Parrish Wins Court Battle Over Budget
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal has handed Property Appraiser Lori Parrish a big victory today.
Lori Parrish: Big winner in court
The Court ruled against County Commissioners’ attempt to block Parrish’s $18.7 million 2013-2014 budget. Commissioners had offered her $14.8 million.
“I had asked for less than 1 percent increase,” Parrish said.
Under Florida law, however, the Florida Department of Revenue has overall say over Parrish’s budget. FDOR shaved about $100,000 from Parrish’s $18.8 million budget, approving $18.7 million.
Commissioners then increased Parrish’s budget to $15.8 million, which the justices called “a significant drop from the FDOR’s approved amount.”
“Believing the Board’s action to be unauthorized, the property appraiser filed a request with Broward County for a quarterly draw of $4,140,881.75, conforming to the FDOR’s budgetary determination. After the county countered with an offer of $3,963,750.00,” the court wrote.
Commissioners Marty Kiar, Chip LaMarca and Dale Holness were the only ones backing Parrish.
Parrish sued, alleging that the FDOR governed her budget and the Commissioners must follow that agency’s order.
She won in Circuit Court Judge Dale Ross’s court.
Commissioners appealed.
Today, the Appeal Court rejected the county’s argument.
Three justices unanimously accepted that the FDOR controlled the appraiser’s budget, not the county commission. They spelled out the reason:
“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— 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. These considerations underscore why condoning the (Commission) Board’s course of action in this case would not only be contrary to the Legislature’s intent but problematic in practice.”
“We won this twice,” Parrish said shortly after the ruling was issued.
She called the Commission’s law suit a waste of money and “purely politics” played by a few commissioners.
How much did taxpayers spend on this inner-governmental courthouse battle?
We might get an ideal of the costs since Parrish intends to ask commissioners to pay for her legal expenses.
The ruling is below:
December 10th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
Lori
Well done. Your office is well run. We know you only ask for dollars when needed.
December 10th, 2014 at 1:17 pm
Terrific! Ms. Parrish has done an outstanding job of cleaning up the Property Appraiser’s Office which was in chaos. She has been fair and equitable. And I for one appreciate her hard work. I agree, that this was purely politics which cost the tax payers more than the increase she requested. Thank you Ms Parrish for a job well done!!!!
December 10th, 2014 at 8:27 pm
Lori is leaving after next year and we will miss her.
December 10th, 2014 at 10:16 pm
I mean, would anyone care to explain why the out of their depth Broward County Board of Commissions got into a legal battle with a former Commissioner when the former Commissioner’s position was so OBVIOUSLY LEGALLY RIGHT? I mean, CAN ANY OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS READ ENGLISH? The law is clear a 10 year old could understand it! Then again, were they guided into this by the County Manager? Just what are Bertha Henry’e credentials to be a County Manager? Like Nikki Grossman’s to be a tourist developer? or, rumored, Stacy Ritter’s to be a tourist developer? We laugh at the antics in Miami-Dade, and sometimes Monroe County, and snear at some of the arrogance of Palm Beach County, but, in all honesty, there is a lack of plain BRAINS in government in Broward County with none of the entertainment value of a Curley, Jimmy Walker, or even a Boss Tweed – who at least gave us the Tweed Court House or Frank “I am the Law” Hague who built the largest medical center of its day. What the Hell do we get for the money spent on the nearly moronic Broward County Board of Commissioners and their County Manager?
December 11th, 2014 at 9:34 am
You go girl.
I always knew you could do it.
(Private chuckle here)
December 11th, 2014 at 11:08 am
Count Chocula! Well written and right on point. How much did these arrogant commissioners and county manager cost us in this outrageous pissing match?
December 11th, 2014 at 4:38 pm
Lori Parrish is widely acclaimed as Broward’s best executive where the proper management of public records is concerned. Might there be another place in Broward County where Lori’s great public records management expertise is needed?!? The “Scent Of Mount Trashmore” nominees are…
* The City of Plantation, for attempting to charge SALES TAX on fees for public records requests…
http://www.afn.org/~afn54735/legalday2sb3.html
* The 17th Circuit Clerk of Courts, for intentionally HIDING public records…
http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/index.php?topic=18693.0
* The 17th Circuit Clerk of Courts, for charging OUTRAGEOUS fees for public records requests…
http://fsne.org/news/2014/10/14/price-of-sunshine-in-broward-county-132k-in-public-records-search-fees/
* And finally, the 17th Circuit Clerk of Courts, for making INTERNET access to public records a straight-up nightmare…
http://www.clerk-17th-flcourts.org
And the Biggest Broward Public Records SCUMBAG is….
THE 17TH CIRCUIT CLERK OF COURTS!!!
Howard C. Forman, YOU get a giant piece of Mount Trashmore!!!
Don’t worry Lori, we’ll send in experts to fumigate Forman’s office before you take over…
And if you decide that it’s just better off being bulldozed… then let the bulldozing begin!!!
December 11th, 2014 at 11:11 pm
Is anyone going to explain the county’s position on this in court, ’cause I’ve got other things to do and in the meantime I cannot even imagine how they found one leg to stand on?
FROM BUDDY:
I would suggest you read the court’s ruling, which has a history of the dispute.