THE ATBTORNEY GENERAL 

OF-TEXAS 

Honorable J. M. Williams 

County Auditor 

Tarrant County 

Fort Worth, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. o-7032 

Re: Authority of Tarrant County to 

lease certain buildings and 

hangers on an alrport and related questions 

Your letter of March 14, 1946 contains the following facts: 

"Recently there has been a tentative offer by the 

Federal Government to Tarrant County of the Naval Air 

Base Training Station at Eagle Mountaln Lake, In Tarrant 

County. This tentative offer consists In an offer on 

the part of the Federal Government to turn this air 

field over to Tarrant County conditioned upon the 

County's maintaining said air field or alrport and 

with the further proviso that the Federal Government 

reserves the right at all times to use said airport 

to the extent of twenty-five per cent of its capacity 

should it desire to do so and reserves the further 

right to again assume control of said airport In the 

event of a National emergency which would require the 

Federal Government to use the airport for defensive 

purposes as has heretofore been used. 

"The Commissioners Court does not desire to incur 

any expense by reason of its taking over said air base 

and a private Individual has offered to lease the airport from Tarrant County and to assume the burden of 

maintaining Said airport in the condition In which it 

will be when turned over to Tarrant County by the 

Federal Government. It appears from Section 1 of Article 

1269h that the Commissioners Court of any County has 

authority to receive by gift or dedlcatlon and to thereafter maintain and operate an airport, and under subdivision (d) of Section 1 of said Article 1269h, It Is 

provided that the county is authorized to lease any airport which may be acquired by the County to any lncorporated city or municipality withln sald county or to the 
Hon. J. M. Williams, page 2 O-7032 

Federal Government for the purpose of maintaining 

and opergting an airport.n 

Your letter of recent date requesting the opinion 

of this department is based on the foregoing facts. We quote 

from said request aa follows: 

"On March 14, we asked gout for~a ruling on 

counties securing Federal Naval Air Base Training 

Station at Eagle Mountain Lake, Tarrant County. 

On,March 15 we received copies of your opinions 

O-6924, O-6878 and O-3865. 

"Conditions have arisen that we are unable to 

determine by your opinions; could counties lease 

'buildings and hangers or a part of the buildings and 

hangers and also leasing a part of the farm land on 

this 2,400 acre tract, or would it be necessary for the 

county to operate this under their oomplete supervision? 

"We would also like to know If it would be 

necessary to finance this through our General Fund, 

and if a proflt was made, could the profit from 

this Air Port be applied to General Fund Expenditures of the County, or would lt be necessary to set 

up an Air Port Fund?" 

Article 1269h, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes Is 

in part as follows: 

"Section 1. A-That the governing body of any 

incorporated city in this State mayreoelve through 

gift or dedication, and is hereby empowered to acquire, by purchase without condemnation or by purchase through condemnation proceedings, and thereafter maintain and operate as an airport, or lease 

or sell, to the Federal Government, traats of land 

either within or without the corporate limits of 

such city and withln the county in which such city 

is situated, and the Commissioners' Court of any 

county may likewise acquire, maintain and operate 

fur like purpose tracts of land within the limits of 

the county. 

~+***+** 

'D-In addition to the power herein granted, the Cornmissloners' Court of the several counties of this State 

are hereby authorized to lease any airport that may be 

acquired by the county, as herein provided, to any incor- 
Hon. J. Ed. Williams, page 3 O-7032 

porated city or municipality within such county 

or to the Federal Government, for the purpose o 

maintaining and operating an airport; and provided further that any incorporated city having 

acquired land for an airport, or an airport, 

under the authority of this Act, shall have the 

right to lease said land or said airport to the 

county in which sald incorporated city Is locat L. 

"*++**++ 

"Sea. 3. Any airport acquired under and -y 

virtue of the terms of this Act shall be under 2e 

management and control of the governing body.0: the 

city or the Commissioners' Court of the county cquiring the same, which is hereby expressly au orized 

and empowered to improve, maintain and conduct the 

same as an airport, and for that purpose to make 

and provide therein all necessary or fit improvements and facilities and to fix reasonable charges 

for the use thereof as such governing body or Commissioners' Court shall deem fit, and to make rules 

and regulations governing the use thereof. &Q& 

proceeds from such charges shall be devoted excluelvelg 

to the maintenance. uokeep. imorovement and operation 

of such airport and the facilities. structures. and,- 

imorovements therein. . .'I 

We lnfer from the above quoted parts of your letters 

that the Federal Government has proposed 'to turn this airport 

over to Tarrant County" conditioned upon the county's maintalning and operating said airfield or airport, subject to certain reservations. If the County so contracts with the Federal 

Government, It is our opinion that the County could not use 

the property or any portion thereof for any purpose other 

than airport purposes. See Moore v. Gordon(dismissed) I22 

S.W. 2d 239, 243. Since the County would be obligated to 

maintain and operate said airfield or airport, it necessarily 

follows that the Commissioners' Court would be without 

authority to lease the whole or any part of said airfield 

or airport. On the other hand, should the contract permit 

the County to lease said airfield or airport, the Commissloners' court would be bound by the provisions of Article 1269h, 

and could only lease the same "to any Incorporated city or 

munlclpality within such County, or to the Federal Government, 

for the purposes of maintaining and operating an airport” 

and for no other purpose. 

As to your second question concerning the use Of 

any profit made by the county through the operation Of the 
Hon. J. M. Williams, p a g e ~4 O-7032 

airport, we call special attention to the underlined portion 

of Section 3 of Article 1269h supra. In order "to devote exclusively to the maintenance, upkeep, improvement and operation of such airport and the facilities, structures, and 

improvements therein" all the proceeds derived from charges 

for the use of said airport, it becomes necessary to set up 

an Airport Fund. However, if it Is necessary to use any tax 

money in the operation of said airport, such expenditures 

should be paid out of the General Fund. If it is necessary 

to use tax money to make permanent improvements to the alrport, such expenditures should be paid out of the Permanent 

Improvement Fund. We are sending you a copy of our Opinion 

NO. o-6762 which fully discusses this matter. 

Trusting we have satisfactorily answered your lnqulry, we remain 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

JR:djm:wc 

By s/J.C. Davis, Jr. 

J.C. Davis, Jr. 

Assistant 

By s/John Reeves 

John Reeves 

APPROVED MAY 23, I946 

s/Grover Sellers 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWB Chairman