Special Assessments -- Florida’s “Local Government Financial Information Handbook” explains the ground-rules applicable to special assessments as follows: "Special assessments and taxes are distinguishable because no requirement exists that taxes provide a special benefit to property.  Taxes are levied for the general benefits of residents and property.  But as established in Florida case law, two requirements exist for the imposition of a valid special assessment:

     (1)  The property assessed must derive a special benefit from the improvement or service provided, and,

     (2)  The assessment must be fairly and reasonably apportioned among the properties that receive the special benefit."

Those rules derive, inter alia, from a 2000 ruling by Florida’s 4^th District Appeals Court, confirmed in 2002 by Florida’s Supreme Court, which holds, in part, "Sec. 170.201 [Florida Statutes, authorizing special assessments to fund municipal services] may not be properly applied to salvage the assessment for EMS in this case [N. Lauderdale v. SMM Properties] because without a showing of special benefit to property, the assessment amounts to an improper tax." 

With regard to the specific apportionment methodology adopted by North Lauderdale on advice of GSG [consultants who also developed the current LBTS assessment methodology], the court ruled that since the EMS portion of the integrated program does not provide a special benefit to property, "any apportionment methodology utilized by the City to calculate an assessment for such services would be improper."  (The court did not, however, find methodology used in calculating the assessment for the fire-suppression portion of North Lauderdale’s budget to be unreasonable.

Perversely, it may be just that finding (or lack thereof) – applicable only to the “fire suppression portion” of the North Lauderdale assessment – that the LBTS Mayor and Town Attorney are referring to when they now offer assurances that the courts have “approved” the methodology used in the flat-rate special fire assessment levied in LBTS since 2004.)