February 2, 1970 

I-Ion, W. Ii. Eyssen, Jr. Opinion No, M- 569 

County Attorney 

Howard County Re: Questions concernfng the 

Big Spring, Texas 79720 assumption of the assessment and collection of 

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 contemplated by the City 

Commlssfon of the Cfty of Big Spring, Howard. 

County> Texas, and by the County Commfssfoners 

of Howard County, Texas2 that it would be mutually 

advantageous to coinbfne the assessment and collecp' 

tfon of taxes on behalf of said City of Big Spring 

Into the office of the County Tax Assessor-Collector 

and In connectfon with the proposed combination it 

would appear that the .followfng problems are 

presented which 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 

County Assessors-Collectors are usfng identical 

100s valuatfons on property located both fn the 

Cfty and the County for appraisal purposes, For 

taxfng purposes0 however9 the County is usfng 2% 

of such lOO$ valuation ffgures and the City fs 

using 60% of such IOO$ valuatfon, Each tax 

assessor-collector applies the 2O$ and/or 60% 

rate> as.the,,case ma$be, tk arrive at the final 

valuation u~pon',w~Lch'~be:appYfcabPe tax rate fs 

based and to arrive at the,amount of tax assessed 

and payable, 

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;::i 

Hon. W. H. Eyssen, Jr., page 2 (M-569) 

.,, 

“1 D The first question, therefore, 1.8, und&l( 

th;! provfsfons of Article 7359 VATS, fn the event 

the two taxing offices are combfned would ft be 

permfsEfble for the County Assessor-Collector 

to use9 fn makfng the tax aases~sment on property 

located wfthfn the corporate limits of the City, 

the 60s 

if 

actorfng of the 100% valuation for the @sty 

tax and contfnue to us,e the 20% factoring of the 100% 

valuation fn connection with the assessment of the, 

county tax on identical property. 

"2. The City of Big Spring Is a home-rule city 

and various provisions of the charter are 'as fo$lowsa 

"Artfcle VI, Section 1, Until otherwise pro-~, 

vfded by the city commission, the appolntive offfcers 

of the city shall consfst of the city manager, tht? chief 

of police, city secretary and tax collector, city 

attorney, city ffre chief, city tax assessor,,and 

city treasurer, In the discretion of the city 

commission, and under the lfmftations imposed by 

law, two or more of the above offices may be consolidated into one, 

'"Article IV, Section 12, The city commfssfc& 

shall create appofntfve offices when the same is 

deemed expedient and may divide the admfnfstratfon 

of the cfty"s affairs into such departments as 

they may deem advfsable, and may discontinue any 

such appofntfve offfce or department at thefr 

dfscretfon, except the office of city manager. 

"Article VI, 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~ssessor shall make up the assessment 

of property taxed by t.he cfty; and make duplicate 

rolls thereof, one of which when completed, shall 

be delivered to the city secretary, 

“Article VIP a The cfty shall have the poxer 

to annually levy and collect taxes on the assessed 

valuation of all real estates personal and mfxed 

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Hon, We H. Eyssen, page 3 (M-569) 

property wfthfn the city limits, not exempt from 

taxation by the constitution and laws of the 

state, provided that the total levy for all purposes shall not exceed the statutory limitation, 

“Article VII, 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 assessments may be levied, 

assessed and collected at such time as the commission 

may provide. 1000 

%nder tiie above articles, If the City is otherwise debirous of havfng-the County Tax AssessorCollector handle the assessment and collectfon of 

the City taxes can this be accomplished without 

necessfty of charter amendment or would it be 

essentfal that the Cfty Charter be amended to 

abolfsh the offke of Tax Assessor-Collector and 

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 contract with regard to the services 

of the County Tax Assessor-Collector; furthermore, 

to whom should the 1% be pafd. by .the Cbty.. 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, expressly authorize any incorporated cftyp by ordinance or by proper 

resolutfon, to enter fnto a contract authorizing the County Tax 

Assessor-Collector to act‘as Tax Assessor-Collector for such City, 

Each of these statutes~ expressly provides that the property situated 

within the city shall be 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 commission may discontinue any 

appolntfve office, such as Tax Assessor-Collector, at their dfscretfon, Therefore 9 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 1042b provfdes that for performing the requfred services the County Tax Assessor-Collector shall receive an 

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

amount to be agreed upon by the governfng body of the incopporated city and the Commfssfoners Court of the county fn which 

such city fs sftuated, not to exceed l$ of the taxes so collected. 

The statutes provfde that such fee shall be paid to the County 

Tax~Assessor-Collector, 

SUMMARY 

Where a cfty and a county enter into a 

contract for the County Tax Assessor-Collector 

to act in such capacity for the city, the 

property situated within such city shall be 

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 

statutes and of the charter of the City of Big 

Sprfng, it does not appear necessary that the 

city charter be amended in order to enter into 

the proposed contract. The County Tax AssessorCollector shall receive an amount to be agreed 

upon by the governing body of the city and the 

Commissioners Court of the county 'not to exceed 

l$ of the taxes collected. 

Attorney General 

Prepared by Jack Sparks 

Assistant Attorney 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 

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