Honorable R. A. Courtney

County Auditor Angelina county Lufkin,Texas

Dear Sir: opinion lo. O-3134 Re: Collection of delin(ment taxes of abolished independentschool district by successor comon school distriat.

We are in receipt of your letter of February 4, 1941,which reads in part as follows:

"For a number of years the Huntington IndependentSchool District, a duly organized and existing independentschool district,has been in existenceand conducting school facilities in a designatedportion of Angelina County. Som time during 1939, this indepaadentdistrictwas, by an election duly called and held, transformed from an independent district to a comaon district and is now operating through the County as a unit of the County schools.

"All during the time of the existence of the independent district, it levied, assessed and collected taxes on the real estatevithin its boundaries, and there is now a large
sum of money due it in the form of delinquenttaxeswhich
were levied and assessed during its existenceas an independent school district.

'Thequestionwhich I desire you to answer is: 'Should the said delinquent taxeswhich were levied and assessedby said district in its independentstatus be collected through the proper court proceedings in its name, independentlyof the County,or, should the County attorney collect said taxes through a suit in the name and on behalf of the County and State?'"
Tha method of transforming this independentdistrict into a conmron school district does not appear in your letter of request and we therefore assume that such actionwas taken pursuant to statutory authority and that all proceedingswere regular. It does not appearwhether the Huntington Independent SchoolDistrict had any outstandingbonds or other indebtednessat the time of its dissolution or the nature of the delinquent taxes in question.HonorableR. A. Courtney, Page # 2 

### (O-3134)

Article 

### 2767a, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes provides thatwhen an independeM school district is abolished and has outstandingbonds
or other indebtednessthe county board of school trustees shall control and dispose of the property of such district and shallhave power to levy and collect taxes, bring and defend litigation,and do other thingsnecessary for the purpose of paying such bonds or other indebtedness.

Article 2767~~ Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes reads in part as follovs:

..

. . . . "When all of the territory embracedwithin the boundaries of any abolished independentschool district,having previously had legal existence, and having outstandingbonds or other indebtedness,enforcible either at law, or in equity, shall thereafterbe contained or includedwithin the limits of any other school district, all taxes against the property of such abolished independentschool district at the time at which it is includedor containedwithin such other school district, shall remain in full force and effect and shall be levied and collectedby such.other school district and the proper officers thereof until said entire indebtedness. is full> paid.
I,

. . . . "Such other school districtmay assume such bonds or other indebtednessat an electionheld for that purpose, at which
a majority of the qualified property tax paying voters of such other district, shall vote in favor thereof; inwhich event, all of the propertywithin such other district,not exempt under the law, shall be subject to taxation for the payment of such bonds or other indebtedness. And the proEr officers of such other district, shall levy upon.such property in said district, a tax adequate for .thepayment of said bonds and other indebtedness,over such a period of time as may be necessary for that purpose. Such election shallbe held in the manner provided for holding an election for voting bonds, or forvoting a special tax, as the case may be, within such other school district."

Your letter does not d&close whether the common school districthas assumed the indebtedness, if any, of its predecessor, the independent school district.
Article 2767e,Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes, reads as follows:Honorable R. A. Courtney, Page #3 (O-3134)

'When all or part of the territory embracedwithin an abolished independentschool district,having at the time of such abolishment,
no outstanding indebtedness,shall be includedor contained within the limits of such other school district, all uncollected taxes on the property so includedor contained for the years up to and including the last day of January of the year immediatelyfollowing that inwhich such territory is includedor contained,within such other school district, shall be levied and collectedby such other school district at the rate in force at the tima of such abolishment and in the same manner as such abolished independentschool district might or couldhave donehad no abolishmentbeen had."

All of the foregoing statuteswere enacted as a part of Section 1, Chapter 294, Acts 1927, Fortieth Legislature,, page 144, and when construed together it is apparent that Article 2767a has reference to the collection of taxes and disposing of the property of abolished independentsckool districts,where the territory is not included within the boundaries of another district; and Articles 27670 and 2767e controlwhere the territory embracedwithin the abolished independent district shallbe included or containedwithin the limits of another school district after the abolition, as is the case presented in your letter of request.
Under the provisions of the foregoing statutes the independent districtwhich has been abolishedwould no longer function and the liquidationof its indebtednessand a collectionof the taxes theretofore levied and assessedby itwould be subject to collectionby the county board of school trustees or its successor embracing the same territory.

It is our opinion that the taxes in question should be collected as other
common school district taxes by the successor common school distict, and should thereforebe collected in a suit by the county attorney for the benefit of the common school district, alongwith other taxes due the State and county.

APPROVED FER. 19, 1941 s/ Gerald C. Mann ATTORRRI CEXRRALOF TEXAS

APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE BY B. W. B. CHAIRMAN Yours very truly,

ATTORNEI GENERALOFTEXAS
s/Cecil C. Cammack

BY Cecil C. Camamck

Assistant CCC:db/ ldv