MARK WHITE Attorney General 

# The Attorney General of Texas August 4, 1980

Honorable Bill D.Jackson, CPA County Auditor County ofGalveston Galveston, Texas 77550 Opinion No. MW-217 Re: Whether a claim for dalinquent tax attorney commissions may bepaid out ofFarm-to-Market Lateral Tax Fund revenues Dear Mr.Jackson: You asked whether a County Auditor may approve a claim for delinquent tax attorney commissions out of Farm-to-Market Lateral Tax Fund revenue. The Farm-to-Market and Lateral Road Fund exists by virtue ofarticle VIII, section l-a, of the Texas Constitution and article 7048a, V.T.C.S. Article VIII,section l-a, provides that counties may:

...levy advalorem taxes uponall property within their respective boundaries... provided the revenue derived therefrom shall be used for construction and maintenance of Farm-to-Market Roads or for Flood Control, except as herein otherwise provided. (Emphasis added). Article 7048a provides that:

Sec. 2... [Claunties... are hereby authorized to... collect ad valorem taxes upon all property within their respective boundaries... provided the revenue therefrom shall be used... for the construction and maintenance ofFarm-to-Market and Lateral Roads or for Flood Control and for these two (2)purposes only.

sec. 3. Taxes... shall be credited... to separate funds known asthe Farm-to-Market and Lateral Road Fund, to be used solely for Farm-to-Market and Lateral Roads within such county..
.. (Emphases added1 The question is whether these provisions may be construed so as to permit delinquent tax revenue earmarked for the Farm-to-Market and Lateral Road Fund to be used to pay adelinquent tax attorney for his efforts

p. 693Honorable Bill D.Jackson - Page Two (KW-217)

in collecting that revenue. Inour opinion, they may not be suconstrued. Article VIII, section l-a, and article ‘7048aclearly provide that revenue from ad valorem taxation shall be used solely for the construction and maintenance ofFarm-to-Market Roads or for flood control, and we see no basis for reading into these provisions sn exemption which the legislature apparently did not intend. The law is well-settled that an unambiguous statute will ordinarily be interpreted literally and that courts may not, under the auise of statutorv construction, read excentions or exemntions into a statute, no matter how desirable they may seem. A. M:Servicirg Corp. Of Dallas v. e, 380S.W.2d747 (Tex. Civ. App.-Dallas 1964,nowrit). See also 53Tex. Jur. 2d Statutes SS119,

et seq. Commissioners’ Court v. Wallace, 15S.W. 2d535 (Tex. 1929),does not compel a different conclusion. In that case, the Texas Supreme Court upheld a contract between a county and an abstract company which called for the company to furnish a complete abstract on all county property on which ad valorem taxes hadnot been paid in exchange for a portion of the delinquent taxes paid as a result of the company’s efforts. However, despite language in the opinion to the effect that “a part of uncollected taxes (may) be used indefraying the expense ofthe collection...,” the case clearly turned on article 7335, V.T.C.S., which specifically authorized the commissioners’ court to “pay for an abstract of property assessed or unknown and unrendered from the taxes, interest, and penalty to be collected on such lands,” such payment being contingent upon collection of such taxes, interest, and penalty. 15S.W. 2d535, 536-37. Hence, while there wasin Wallace specific statutory authority for the contract and for the method of payment, neither article 7335, V.T.C.S., nor other statutes authorize a delinquent tax attorney’s commission to be paid out of Farm-toMarket Lateral Tax Fund revenue. Wealso direct your attention to article VIII,section 9ofthe Texas Constitution, which establishes a general fund, a road and bridge fund, a permanent improvement fund, and ajury fund. A 1967amendment to section 9provides that “any county may put all tax money collected by the county into one general fund, without regard to the purpose or source of each tax.” However, this amendment has been held to apply only to these four tax levies and not to section l-a funds. Attorney General Opinion H-530 (1975). Thus, revenue in the Farm-to-Market Lateral Tax Fund could not be transferred to the general fund and then be used to pay a delinquent tax attorney’s commission for collecting delinquent Farm-to-Market and Lateral Road Fund revenue. SUMMARY Aclaim for delinquent tax attorney commissions may not be paid out ofFarm-to-Market Lateral Tax Fund revenue.

r MARK WHI’TE Attorney General ofTexas

P. 694Honorable Bill D.Jackson - Page Three (NW-217)

JOHN W.FAINTER, JR. First Assistant Attorney General Prepared byJon Bible Assistant Attorney General APPROVED: OPINION COMMlTTEE C. Robert Heath, Chairman Jim Allison Jon Bible Walter Davis Susan Garrison Rick Gilpin

P. 695