-. 

State Board of Education of Texas 

Austin, Texas 

Opinion No. O-5879 

Re: Are the Polk County 4% Road and 

Bridge Refunding Bonds of 1936 

callable under the provisions of 

Articles 720 and 725 of the ReGentlemen: vised Statutes of 1925. 

Your letter of June 12, 1944, is as follows: 

“At its meeting on June 5th the State Board of Education was advised that the County Treasurer of Polk County had 

issued a Notice of Call, in accordance with the provisions of 

Article 725, Revised Statutes of Texas, 1925, of the following 

described bonds now held for the account of the State Permanent School Fund: 

“POLK COUNTY 4% ROAD AND BRIDGE REFUNDING 

BONDS, dated October 10, 1936, bearing interest at the rate of 

4% per annum, original amount of issue $114,000, balance outstanding $84,000, maturing $5,000 in each of the years October 

10, 1944 to 1955, both inclusive, and $6,000 in each of the years 

October 10, 1956 to 1959, both inclusive. 

“Following the instruction of the Board, I desire to request your opinion on the following question: 

“Are the above-described POLK COUNTY 4% ROAD 

AND BRIDGE REFUNDING BONDS callable under the provisions 

of Article 725, Revised Statutes of Texas, 1925?” 

Investigation of the record on file with the Comptroller of 

Public Accounts discloses that the October 10, 1936 Polk County Road and 

Bridge Refunding Bonds, described in your letter, were issued by Polk 

County for the purpose of refunding, $114,000 . then outstanding of an issue 

of road and bridge bonds bearing 55% mterest, issued by the county under 

date of July 1, 1929, under the authority of Article 718, Revised Statutes 

of Texas, 1925. The original bonds of 1929 expressly retained an option 

of redemption five (5) years after their date. The refunding bonds of 1936 

were issued under the authority of Article 725 of the Revised Statutes of 

.1925, but these bonds did not contain an express contractual provision whereunder they might be redeemed before maturity. 

follows: 

Article 720 of the Revised Statutes of Texas. 1925, reads as 
‘State Board of Education, page 2 (O-5879) 

“All bonds issued under this chapter shall runnot 

exceeding forty years, and may be redeemable at the plea~aure of tha county at any time after five years after the issuance of the bonds, or after any period not exceeding ten 

years, which may be fixed by the commissioners court.” 

This Article is contained in the same Chapter of the Statutes as is Article 718, under which the original bonds of 1929 were issued, 

and Article 725, under which the 1936 refunding bonds were issued. The 

Supreme Court has construed this Article as being applicable to bonds issued under Article 725 so as to make such refunding bonds redeemable after five years from date in the event no express contractual provision for 

redemption before maturity of such bonds is provided for by the commissioners’ court at the time such bonds are issued. Bexar County v. Grover 

Sellers, Attorney General, et al, 178 S.W. (2d) 505. This decision controls 

the question submitted and you, therefore, are advised that the Polk County 

Refunding Bonds described in your letter are subject to call at this time 

upon reasonable notice, pursuant to the provisions of Articles 720 and 725 

of the Revised Statutes of Texas, 1925. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By /s/ Gay-nor Kendall 

Gaynor Kendall 

Assistant 

GK:EP/cm 

APPROVED JUN 22, 1944 

/s/ Geo. G. Blaekburn 

Acting ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

APPROVED 

Opinion Committee 

BY /s/ BWB 

Chairman