THEAIToRNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

Ronorable Rugens Brady 

County Attorney 

Greenville, Texas 

Dear Sir: Oeinion Not O-4311 

Re: Validity of action taken by 

independent sohwl distriat's 

board of equalization $n 

month.of Ootober. 

We have your ,lstter of April 15.~1942, requesting an opinion 

of thiir d+artment, 'and which reads a6~follow~: 

~.. 

'An Indepsndent'Roh~ol Divtridt in this oburity 

organi,sed under the general lau through their..duly 

appointed special ‘tnva6sefmor and aolleotor assessed 

property laaated insaid,distri& for taxes beed.upon : 1 

the value of~the land as of January 1,.1941. ~A~board 

equalization iras 'appointed by the trusfees of the ~$adependent sohoul district and.met on Oatober,lS; a941 

for the purpose op equalizing taxw 3n the diafriot. 

The.taxpayera m&e duly notified of the time and plaae 

of the meeting gf the equalization board and had due 

opportunity to appear .&fore same on the date set.. 

Onb taxpayer n&w oontands that because the,tax rolls 

should have be&ready for aolleotion 'on October 1st 

and the equalipation bard did not meet until Odtober 

15th the taxes'are Qlegal and he:is not bound to pay same. 

"The statute8 provide tha.t.the,lan as applicable. 

to the oolleotion of taxes af inoorporated cities and 

towns shall be applicable likewise to oolleotion of 

taxes of independent rohool districts. Article8 IQ43 

and 1044 RCs provide~for.the oolleafion and asssesment 

of taxes in ai.ties and towns. Artiole 1049 provides 

that the city oounoil shall~ annuaily at their first 

meeting or as soon thereafter as'praotioable appoint 

three oommissionersaoh a qualiftdd voter, a resident 

and property ouner~ of the city rho'shall be styled the. 

board of equalization. .At the same meeting said council 

shall fix the time for the meeting of suoh board. Artiole 

1049 ~&ate8 'The 'Board of Rqualizatiun shall oonvene 

annually at the time $0 fixed to reosive all the assessment 

lists or books of the~assessor of their oity for examination, ~ 
Hcnorable.Sugene Brady, page 2 04311 

correction, equalization, appraisement and approval.' 

Article 1051 provides that any person may file with said 

board at any time before the final action of said board 

a oomplaint as to the assessment of his property and 

said board shall hear said complaint. 

"The question presented here as I see it is must 

the Equalisation Board of an Independent School District 

meet at any particular time during the year, or is this 

requirement met by the equalization board meeting at any 

time during the calendar year? 

"It is generally held that the statutes that regulate 

the time when the assessor shall make out his rolls, end 

thetime whenthe board of equalization shall certify to 

their ocrrectness,C,are directory and not mandatory. In the 

absence of any law decreeing when the assessment shall be 

made, or when the board of equali~zation shall meet, or 

when the rolls shall be prepared, these matters are under 

the ocnticl of the local authorities. If the only statutory requirement is that the'taxes be laried during the 

year, delivery of the rolls tothe collector may be made 

at any time duringthe;yearr,; 37:Texas Jurisprudence, 1012; 

"The statutes'herdtbfcre quoted donot &quiie.the ;. 

board of equalization to meet any prtioular,time during '. 

the year. It only requires, that the board shall convene“. ...,. 

annually at a time fixed by the governing'bbdy. This 

being true I think it would olearly.follcw that all else' 

being regular'the fact that the board of equalizationdid " 

not convene until~ October 15 would not invalidate .the taxes.'! . 

We agree with'your conolusicn and have little to add'to'the. 

reasoning by which~itis reached. We might mention that e&n though 

the time for the sitting cf,such a board of equalization be fixed in 

the manner that county ccmmissioners' courts are required to meet 

as boards of equalization in the month cf May of each year;suoh 

wculd not, in our opinion, invalidate the assessment. From Mr. 

Sutherland in his work on Statutory Construction (2nd'Ed.), Section 

612, page 1117, we quoter 

"Provisions regulating the duties of public officers 

and specifying the time for their performance are in that 

regard generally directory. Though a statute directs a 

thing to be done at a particular time, it does not necessarily 

follow that it may not be done afterwards. In other words, 

as the cases universally hold, a statute specifying a time 

within which a public officer is to perfOXYs an Official act 

regarding the 'rights and duties of others isdirectory. Unless the nature of the a&to be performed, or the phraseology 

cf the statute is such that the designation of time must be 
Bcnorable Eugene Brady, page 3 o-4311 

considered as e limitation of the power of the officer." 

. Again this same author observes, in Section 611, at page 1142 

"Those directions which are not of the essence of the 

thing to be done, but which are given with a view merely 

to the proper, orderly and prompt conduct of the business, 

and by the failure to obey the rights of those interested 

will not be prejudioed, are not ccmmonly to be regarded as 

mandatory; and if the act is performed, but not in the 

time or in the precise mode indiceted, it will still be 

sufficient, if that which is done accomplishes the substantial purpose of the statute." 

This canon of statutory construction is illustrated by the 

cese of Graham v. Lasater, 26 S. W. 472, holding that under Sayles 

Civil Statutes, Article 1517a. Subdivision 1, providing that the 

County Cmmissioners' Court shell convene snd sit as a Board of 

Equalization on the second Monday in June, or "as soon thereafter 

practioable before the first day of July," does not render a oontinuation of their proceedings into July a nullity. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENEBAL OF TEXAS 

By S/Glenn R. Lewis 

Glenn R. Lewis 

Assistant 

CRL:db:wc 

APPROVED APRIL 24, 1942 

s/Grover Sellers 

FIRST ASSISTAET 

ATTORREY GLNERAL 

Approved Opinion Ccmmittee By BNB Chairman