Florida County Airports Win Reinstatement of Property Tax Breaks

Airport properties owned by Hillsborough County, Fla., qualify for property tax exemptions because they serve a “governmental purpose,” a state appeals court ruled Friday.

The state statutes governing exemptions for government-owned property specifically define governmental purpose to include activity undertaken by a tenant that is deemed to perform an aviation or airport purpose, the Florida Second District Court of Appeal held. The trial court improperly “looked beyond the plain language of the statutes and found that the properties do not satisfy the governmental-governmental test,” Judge Suzanne Labrit wrote, referring to a constitutional test requiring exempt property to be government ...