Sarasota County v. Sarasota Church of Christ, Inc.

The Florida state legislature adopted an environmental act that authorized the construction and maintenance of facilities to manage stormwater runoff. The act allowed differing levels of assessments for different land uses, depending on benefits received from the stormwater facilities. Based on the act, Sarasota County (the county) (defendant) adopted an ordinance that authorized stormwater services and imposed a special assessment to fund the services. The ordinance imposed a special assessment on all developed properties, or those with improvements that contained impervious surfaces, and not on undeveloped properties. The county found that properties with impervious surfaces contributed to polluted stormwater, while undeveloped properties helped in managing stormwater runoff by absorbing it. For assessment amounts, developed properties were divided between residential and nonresidential, and residential properties were assessed a flat fee based on number of dwelling units. Nonresidential properties were assessed based on the amount of horizontal impervious area on each property. The special assessment was imposed on developed properties owned by Sarasota Church of Christ, Inc. (the church) (plaintiff) even though churches, as religious organizations, were exempt from ad valorem taxes. The church, on behalf of itself and other churches, sued the county seeking to invalidate the special assessment. The trial court invalidated the special assessment, and the county appealed.