606 and amending s. 5(3) to change the maximum rate for assessments, the effectiveness of
which was expressly conditioned on referendum approval by a majority of qualified electors of
the area affected. This office has not been advised as to whether the provisions of Ch. 83-515,
supra, were approved by referendum.
With respect to your official duties as Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser, s. 6(1), Ch. 80-
606, Laws of Florida, provides in pertinent part that the county property appraiser "shall furnish
the commissioners a tax roll covering all taxable properties within the district, on or before June
1 of each year, . . . ." (e.s.) Section 6(2), Ch. 80-606, supra, further provides in pertinent part that
the property appraiser "shall include in the Santa Rosa County Tax Roll the assessments made
by the board . . . ." Finally, s. 6(3), Ch. 80-606, provides for reimbursement to the office of the
Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser for assessing such taxes in the manner and amount
authorized by general law. You have not advised this office of any statutory changes that would
affect the provisions of s. 6 of Ch. 80-606, Laws of Florida, nor am I aware of any such changes.
Moreover, except as noted above with respect to Ch. 83-515, Laws of Florida, you have not
advised this office of any statutory changes that would affect the legislative description of "lands
to be included within the district," nor am I aware of any such changes. However, in view of the
fact that some of the property within the district as described in Ch. 80-606 has been annexed to
the City of Milton, which provides fire protection services within the city, you have posed
substantially the question set forth above. See s. 192.032(1), F.S. (real property shall be
assessed "in that county in which it is located and in that taxing jurisdiction in which it may be
located").
The property appraiser of each county is a constitutional officer of the state and, as such, is
obligated to carry out the provisions of state statutory law setting forth his duties and
responsibilities. State ex rel. Peacock v. Latham, 170 So. 475 479 (Fla. 1936); Maxwell v. Good
Samaritan Hospital Association, Inc., 195 So.2d 255, 256 (4 D.C.A. Fla., 1967), petition for cert.
discharged, 204 So.2d 519 (Fla. 1967), appeal dismissed, 392 U.S. 656 (1968). In the absence
of legislative change in the provisions of s. 6, Ch. 80-606, Laws of Florida, or a binding judicial
determination to the contrary, it appears that the Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser is
required to furnish the board of commissioners of the Skyline Fire Protection and Rescue
Service District a tax roll covering all taxable properties within the district, on or before June 1 of
each year, including therein taxable properties within the district which have been annexed to the
City of Milton, and that assessments made by the board shall be included in the county tax roll,
unless by operation of the annexation such properties are no longer included within the district.
Accordingly, it becomes necessary to examine the effect of such annexation on such taxable
properties within the Skyline Fire Protection and Rescue Service District as are now included
within the limits of the City of Milton.
In AGO 71-349, this office concluded that the powers and duties of a special fire control district
established pursuant to a special act of the Legislature would not be affected by the district's
subsequent incorporation into a municipality. That opinion relied on several cases from foreign
jurisdictions holding generally that, in the absence of a statute so providing, a special taxing
district is unaffected by the extension of a municipality's boundaries to include all or a portion of
the area within the special district. The opinion further noted that these decisions were in
harmony with the holding in Boca Ciega Sanitary District, Pinellas County v. State, 161 So.2d
529 (Fla. 1964). In that case, a decree which in part excluded from a district created by special