ERTTORNEYGENERAIL 

lF%-EXAS 

‘%UWNN 11. TkXAB 

PRICE DANIEL 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

c 

Femary 21, 1947 

Honorable William N, Hensley 

Criminal Dlstriat Attorney 

San Antonio, Texas bpfnfon Boo V-41 

Dear Mr. Hensley: 

Re: Proper orffcer for 

collecting the delinquent taxes which 

have accrued before a 

Water Control and Improvement DfatrPot s 

pursuant to the pmvisions 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, 

You have asked for an opinion from this Department regarding the proper officer for colleetfng the delinquent taxes due a Bexar County Water aontrol and Improvement 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 Pmprovement District o The problem may be phrased fn question form, as follows: Vhen the Tax Collector for the 

City of San Antonio is authorized by the tiexar County Water 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 additional duty of collecting the delinquent taxes whfdh 

were due before said authorization was given?* 

Prior to the enactment of Article 1066b, statutory 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 entirely 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 therefore 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 munfcfpality 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 existence and questions only the extent of the duty lmposed 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 perform 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 resolutions of the munfcfpalft or district so avallfng itself of a D 0 .lzJ s services, and aooordfng to law.” 

First of all, therefore, there must have been an 

authorization by ordinance or resdlutfon by the Water control 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 allowed alternatives as to who shall act as its tax oolleotor. It may have its own Tax Assessor and Collector 

Ats2;aI;; 7880-54);, or “rnstead of prooeedfng for the asequallzat%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 county 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 corporation, 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 eountJr.- (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 leglslatlve 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 offloe to another is found in Articles 7245 and 7246, R.C,S* s 

which provide that in counties having less than ten thousand inhabitants the sheriff of such county shall be the 

Assessor and Collector of taxes but that each county having 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 provlslons, 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 before he took office, Various decisions in oases involving 

collection of taxes by cltg or county collectors for Independent School Districts have recognized that the Legfslature has the power to devolve additional duties upon a 

public officer without thereby oreatlng an additional offloe. 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 

@1 40 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~ 

Tex. 45, 84 S.W. (2) 1004; Adamson v9 State, 171 

s .w, .yZV~.. 

121 D Aft& orooer authorization and once the dutv of aetlng 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 fntended, 

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 muafeipalltles and districts in the State of Texas,eaeh with its 

separate assessing and collecting agencies S causes hardshlp and confusion to the taxpayers and adds to the expense 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 emergency 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 allow the division in th8 present Case and deny it in the 

case in which a district has had its own assessor and oollectar. 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 eonjeoture 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, faeluding th8 taxes which were delinquent before sueh 

authorization. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

MP/mj/lh:jrb