## OWNEB~ GENERAL
OF-XAS

Honorable G.D. Minick County Attorney Wood County Quitman, Texas

Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-6348 Re: The duty of the County Auditor to examine and certifymonthly reports of theTax AssessorCollector.

Your letter ofDecember 22, 1944, requests the opinion of this office as towhether it is theduty of the county clerk or the county auditor to examine and certify the monthly reports of the TaxAssessor-Collector ofWood County, Texas, parts, Your letter making this request, omitting the formal

ishere set out:
"Enclosed please find our form ofmonthly report of taxes collected in use in this county since time immemorial, having heretofore been executed by the County Clerk, butwhich the County Clerk declines now to execute and, since we recently have acquired a County Auditor. determines it should be executed henceforth by the County Auditor. Without going into the facts youare simplyreminded of the traditional functions of the County Clerk and of the functions ofthe County Auditor. Itbeing stated the County Clerk, prior to this time, having at all times executed this form without any ckeck-up, without any information as to its correctness, without anyf acility, time or deputy tobe spared ora deputy qualified to examine these records, simply,relying upon the tax oollectorfs responsibility toduty. For this service the clerk receives no compensation. At no time does the County Clerk ever examine or inspect theTax Collectorrs records, At all times does the County Auditor examine and inspect these records, such being of course part and parcel ofhis functions of office for which he is paid. And may I state there isno disinclination on the County Auditorts part toperform this function if he should, ashe is lead to understand his duty; nor is there any friction between any of these officials or among them. They all three simply desire thedutyHonorable G.D. Miniok -page 2, O-6548

performed inthe right way by theproper official.
"Therefore, we Propound to you that under the setup inWood County,
uswhat official, under the law, please advise
Auditor, the County Clerk or theCounty
report should execute the formNo. 117 ofmonthly

of State and County Taxes collected wnclosed, the certificate involved being marked offwith a bracket in ink? Your prompt opinion will bemuch appreciated.

"May Iadd, due to some six or seven oil fields inWood County, recently developed, our tax assessment is enlarged some six times its former bulk in items and invaluation, thus indicating the onerous burden toexamine all these records, aswell as to note theweight of responsibility and liability for it."

For answer toyour question we refer you to Article 7260, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, the revelant provisions ofwhichare here set out as follows2

"At the end of eachmonth the Tax Collector shall, on forms to be furnished by the Comptroller make an itemized report under oath to the Comptroller, showing each and every item of advalorem, poll and occupation taxes collected by him during said month, accompanied by a summarized statement showing full disposition of all State taxes collected, provided that said itemized reports for themonths ofDecember and January of each yearmay not bemade for twentyfive (25) days after the end of suchmonths if same cannot be completed by the end of such respective months.

"Heshall present such report, together with the tax receipt stubs to the County Clerk, who shall within two (2) days compare said reportwith said stubs, and if same agree in every particular as regards names, dates and amounts, he shall certify to its correctness, forwhich examination and certificate said Clerk shall bepaid by theCommissioners Court twenty-five (25) cents for each certificate and twenty-five (25) cents for each twohundred (200) taxpayers on said report; provided that in counties having a CountyAuditor the work men-n= xn this

WCs ~e%tF ~$i?ZE%%sF lTXffer

Similar provisions relating to the report of collections made for the county are found inArticle 7261, Vernonts Annotated Civil Statutes._ -

Honorable G.D. Minick -page 5, O-6349

In accordance with these provisions ofthe law, you are advised, that in our opinion the examination and certification about which you inquire shouldbe made by the CountyAuditor.

Very truly yours
Attorney General ofTexas
s/Robert F. Cherry

BY Robert F. Cherry

Assistant

RFC:zd/cS

APPROVED FEB. 8, 1945 s/Grover Sellers ATTORNEY GEN2RAL OF TEXAS

APPROVED OPINION COUdITTEE: By BWB, Chairman