project. The jurisdiction
of the Board is nonexclusive and the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority;
the Monroe County Waste Collection and Disposal District and Monroe
County may exercise concurrent jurisdiction and control over waste
collection and disposal facilities within the territorial limits
of the District. The Monroe County Municipal Service District
is empowered to enter into working agreements with; Monroe County,
The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority and the Monroe County Waste
Collection and Disposal District to operate waste collection and
disposal facilities and to loan, grant or otherwise provide funds
to said District, Authority and County to assist them in carrying
out the vital function and purposes of this Ordinance.
Section 28. In the event an Interlocal Agreement is entered
into between the District and a muncipality, said agreement shall
be in compliance with the terms of Chapter 163, Florida Statutes
and shall include an express provision as to how said municipality
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shall pay for its participation in said District which may be
either from funds derived from service charges, special assessments
or taxes imposed within said municipality by said municipality or
from budgetary payments made in the due course of law from said
municipality to the District.
Section 29. This Ordinance shall take effect upon receipt
of the official acknowledgment from the Department of State acknow-
ledging receipt of certified copy of this Ordinance and that said
Ordinance has been filed in said office.
~ttrtta11! af ~tatt
STATE OF FLORIDA
THE CAPITOL
TALLAHASSEE 32304
(904) 488-3918
BRUCE A. SMATHERS
SECRETARY OF STATE
September 5, 1975
Honorable Ralph W. White
Clerk of Circuit Court
Monroe County
Post Office Box 1860
Key West, Florida 33040
Attention: Virginia Pinder, Deputy Clerk
Dear Mr. White:
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 125.66, Florida
Statutes, this will acknowledge a certified copy of Monroe
County Ordinance No. 75-9, which was received and filed
in this office on September 5, 1975.
Kindest regards.
Cordially,
BRUCE A. SMATHERS
Secretary of State
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