THEATTOECNEY GENERAL 

OFTE~AS -- 

I This Opinion I 

1964 I i I 

Honorable Dean Martin Opinion No. C-322 

County Attorney 

Gragrj on County Re: Can the Commissioners 

Sherman, Texas Court expend money 

derived from taxes 

levied under Article 

6790, V.C,S., for the 

purchase of right-ofway for federal, state 

and county highways and 

Dear Mr. Martin: lateral roads. 

You have requested the opinion of this office as to 

whether the special road funds derived from taxes levied under 

Article 6790, Vernon's'Civll Statutes, may be expended for ttie 

purchase of right-of-way for federal, state and county highways 

and lateral roads. 

Article 6790, Vernon's Civll'Statutes, Is the 

enabling statute passed pursuant to an amendment to the Texas 

Constitut?.on in 1890, Article VIII, Section 9, Texas Constitution. This Constitutional provision was further amended in 

1956 wit'h no substantlal'change as regards the special road 

fund. This constitutional amendment is quoted as follows: 

"Set . 9'. The State tax on property, exclusive of the tax necessary to pay the public debt, 

and of the taxes provided for the benefit of the 

public free schools, shall never exceed Thirt - 

five'cents (35k) on the One Hundred Dollars ( $ 100) 

valuation; and no county, city or town shall levy 

a tax rate in excess of Eighty Cents (804) on the 

One Hundred Dollars ($100) valuation in any one 

(1) year for general fund, permanent improvement 

fund, road and bridge fund and jury fund purposes; 

provided further that at' the time the Cormnlssloners 

Court meets to levy the annual tax rate for each 

county It shall levy whatever tax rate may be 

needed for the four (4) constitutional purposes; 

namely, general fund, permanent Improvement fund, 

road and bridge fund and jury fund so long as the 

Court does not impair any outstanding bonds or 

other obligatLons and so long as the total of the 

foregoing tax levies does not exceed Eighty Cents 

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Honorable Dean Martin, page 2 (C-322) 

(SO#) on the One Hundred Dollars ($100) valuation 

in any one (1) gear. Once'the Court has levied 

the annual tax rate, the same Shall remain Yn 

force and effect dur'Fng t'hattaxable year; and' 

the Legislature may also authorize an additional 

annual ad valoremtax to be levied and collected 

for the furthermaintenance of the public roads; 

provided, theta majority of the qualified 

ProPerty tax paging voters of the county voting 

at an' election to be held for that purpose shall 

vote such tax, not to exceed Fifteen Cento (15#) 

on the One Hundred Dollars ($100) valuation of 

the property subject to tbxatlon'in such county. 

And the Legislature may pass'local laws for the 

maintenance of the public roads and highways, 

without the local notice requlrad for special 

or local laws; ThisSection shall not be-~ 

constru'ed as a llmltatlon of powers delegated to 

counties, cities or towns by any other Section 

or Sections of this Constitution." 

Attorney General's Opinion O-2094 (1940), written 

during the administration of Gerald C. Mann, contained the 

following language: 

"The paragraph In the above quoted section 

of the Constitution providing for the levying of 

a tax not to exceed fifteen cents on the'one 

hundred dollar valuation of property relating to 

the maintenance of public roads was not a part 

of the orlglnal section; it was added by amendment 

in the year 1890 for the evident purpose of 

conferring upon counties the power to lay out, 

construct and maintain better systems of public 

highways than they were able to do under the 

restricted taxatlon before provided for. It 

would be a narrow Fnterpratatlon to hold that 

the people adopting this amendment to the 

Constitution had In view to provide a fund to 

be used only in repairing roads already laid 

out, lnstead of the evident and broader poltcy 

to create a better and more extensive system of 

public highways. The purpose of the Legislature 

in making the amendment uas to increase the 

capacity of the county t'6 maintaina system of 

public roads andthe word 'maintenance' must be 

held to Include all the things necessary to be 

done to accomplish the purpose. Dallas County: 

vs. Plowman, 99 Tex. 509, 91 S.W. 222 (1906). 

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Eonorable Dean Martin, Page 3 (c-322) 

In view of the foregoing comments In Attorney 

Generel's Oplnlon O-2094, which opinion is hereby reaff-lrmecl 

by this office; it is our opinion that the purchase of rightof-way is necessarily included among the purposes for which the 

funds derived under Article 6790, Vernon's Civil Statutes, may 

be expended. We are further of the opinion that the right-ofway purchased hereunder may be used for county roads and, by 

virtue of Article 6674n, Vernon's Civil Statutes, said r 

'f; 

htof-way may be purchased for any purpose enumerated in 667 n. 

Said Article 6674n provldes'for the purchase of right-of-way 

by the county and states that the funds therefor-shall'be' 

derived from the County Road snd Bridge Fund or any available 

county funds. This would necessarily Fnclude funds derived 

from Article 6790. 

SUMMARY 

Funds derived from the tax levied under 

Article 6790, Vernon's Civil Statutes, may be 

expended for the purchase of right-of-way for 

federal, state and county highways and lateral 

roads. 

Yours very truly, 

WAGGONER CARR 

Attorney General 

Malcolm L. Quick 

Assistant 

KLQ:ms:bk 

APPRm: 

OPINION coMK!XTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Edward Moffett 

Gordon Cass 

Ralph Rash 

Dean Arrington 

APPROVE33 FOR TEE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: Roger Tyler 

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