Justices To Hear Arguments In Hospital Fight

In a case being watched by local governments across the state, the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments Feb. 6 in a dispute about construction of a hospital in Volusia County.

The court on Thursday issued an order scheduling oral arguments in an appeal by the Halifax Hospital Medical Center taxing district.
Halifax went to the Supreme Court after a circuit judge said the district does not have the legal authority to issue bonds for a 96-bed hospital project in Deltona.

The taxing district is based in Daytona Beach, and the Deltona hospital is in western Volusia County, outside the district boundaries.

In his ruling, Circuit Judge Christopher France pointed to a law known as an enabling act and concluded that the district “does not háve authority to issué bonds for the purpose of financing the planning, acquisition, construction, or installing of the proposed Deltona Hospital outside of its geographic district boundaries.”

Halifax contends that it has the right to operate outside the district, and it has received support in the case from groups such as the Florida League of Cities, the Florida Association of Counties and the Florida Association of Special Districts.

Source: WUSF