Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1939 )

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS Honorable Allen C. Wilson County Attorney Kendall County Boerne, Texas, Dear Sir: Opinion No. Q-585 Re: In cases where a schodl district employs the county tax assessor and collector to assess and col- lect its taxes, may the trustees of such distrititInstrudt saia assessor-collector~t6 increase' the levy in atidbrdancewith a vote of said indepelidentschool district or must the secretary of s&id board first notify the cotiltisioners' court as to such increase and they in turn levy the iXx and notify the,tax assessor and collector of such levy. We.~atie in rticelptof your Ietter of April 1, 1939, in which you ask whether it is necessary for the secretary of a scti601board of-an Independent school district to notify the commistiloners'court of an ~lncrease in tax levy voted by-'such alstrict and have said commissioners' court notify the tax assessor-collector of the county, who also ~coll&ts and asses- 6s for said district, or whether or not said board of trustees may directly notify said collectorassessor of the Increase. The answer to your question depends upon whether'the county commlssioner$' court must make the levy of the taxes on the property In said Independent school district or whether said district may make the levy itself. An examination of the pertinent statute Indicates that in the case of an Independent school district the board of trustees annually levies and causes to be assessed (Inacollected the school tax. Article 2790, Revised ClvLl Statutes of Texas, reads Fn part as follows: "If an independent school district votes a maintenance tax, the board of trustees shall there- after annually levy and cause to be assessed and collected upon the taxable property in the limits of the district for the maintenance of the public Honorable Allen C. Wilson, page 2 0 -585 free schools of the said district such ad valorem tax as the qualified voters of such district au- thorizy, at the election held for that purpose; . . . . This statute may be contrasted to the statute relat- ing to the levy 6f common taxes which is Article 2795 of the Revised Civil Statutes. In the case of Common SchoolDis- trlct the county commissloners' court itself levies the tax. Said Article reads, In part, as follows: "The Commissioners' Court, at the~time of .levylngtaxes for county purposes, shall also Ievy upon all taxable property wlthlfiany com- tion school district the rate of tax so voted if a specific rate has been voted; . . ." Under Article 273' of the Revised CFvil'Statutes an'- lndeije-ti6nt $Chool district may employ a district tax asses- SOP anc"coll6ctor. -Also under Article 2792, Revised Clvll Statutes, a county assessor may be emijloyedfor'an ihdepend- ent'school district. Said Article reads, Fn part, as fol- lows: "When a majority of the board of trustees of an independent district prefer to have the taxes of their'distrLct~assessed and collected by the county dssessor and dollector, Or collected only by the cotity tax dolledor, same.shall be assessed and col- lected by said county officers an&turned bver.to the'treasuretiof the independentschool district for which such taxes have been collected. ...." There is nothing In either Article 2790 or Article 2792, which directs the secretary of the board of trustees to first notify the county commissioners' court of an increase In the amount of levy for school taxes which had beeti~voted by's district. As pointed out in Artlele 2790, the school district Itself through its trustees makes the tax levy, and ndt the county comnil.ssloners'court. We are unable to find any authority or any part of the school law which'would require the notification of ~the county commissioners' court Inthis case before notification of the assessor-collector himself. It is the opinion of this Department, therefore, that when the county tax assessor-collector who is also the asses- sor-collector of anyindependent school a,istrictis notified bf an increase in the amount of levy voted by anindependent school dlstrlct that he should include the increase on his tax Honorable Allen C. Wilson, page 3 o-585 roll and i.tis not necessary for him to have been notif:ed of such lncrea.seby the county commissioners' court. Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS By s/Billy Goldberg Billy Goldberg Assistant BG:LM:wc APPROVED SEP 16. 1939 s/Gerald ~C.Mani ATTORNE3GENERALOF TEXAS Approved bpinion Committee By EWO Chairman