Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1958 )

October 2, 19% Honorable Robert S. Calvert Comptroller of Public Accounts Capitol Station Austin 11, Texas Opinion No. wti-~a Re: Authority of the Comptroller to issue a warrant in payment of a recording fee in order to record the Agriculture lease on lands purchased by Dear Mr. Calvert: the Veterans' Land Board. You have requested an opinion concerning the authority of the payment of a fee to the County Clerk of a salaried county for recording an agricultural lease on land purchased by the Veterans' Land Board. The Veterans' Land Board requested that the payment of the recording fee to the County Clerk be paid out of funds in the State Treasury comprised of money collected ur- suant to the following provisions of Section 21 of Article 5E 21m: "The Board Is further authorized and re- quired to charge and collect for the use of the State the following fees for the processing and servicing of purchase applications and Contracts of Sale and Purchase and matters incidental thereto. Any such fees, or a portion thereof, which In the opinion of the Board are.unused shall be refunded. II . . . ‘“7 . Service fee for each Contract of Sale and Purchase . . . . . . . $25.00 “All money8 received by payment of the above fees and not re$Izndedshall be deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the Veterans' Land Board Special Fund, and aaid Fund ie hereby appro- prlated to the Veterans' Land Board to be wed as It deems necessary to pay any expenses of the Veterans' Land Board, Including salaries, ln- Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 2. m-508) creasing of salaries, or travel expenses of the employees of the Veterans' Land Board, or employees of the General Land Office .dolng work with the-veterans' Land Program, pro- vided;however, that such'salaries, or ex- penses, shall be in line with the salaries or expenses paid to similar employees of other State departments performing similar duties." The contention of the Veterans I Land Board.ie stated in a letter ,to the Comptroller's Office dated August 21, 199, as follows: "The Veterans' Land Board, by necessity, must correct errors in deeds and forty-year contract8 when such errors are ~discoveredduring the life of the contract. The method In correct- ing such errors is by means of a corrected in- strument which must be recorded in the County where the land is located. It is the opinion of this office that the $25.00 servlce.fee Is set up specifically under Article %21m, Section 21; Vernon's Civil Statutes for the payment of the recording fee for recording the corrected lnstru- ment and for the payment of other necessary ex- penses of servlaing the Veteran!8 contract. "Under the above referred to Article %21m, Section 21, Vernon's Civil Statutes, the $25.00 service fee is, quote, 'deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the Veterans' Land Board's special fund, and said fund is,hereby appropriated to the Veterans' Land Board to be used as It deems necessary to pay any expenses of the Veterans' Iand Board."' If the recording fee were.a legal expense,of the Veterans' Land Board, the service fees appropriated by the Lagis- lature could be expended for this purpose. However, Sections 1 and 3 of Article 3912e, Vernon's Civil Statutes, specifically prohibit the payment of such fees. Section 1 states that "nor shall the State . . . pay to any county officer . . . any fee or coplesion for any service by him performed as such officer . . . (Exceptions not applicable)., Section 3 provides "neither the,State . . . shall be charged with or pay to any of the officers . . . any fee or commission for the perfort- mance of any or all of the duties of their offices . . ." (Exceptions not applicable). Honorable Robert S. Calvert, page 3. mi-508) Since the charge is specifically prohibited by statute, these instruments must be recorded without any charge to the Veterans' Land Board. If the Tree!'for rendering the service of recording these instruments should be construed to be a charge against the individual rather than the Veterans' Land Board, the aoney deposited in the State Treasury could not be used for the payment of personal expenses of an individual. Therefore, you are advised that you are not authorized to Issue a warrant in payment of these fees. SUMMARY The Comptroller of Public Accounts Is not authorized to Issue a warrant in payment of a recording fee for record- ing an Agriculture lease on lands pur- chased by the Veterans' Land Board. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas JR:$l APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Gee. P. Blackburn, Chatrman L. P. Lollar Arthur Sandlln Richard Wells John Steinberger REVIEWEDFORTRE ATTORNEYGERERAL By: W. V. Geppert