Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1979 )

The Attorney General of Texas
November 13, 1979
MARK WHITE
Attorney General
Honorable Warren G. Harding Opinion No. Mw- 82
State Treasurer
P. 0. Box 12608 Re: Disposition of interest earned
Austin, Texas 787ll by time deposits by the Fire
Fighters’ Relief and Retirement
Fund.
Dear Mr. Harding:
You inquire about the disposition of interest earned from time deposits
of the Fire Fighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund Account, assigned Fund
No. 976 by the Comptroller. The retirement fund was established pursuant
to article 6243e.3, V.T.C.S., to provide a pension system and death and
disability benefits for volunteer fire fighters.
You wish to know whether the pro-rata depository interest earned
from the time account deposits of Fund 976 should ba placed in the General
Fund pumuant to the provisions of article 2543d, V.T.C.S., or credited to
Fund 976.
Article 2543d, V.T.C.S., provides in pertinent part:
Section 1. Interest received on account of time
deposits of moneys in funds and accounts in the
charge of the State Treasurer shall be allocated as
follows: To each constitutional fund there shall be
credited the pro rata portion of the interest received
due to such fund. The remainder of the interest
received, with the exception of that portion required
by other statutes to be credited on a pro rata basis to
protested tax payments, shall be credited to the
General Revenue Fund. The interest received shall
be allocated on a monthly basis.
Prior opinions of this office have determined that the interest on time
deposits of trust funds should remain with the trust fund rather than being
deposited in the General Fund pursuant to article 2543d, V.T.C.S. See
Attorney General Opinions H-1040 (1977); M-468 (1969). We believe that the
Fire Fighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund constitutes a trust fund. Funds in
p. 250
Honorable Warren G. Harding - Page Two (NW-82)
the Teacher Retirement and the Employees Retirement Systems have been held to be
trust funds Attorney General Opinion WW-565 (1959). The Fire Fighters’ Fund is
administered by trustees. V.T.C.S. art. 6243e.3, SS 20, 21. Finally, the statute under
which it is established expressly provides that “[nlo portion of the corpus or income of the
fund may be used for purposes other than the beneflt of member fire fighters and their
beneficiaries.” Id. S 14(e). In our view, the interest earned from time account deposits of
Fund 976 should% credited to the Fund rather than deposited pursuant to article 2543d,
V.T.C.S.
SUMMARY
‘Interest earned from time deposits of the Fire Fighters’ Relief and
Retirement Fund Account should be credited to the Fund rather
than deposited pumuant to article 2543d, V.T.C.S.
i%Fdrulx&
MARK WHITE
Attorney General of Texas
JOHN W. FAINTER, JR.
First Assistant Attorney General
TED L. HARTLEY
Executive Assistant Attorney General
Prepared by Susan Garrison
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
C. Robert Heath, Chairman
David B. Brooks
Walter Davis
Bob Gammage
Susan Garrison
Rick Gilpin
William G Reid
Bruce Youngblood
p. 251