Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1942 )

OFI=~CEOF~E A’ITORNEY OENEEALOFTEXAE AUSTIN lionorabloriiL. Shelton County Auditor ., Johnson County Cleburm,Texas Dear-t OplAlon Number o-4574 Rel Is Johnson County eligible ror partlolpation in the funda intheRoadBond Assumption Aat,.under the facte eubmStted? We are in receipt of your opinion requeet of recent date and quota from rour letter as follora: : wHouse Bill N0.'-6~.Aotaof the First Called Seseion or the 47th Legislatum, page 2, chapter. 2, Seotlon 1, reads,+ga* a8 followsr, '. ," e @Aud itla hereby dstemlned that the further provisions of this,Abt oonetitute fair, just and. equ$table oo.mpen!mtion,repamat,:and reimburde- ment to aazld~oountieuand dofined dlstrlots and for their aid and aatilstauoeto the State in the oonstruotlon of State Highway8 and,for the ocn- Btruotion of no/d road8 rhioh are anolllar to but do not oonstitute a part of ea32-%& of' State Highway8 and' ful.4 discharges the legally implied obllgatloua of the State to compensate, repay, aud reinrbureethe aggenolesof the State- ior expenaee incurred at the iustauoe and ~olicl- tatlon of the State, aa well ai for empsnses.lu- ourred for the benefit of the Stats, and fully dischargeethe &ate's legally implied obligation . to suoh cOutMef# and defined road diatricte to provide additional funds for the tither oouatruo- tion of roads not designated ae a part of the State Highway System.* Honorable R. s. Sheltoni page @ *From the rsadjmg of the foregoing It oeoure to ma that a county would be entitled to parti- oipation to th8 extent that it had expended Road Bond aimmy on roada Iead.%nginto State Highwayr. Joh~on.aouuty, from it8 County tid8 road bond8 expended 11m of it8bondnoneyonroad818adlng lute designat8d State Highway8 but lt hs never roo8ivad any partloipatlon to the mount OS auoh moluy eqmadodr *To the OXteAt that auohmomy that - 8X&?end8d on the88 Seeder or supply road8 56 it eligible SW partlolpation in the Road Bond Amumption Aatt m Deoember X8, 1941, aoting on the literalwording OS the Aat and not OA any oemned intention6 OS Thor I,egielature,I tiled a olaim dth the Board of County and Distrlat Road Indebtedrmar for partloipatlon and thus far they hav8 not aoted OA it s myray. "1 uould ap~eclots your opinion a8 to the ellgi- bility 8-M ju&nsas of my olti for partiolpation.m Reply&~ to the rw8g0fng you al-8respeetiully advised that Johuson County ie not entitled to participation in the County and Road Distriot XLghmay l+uudLSorroad bond money ex- pended on th8 oonstrwtion OS r8ada leading into a desigxmted Stat8 Highway.: Buoh~roadLkre by th8 defialtion OOAt.¶iA8dIn * the Aot d88@mted a6``laterUroad8, and eligible obllgatlon8, as defined in Seotion 2 bf”the~Aot~abov8 reSsrr8d to, means obligationa the prooeeds oS,which uere'actually8xpended on deaigmted hlgh~ays,~pnd all road8 whiuh prior to Jmuary 2, ,lQU# had not beoame 8 part of th8 Syet8m of State deaigmted hlghmya are defined aa wlateral roads'. The.reSerenoe in Seotion 1 of House Bill #6, which you quoted IA your lettsr, ln whloh it la stated that Rthe further provlalons of this Aot oonstltute Sair,:,~Just and equitabJ.aoom- petiation, ,repagrmentand reimbursementof said oountles and defk!mErda& dirtrlets and for.their a&d and aaaletulce to the . . RonoMb&e R. L. i%8%to0# pag8 M State in the construction of State Rlghwaym and for the. oonatruetion of aaid roads whioh are anolllary to but do not conatltute a part of said Ilytteai of State Highways and Sully diachargeathe legally implied obligatlonm of the State, 8tO.e has l'8Sel'8AO8,tOthe prOVi8bA oontained in chapter G,tith reference to the "Lateral Road Aeoount?, zvhida deala with the dietplbutlon OS the~mrplue~ remaining in eaid fun&after the BoPrd hae paid off and dieoharged all eligible'obl%gation& 'You will note.that the Leglola- tUre has provided's method of dlatrlbuting this 13urplUs fund to the counties and road districta, and,has also de; temnlned how thla ~moneyshall be expended by the oouaties and road dlatricts; and a;aon&other'things,,Chapter 6 contains the Sollowing provision; 9unds remaining 3.l1 the Lateral Road Fund of any oountg after the payment ,oS said right-of-way~obliga- tlons ahall be tieedby the hounty’.Sor paying the mturiUg principal,'intereet-and'alnklng:~fnad,~re- qUimment due py,the county in that:Slsoal year on bonds, warriuatsor:other e~ldenoes.oS~iadebtednesa~ which were legally $ssued,by maoh.oo~ty or road districts prior to Jarmargi.2,:1939,.the proOe8ds of Which,Wm8 aottily expended'in the conatruot~on or tipl?OVeIU8AtOf lC+eral oO*!y, poads". i&ended tb di&charge what- Evidently the LeglPrlatuz+e ever legally tiplied o~ligatioz&oS:the.State~to oompensate the oowT&iss and road.districta :Sor~?anolllary~roads by the dlstributlon of this eurpl~s Sian&and authorizing tilecounti to apply a portion of same to the :payment of obligations out- standing, th8 proceeds of which wereuaod to construct lateral roada. very trU1y yours ATTORHJTXGRIiE3ALOF TRXAS Assistant