February 2, 1970

I-Ion, W. Ii.Eyssen, Jr. OpinionNo, M- 569 CountyAttorney Howard County Re: Questions concernfng the Big Spring, Texas 79720 assumption of the assessment and collectionof taxes on behalf of the City of Big Spring by the Tax Assessor-Collector Dear Mr. Eyasen: of Howard County.

In your request for an opfnfon,you state the following:

"It fs presently contemplatedby the City Commlssfonof the Cfty of Big Spring,Howard. County> Texas, and by the County Commfssfoners of Howard County,Texas2 that itwould be mutually advantageous to coinbfne the assessmentand collecp' tfon of taxes on behalf of said City of Big Spring Into the office of the County Tax Assessor-Collector and In connectfonwith the proposed combination it would appear that the .followfng problems are presentedwhich requfre answer by your offfce,

'Before statfng the problems it would probably be well to outlfne the facts as they now exist, At the present tfme both the City and the State and CountyAssessors-Collectorsare usfng identical 100s valuatfons on property locatedboth fn the Cfty and the County for appraisal purposes, For taxfng purposes0however9 the County isusfng 2% of such lOO$ valuation ffgures and the City fs using 

### 60%of such IOO$ valuatfon, Each tax assessor-collectorapplies the 2O$ and/or 

### 60% rate> as.the,,case ma$be, tk arrive at the final valuationu~pon',w~Lch'~be:appYfcabPe tax rate fs based and to arrive at the,amountof tax assessed and payable,

-2718-;::i Hon. W. H. Eyssen, Jr., page 2 (M-569)

.,, “1D The first question, therefore, 1.8, und&l( th;! provfsfons of Article 7359VATS, fn the event the two taxing offices are combfnedwould ft be permfsEfble for the CountyAssessor-Collector to use9 fnmakfng the tax aases~sment on property locatedwfthfn the corporate limits of the City, the 60sif

actorfng of the 100% valuation for the @sty tax and contfnue to us,ethe 20% factoring of the 100% valuation fn connectionwith the assessment of the, county tax on identicalproperty.

"2. The City of Big Spring Is a home-rule city and variousprovisions of the charter are 'asfo$lowsa

"ArtfcleVI, Section 1, Until otherwisepro-~, vfdedby the city commission,the appolntive offfcers of the city shall consfst of the citymanager, tht?chief of police, city secretaryand tax collector, city attorney, city ffre chief, city tax assessor,,and city treasurer, In the discretion of the city commission,and under the lfmftations imposedby law, two or more of the above officesmay be consolidated into one,

'"Article

IV, Section 12, The city commfssfc& shall create appofntfve officeswhen the same is deemed expedient and may divide the admfnfstratfon of the cfty"s affairs into such departments as theymay deem advfsable,and may discontinue any such appofntfve offfce or department at thefr dfscretfon, except the office of citymanager.
"ArticleVI, Seetfon 

### 6. Cfty Secretary D D D

**AS** tax collector,he shall collect all taxes due to the city, and shall pay the same over at least weekly to the city treasurer.

'"Article

VI, Section 9. Tax Assessor. The : city t;ax

a~ssessorshallmake up the assessment of property taxed by t.hecfty; andmake duplicate rolls thereof, one of which when completed, shall be delivered to the city secretary,

“ArticleVIPa The cfty shallhave the poxer to annually levy and collect taxes on the assessed valuation of all real estates personal andmfxed

-2719-Hon, We H. Eyssen, page 

### 3 (M-569)

propertywfthfn the city limits, not exempt from taxation by the constitutionand laws of the state, provided that the total levy for all purposes shall not exceed the statutory limitation,

“ArticleVII, Section

### 8, The City commission shall at fts first meeting Pn June or as,soon thereafter as practfcable levy the annual tax for such year, but specfal taxes or assessmentsmay be levied, assessed and collectedat such time as the commission may provide. 1000

%nder tiieabove articles, If the City is otherwise debirous of havfng-the County Tax AssessorCollectorhandle the assessment and collectfonof the City taxes can this be accomplishedwithout necessfty of charter amendment or would it be essentfal that the Cfty Charterbe amended to abolfsh the offke of Tax Assessor-Collectorand the tax assessfng and collecting functions stated therein.


### “3 * If the City elects to take the actions outlined above with whom would it be appropriate for the Cfty to contractwith regard to the services of the CountyTax Assessor-Collector;furthermore, to whom should the 1% be pafd. by .theCbty.. Further, could the Cfty provfde services and pay a portion of the costs of operatfng the combfned tax offfce proposed above in addition to the l$iO”

Articles 1042b and 735g9 Vernon’s Cfvil **StStUteS, ex**  pressly authorize any incorporated cftypby ordinance or by proper resolutfon, to enter fnto a contract authorizing the County Tax Assessor-Collectorto act‘as Tax Assessor-Collectorfor such **City,** Each of these statutes~ expressly provides that the property situated within the city shallbe assessed at the same value as ft fs assessed for county and state purposes, Further, the charter of the City of Big Spring provides that the City commissionmay discontinue any appolntfve office, such as Tax Assessor-Collector,at their dfscretfon, Therefore9 ft would not appear to be necessary to amend the city charter since both the charter and the statutes,empower the city to enter into the contract authorfzfng the county official to act for and on behalf of the city,

Said Article 1042bprovfdes that for performing the requfred services the CountyTax Assessor-Collectorshall receive an

-2720-Hon. W, H, Eyssen, page 4(M-569)

amount to be agreedupon by the governfng body of the incopporated city and the CommfssfonersCourt of the county fn which such city fs sftuated,not to exceed l$ of the taxes so collected. The statutesprovfde that such fee shallbe paid to the County Tax~Assessor-Collector,

SUMMARY

Where a cfty and a county enter into a contract for the CountyTax Assessor-Collector to act in such capacity for the city, the property situatedwithin such city shallbe assessed at the same value as It was assessed for county and state purposes, Articles 1042b and 7359, V,C,S, Under the provisions of said statutesand of the charter of the City of Big Sprfng, it does not appear necessary that the city charterbe amended in order to enter into the proposed contract. The County Tax AssessorCollector shall receive an amount to be agreed upon by the governingbody of the city and the CommissionersCourt of the county 'notto exceed l$ of the taxes collected.

Attorney General
Preparedby Jack Sparks AssistantAttorney General

APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE

Kerns Taylor, Chafrman Bill Allen Jerry Roberts Z. T, Fortescue Bill Craig

MEADE F, GRIFFIN Staff Legal Assfstant

NOLA WHITE First Assfstant

-2721-

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