Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1947 )

ERTTORNEYGENERAIL
lF%-EXAS
‘%UWNN 11. TkXAB
PRICE DANIEL
ATTORNEYGENERAL
c
Femary 21, 1947
Honorable William N, Hensley
Criminal Dlstriat Attorney
San Antonio, Texas bpfnfon Boo V-41
Re: Proper orffcer for
collecting the de-
linquent taxes which
have accrued before a
Water Control and Im-
provement DfatrPot s
pursuant to the pm-
visions of Article
1066b s authorizes the
Tax Collector of the
municipality within
which ft fs wholly
located to act fn its
behalf as Tax Colleotor,
Dear Mr. Hensley:
You have asked for an opinion from this Depart-
ment regarding the proper officer for colleetfng the de-
linquent taxes due a Bexar County Water aontrol and Im-
provement DPs t riot o Prior to the authorization of the
Tax Collector of the City of San Antonio, The Bounty Tax
Collector had acted Pn behalf of the Water Control and Pm-
provement District o The problem may be phrased fn ques-
tion form, as follows: Vhen the Tax Collector for the
City of San Antonio is authorized by the tiexar County Wa-
ter Control and Improvement Dfstriet to eat fn its behalf,
pursuant to the provisions of Article 1066b, does the Cfty
Tax Collector act only concerning suah taxes as acorue from
and after the date of suah authorization or haa he the ad-
ditional duty of collecting the delinquent taxes whfdh
were due before said authorization was given?*
Prior to the enactment of Article 1066b, stat-
utory directions for levying, assessfngSp and Bolleating
taxes for a Water Gontrol and Improvement District were
to be found in various Articles of Chapter 3A of Title
128, R.C.S. In addition to those provisions, by virtue of
Article lOg6b certain alternative methods are provided where
the Water bontrol and Improvement District is located en-
tirely within the boundaries of another municipality or
Hon. William N. Hensley - Page 2 (V-41)
district 0 Article 1066b became effective June 18, 1945,
and, as yet, has not been corn trued by the cdurts of
the State. Our construction of the statute must there-
fore be determined from its own terms viewed fn the
light of legfslative intent to be ascertained not only
from the language of the statute itself but also from
the relation of the statute to other artfcles and with
regard for similar statutes and decisions thereunder,
The first paragraph of Section 1 of Article
1066b empowers various dfstrfcts and municipalities to
authorize by ordinance or resolution the Tax Assessor,
Board of Equalization and Tax Collector of the munfcf-
pality in which it is located to act in its behalf.
This general power fs not ;Pn question here as the Tax
Collector for the City of San Antonio recognizes its ex-
istence and questions only the extent of the duty lm-
posed as a resalt,
Paragraph 2 of Section 1 deals with assessment
and has no bearing on the present question,
The relerant parts of paragraphs 3 and 4 of
Section 1 are as follows:
“When the ordinance or resolution is
passed making available their servfoes,
* said Collector shall collect the tax-
& ‘and assessments for, and turn over as
soon as colleoted to the depository of said
munfcfpality or district or to such other
authority as fs authorized to receive such
taxes or moneys so co11 cted, and shall per-
form the duties of Tax 8 ollector of said
municipality or district so availing itself
of his services0
“In all matters pertaining to such Q D 0
collections o o e the 0 Tax Collector
shall be D a e authorfzid’ to act as and shall
perform 0 b D the duties of 0 a s TAX Collector
Of, and according to the ordinances and resolu-
tions of the munfcfpalft or district so avall-
fng itself of a D 0 .lzJ s services, and aooord-
fng to law.”
First of all, therefore, there must have been an
authorization by ordinance or resdlutfon by the Water con-
trol and Improvement District, It will be assumed that
Hon. William N. Henslsy - Page 3 (V-41 1
such authorization was glvenp and that the Tax Colleator
for the City of San Antonio was fully empowered therein
*to aot as 0 0 D and perform 0 0 o the duties of e 0 0
Tax Collector of 0 0 0 the 0 0 0 dlstrlat,”
What, then, are the duties of a tax oolleetor
for a Water Control and Improvement Dfstriet? SpsoffP..,
tally they are provided for in Artfolea 7880-33; 7880-40;
7880-54; 7880-53; 7880-56; 7080-50; 7080-59; 7880-67;
7880-68; 7880-72; 7680-111; 7880-135; 7880-147-z Seotfon
9,
It is noteworthy that the dlstrlot may be al-
lowed alternatives as to who shall act as its tax ool-
leotor. It may have its own Tax Assessor and Collector
Ats2;aI;; 7880-54);, or “rnstead of prooeedfng for the as-
equallzat%on and oollectlon of taxes in the
manner aisewhere in thls bet provided for, the directors
or the dfstrlot nay prorfde therefor by aontracte for
suoh serviaes wlth the CowlsslonersP Court of each coun-
ty in which property taxable by the distriot is sltuated;w
(Artiale 7880-33)., If the eltuatlon is one in whioh the
district is aided by a town, oity, or munlolpal corpora-
tion, the duties of levy, assessment, and oolleatlon are
performed by the offlaers of the munfolpal corporation.
(Article 7880-135) 0 Likewise there is a special set of
provisions where the district is wholly wlthfn one eoun-
tJr.- (Article 7880-1472) 0 Regardless of the particular
course selected or required, however> in each fnstanee
the offloer chosen or in certain fnstancea his deputies,
pertorms all the duties of tax collector for the dlstrlet,
If the County Tax Collector should continue to
oollect the delinquent taxes due the district while the
Cfty Tax Collector aats as to present and future taxesB
the district would, in effect, havs two tax collectors at
the same time; whereas s as pointed out above, past legls-
latlve enactments havr provided alternative methods for
fflllng dn& office of tax eollsotor, Clearly from ~ftti’
language~lcle 1066b la an alternative and being au&
it may be deemed that the legislature intended a slmllarly
complete assumption. There is further support for this
view fn the provlsfon previously quoted that “In all matters
pertaining to sueh 0 ti 0 eollectlons D 0 Q the tax co&leetor
shall be authorized to act o Q 0w (emphasis added)
It is true that the various provisions relating
to who shall act as tax eolleotor for a Water Control and
Improvement Dfstrfet and those further ones whleh prescribe
..
Hon. William N. Hensley - Page 4 (V-41)
the duties of the one so acting (previously cited) are
specific and delfmlt the partfoular office they define;
but there is nothing to indicate that the duties of a
tax collector aotlng for and ln behalf of a Water Control
and Improvement District are irrevocably attached to any
one office. A well known example of statutory provision
for transference of duties of tax collector from one of-
floe to another is found in Articles 7245 and 7246, R.C,S* s
which provide that in counties having less than ten thou-
sand inhabitants the sheriff of such county shall be the
Assessor and Collector of taxes but that each county hav-
ing the requlslte population shall elect its own Assessor
and Collector of taxes. Where a sheriff has been acting
as Assessor and Collector, pursuant to the above provl-
slons, and thereafter an Assessor and Collector of taxes
is duly elected, surely no one would contend that the
sheriff should oontlnue to collect the delinquent taxes
of his regime after the lnstallatlon of ths tax collector.
A new city or county tax collector assumes the duty of
collecting city or county taxes that were delinquent be-
fore he took office, Various decisions in oases involving
collection of taxes by cltg or county collectors for In-
dependent School Districts have recognized that the Legfs-
lature has the power to devolve additional duties upon a
public officer without thereby oreatlng an additional of-
floe. In these cases the tax collector 1s sald to a& in
his capacity as county or city tax collector as an offleer
of the county or city (not as an officer of the dfstrfot),
and that therefore thergs no infringement of Artlele 16
@140 of the Constitution of the State-of Texas D Taylor v0
Brewster Counte ..~ 144
_,.~ S,W. (,2) 314; First Baptfst~ Church v,
City of Fort Worth, Teik$, Comm, Ape, 26 S.W. (2) 196-
Prultt v. Glen Rose Independe’~%``ch~ol ~Dfsti.%cfct ‘Nti.~U’ l”’126~
s .w, .yZV~..
Tex. 45, 84 S.W. (2) 1004; Adamson v9 State, 171
121 D Aft& orooer authorization and once the dutv of aet-
lng as Tax Cbllictor for the Water Control and Imbpvement
District has become attached to the office of Tax ollector
for the City of San Antonio, it 1s difficult for the writer
to see how, ln view of the foregoing analogies, a division
of duties contra to the normal course could have been fntend-
ed,
The legislative purpose in enaotlng Artlole 1066b
1s clearly set out in Section 6, the emergency clause, whloh
reads as follows:
“The iact that there are many overlapping muafeipal-
ltles and districts in the State of Texas,eaeh with its
separate assessing and collecting agencies S causes hard-
shlp and confusion to the taxpayers and adds to the ex-
pense of assessing and collecting taxes and the fact that
Hon. William N. Rensley - Page 5 k-41)
there is now no adequate remedy provided by law
for relieving said conditions, creates an emer-
gency D o o iitc,” General and Special Lawa,
49th Legislature, p0 611,
This purpose would seem to be defeated to soma
extent lf an entirely omitted proviso be read into the aet
to the effect that before one collector oan aOt for the
Water Control and Improvement District two collectors mu&
act at the same time. True fn this ea.88 there would be no
reduction of existing offfeers as both the County and the
City Tax Collectors will continue to function despite Lh8
transference of the duCy; but it would be fllogfcaP to al-
low the division in th8 present Case and deny it in the
case in which a district has had its own assessor and oollec-
tar. Then the difficulties in the way of sustaining the
division of duties seem insurmountable to the writer; for
not only would the dfstrfet have followed two courses for
choosing a tax collector when as previously pointed out the
legislative provisions are clearly alternatives, but also
tha district would be left with an officer who clearly ia
not the Tax Assessor and Collector as defined by ArtPePe
7880-54, whose creation must then spring from inference
rather than statutory enactments, and whose exact duties
and responsibflltfes could only be ascertained by eonjeo-
ture n
Tha Tax Collector of th8 City of San Antonio,
by virtue of the authorization by the Bexar County
Water Control and Improvement Dfstrfetkpursuant to
the provisions of Article 1066b, VOA.C,SO, 1s the
proper officer to collect and is charged with the
duty of colleetfng the taxes due said district, fa-
eluding th8 taxes which were delinquent before sueh
authorization.
Yours very truly
ATTORNEYGENERALOF TEXAS
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