May 15. 1950

Hon. B. .F. McKee County Auditor Hidalgo County Edinburg;Texas

Dear Mr. McKee: Opinion No. V-1057.
Re: The authority ofcounties to use anexcess oftthe State tax remission, over theannual bond retirement requirements, to build and maintain farmto-market road6,.
You have requested the opiidon 0% this office onthe abovecaptioned matter.

Section 51 ofArticle III of the Texas Constitution provides in part as follows’:

“The Legislature shall have no power tomake **anjr** grant or authoriszthe making ofany grant ofpublic moneys toany individual. association ofindividuals, municipal or other corporations whatsoever;.provided,

. . .further; that the,provlsions of this section shall notbe construed so as to nrevent the grant ofaid in cases ofpublic calamity.i .(Emphasicadded throughout.)
Section 10ofArticle VIII of the Constitution provides:
“The Legislature shall have no power torelease the inhabitants of, or .property in, a~nycounty, city or town from the payment of taxes levied for State or county purposes, **&less** itrcase of great public 

### calamity in any such county, city or town. when such release 

### may be-made by a vote of two-thirds of each House: of theLegislature.“’
It is clear that these .ronstitutional provisions themselves would prevent the **use** of remitted’tax funds for any purpose other than the prevention of.public calamities, under the conditions set forth in the statutory .grant. unless there is some subsequently adopted constltutlonal provision that provides otherwise.

In Opinion No. O-1276 this office ruled that:Hon. B. F. McKee, Page 2 (V-1057)

,-The calamity clause finArticle 3. Section 51, 

### of the Constitution was not intended to provide a vehicle for the wholesale transfer 

### ofmoney from one coastitutiooal fund toanother. It was written into the Constitution to enable the State as a whole to extend relief to those parts ofits areas which from time to time might be stricken with such calamitous visitations as fire, flood, tempest or disease. We think the term ‘public calamity’ has the same meaning inArticle 3, Section 51, as in Article 8, Section 10of the Constitution. In the case ofJones P. Williams. 45 S.W. 2d 130, thequestiouas tothe constitutionality ofa tax remission bill ofstate-wide s,cope was before the Supreme Court. In thatAct the Legislature had found as a fact that the ‘presentworld-wide economic crisis’ constituted a public calamity. We take the following excerpts from Chief Justice Cureton’s opinion:
*‘As stated, the Legislature was of’the opinion that.thepresent industrial depression was .a ‘great public calamity” within the meaning of

### Section 10,**Article** 8, of the Constitution. With that interpretation of the Constitution we cannot agree. The word ‘calamity” indicates ,or suppases a somewhat contiguous state; produced .aotusually by the direct agency of man, ybutby aatural causes, such as fire., flood,.teanpes,t, disea6.e:” etc. .Webster’s Revised Uuabridged Dictiouary

. . . “We thixk it clear that it was thus co&mplated and intended that levies for State and county.~urpose.s. should be kept separate and distinct; snd that taxes collected for county pnrposes should uot be appropriated for State uses, nor taxes collected for State purposes diverted tocounty uses.”
Section .1-a of,Article VIII ofthe Constitution was amended in 1.948to provide in part as follows:

: “Prdvided that in those. counties or political sub-. divisions or 

### areas of the State from which tax donations have heretofore. been granted, the State Automat16 Tax Board shall continue to kvythe full amount ofthe State ad valorem tax for .theduration of such donation. or.until all legal obllgatio~ns heretofore authorized by.thelaw granting such donation or donations shall have been fully dischar.ged. .whichever shall first o&r; provided-:tbat if suchdomtion toany such county or’political 

### s&di’d- *ion is for less than the~fullamount ofState advalorem taxes so levied, the portio~n ofsuch taxes .retiining overHon. B.. **F.** McKee, Page 3 (V-1057). ,

,andabove su.chdonation 6hall.be retained by said county **or.**subd{vision.- **Sec.** 1a. **Ar.t,.** 8, adopted. electiou Nov. 2. 

### 1948.7.
After 

### the .ameudment of.Section.l-a, the 51st Legisla**ture** enacted Chapter 464, codified as Article 704ga, V’.C.S. Section 10(a) provides in part as follows:

y(l) :Begianlng in the.year ,195i;atid each year thereafter the State Automatic Tax Board created by Article 7041 of the Revised Civil Statutes ofTexasi 1925, shall cause tobe levied annually in each **county,** political subdivision or other defined area, the full thirty cents (30$) State ad.valorem tax for general 

### revenue purpose’s, the proceeds ofwhich heretofore **were** donated and granted by the .Legislat,uye to certain counties, political s.ubdivisionq o,rother. ,defined areas .for the purpose of carrying outpndperforming actious of. preventing calamities, improving., protecting and xcclamting certain’areas for pnd ,op.betalf ofthe State as. more fully declared in each applicable law 

### or laws mak

### ing .such donation or grant and said Board shall contin**ue** to levy such tax at said rate in each such designated area uutil.,the bonds or.other obhgahons of said areas authorized 

### or incurred’in connection with the pertormante of such 

### aC&ODonbehalf of the State 

### shall have been fully pald or discharged or until the expiration date of such dohation or grant as Wy be determined from the law or laws rziaking such grant 

### or donation, whichever shall first occur.
. . . “(3) The tax assessors and collectors in each of such Counties shall continue toassess and collect ,su.ch, tax and make the proceeds thereof available tothe.douees or grantees in the manner provided by the law or laws makiugeachsuch grant or..donation. The moneys.thus collected by said tax assessors and collectors and.re-. ceived by su,chgrantees or donees shall be used~ano accounted for annually as prescribed by the law or laws making such grant or donation. “(4)’ In those instances where less than the full State general **ad valore** **’ m**  **tax** was granted or donated, the oortion of the monev collected in excess otthe a-. mot&t donated or grantkd shall be paid over to the gov

### erning body ofthe county 

### or political subdivision from which such tax is collected and in the discretion of said gpvernlng body shall be us& either for the construction and maintenance ofF&-m-to-Market Roads 

### or for’Elood Control only withiu the **county,,,. ,**  **. ”** Hon. R. F. McKee, Page 4 **(V-1057)**

Thus. we see that, under both the Constitution and the statutes, the.doaated taxes can be used only **for** the prevention of the recurrence of public calamities, **under** the condition6 set forth in the **statutory** grants. The donation is tocontinue until the end of the **statutory grant**  **or** untilallobligations are paid, whichever shall **occur** first. Mauitestly. the collbtruction and mainteoauce of farmto-market roads ‘would not constitute a prevention ofrecurrence of public calamities within the coqtemplation of the Constitution or **statutes.**

SUMMARY

.State **ad**valorem taxes douated or granted to **counties** toprevent the **recurrence** of “great public calamities+” caused by **dkmitous** overflows, floods, storms, and the like, cannot be diverted to the construction and maintenance of farm-to-market roads.

APPROVED:
W. V. Geppert Taxation Division
Joe R. Greenhill First Assistant
Price Daniel Attorney Geneial FL/ls/mwb Yours very truly,
PRICE DANIEL *,:“?rxwGew.i&

Assistant