Honorable G. Dixon Mahon Opinion No. C-775 

District Attorney 

County Courthouse Re: Questions relative to the 

Ozona, Texas use of the same assessment 

blanks, tax rolls, statements 

and receipts for both an 

independent school district 

and the county or city, when 

the county or city assess and 

collects the taxes for the 

Dear Mr. Mahon: school district. 

You have requested the opinion of this office in regard 

to the captioned matter. I quote from your letter making 

the request as follows: 

'Prior to the amendment of Article 2792, 

or city taxassessor, in assessing and collecting taxes for an independent school district at 

assessed values greater than the values assessed for city, county and state purposes, lawfully assess and collect the district taxes 

by using separate columns or separate portions 

of the same sheets of paper which are used 

for the city or county assessment blanks, tax 

rolls, statements and receipts, or was it 

mandatory prior to such amendment, and is it 

now mandatory, that completely physically 

separate assessment blanks, tax rolls, statements and receipts be used for such district 

taxes?" 

We quote from the applicable statute, Article 2792, 

Vernon's Civil Statutes, as follows: 

"When a majority of the Board of Trustees 

of an independent district prefer to have the 

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Honorable G. Dixon Mshon, Page 2, (C-775) 

taxes of their district assessed and collected 

by the county assessor and collector, or by 

the city assessor and collector, of an incorporated city or town in the limits of which 

the school district, or a part thereof is 

located, or collected only by the county or 

city tax collector, same may be assessed and 

collected, or collected only, as the case 

may be, by said county or city officers, as 

may be determined by the Board of Trustees 

of said independent school district, and 

turned over to the treasurer of the independent school district for which such taxes 

have been collected. The property of such 

districts having their taxes assessed and 

collected by the county or city assessor and 

collector may be assessed at a greater value 

than that assessed for city, county and State 

purposes, and in such cases the city or county 

tax assessor and collector ma assess the taxes 

for said district on separa 9 e assessment blanks 

furnished by said district and shall prepare 

the rolls for said district in accordance with 

the assessment values which have been equalized 

by a Board of Equalization appointed by t$e 

Board of Trustees for that purpose. . . . 

(Emphasis added) 

Prior to the amendment enacted by the 59th Legislature 

of the State of Texas, the applicable part of the statute 

read: 

I, 

. . . the city or county tax assessor 

and collector shall assess the taxes for said 

district on se-e assessment blanks furnished by said district and shall prepare the 

rolls for said district in accordance with 

the assessment values which have been equalized by a Board of Equalization appointed by 

the Board of Trustees for that purpose. . . .' 

(Bmphasis added) 

We have been advised by the Office of the State Comptroller of Public Accounts, the office charged with administering 

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Honorable G. Dixon Mahon, Page 3 (C-775) 

the tax collection machinery of the State of Texas, that 

assessment blanks are the rendition forms or sheets for 

listing the inventory of taxable property which are prepared and rendered either by the individual property owner 

or the tax assessor. The assessment blanks are physically 

separate forms and not merely blank spaces on a single 

sheet of paper. 

In considering the change of wording brought about by 

the 1965 amendment to Article 2792, the word 'shall" connotes 

directive,ness or something that is mandatory or required, 

whereas the word 'may" has the connotation of permissiveness 

or some degree of discretion. 

It is, therefore, the opinion of this office, that 

prior to the 1965 amendment, city or county tax assessors, 

in assessing for independent school districts, could not 

lawfully use the same assessment blanks or property inventory blanks as those used for assessing for city purposes 

or for county and state purposes. 

It Is further the opinion of this office that under 

the 1965 amendment to Article 2792 the use of physically 

separate assessment blanks, or property inventory sheets in 

the case where a city or county assessor is assessing for an 

independent school district is permitted but not required, 

and that separate columns on the same assessment blanks may 

be used for assessing the different property values for each 

taxing unit. 

The primary concern of any taxing body in preparing its 

taxing procedures is to insure that nothing is done to invalidate the tax levy or the assessment of the property evaluation. 

The case of Miller v. Vance, 107 Tex. 485, 180 S.W. 

739 (1915), held that separate property renditions and preparation of separate rendition sheets did not affect the 

validity of the tax assessed in that manner. The case of 

Rhomberg v. McLaren, 21 S.W. 571, (Tex.Civ.App. 1893) held 

th t the failure to make separate tax rolls for a school 

d&rict, taxes for which were being collected by a city, 

would not affect the validity of the taxes. Therefore, we 

are of the opinion that the failure to use separate assessment blanks or property inventory blanks prior to the 1965 

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Honorable G. Dixon Mahon, Page 4 (C-775) 

amendment to Article 2792 would not invalidate the taxes 

assessed. 

In regard to the question as to whether separate tax 

rolls, statements and receipts must be used, or must have 

been used prior to the 1965 amendment, we again quote from 

Article 2792 as follows: 

II 

. . . If said taxes are assessed by a 

special assessor of the independentdistrict 

and are collected only by the city or county 

tax collector, the city or county tax collector 

in such cases shall accept the rolls prepared 

by the special assessor and approved by the 

Board of Trustees as provided in the preceding 

Article. When the county assessor and collector 

is required to assess and collect the taxes of 

independent SChOQl districts, the Board of 

Trustees of such school district may contract 

with the Commissioners Court of said county 

for payment for such services as they may 

see fit to allow, not to exceed the actual 

cost incurred in assessing and collecting 

said taxes; and when the assessor and collector 

of an incorporated city, or town, as hereinbefore provided, is required to assess and 

collect the taxes of independent school 

districts, the Board of Trustees of such 

school districts may contract with the governing body of said city for payment for 

such services as they may,see fit to allow, 

not to exceed the actual cost incurred in 

assessing and collecting said taxes." 

As the Board of Trustees of an independent school district is authorized to contract with the county commissioners 

court or the governing body of a city for assessment and collection of taxes, it would seem that the respective county 

and city assessors and collectors should be able to use the 

sane tax rolls, statements and receipts as those used for 

city and county and state purposes. The stated purpose of 

the 1965 amendment to Article 2792 is to enable taxing authorities to achieve more efficiency in their operation. (See 

Emergency Clause, Acts 59th Leg. R. S. 1965, p. 1579, ch. 685) 

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Honorable G. Dixon Mahon, Page 5 (c-775) 

To achieve more efficiency the political subdivision performing the service for the school district should be able 

to combine assessing and preparing rolls, statements and 

receipts for the two bodies so long as ,the school tax rates, 

assessments and amounts are readily distinguishable. 

Where the assessed valuation for the independent schoo 

district is higher than the assessed valuation for the cite 

or for the county and state it is advisable that provision 

be made on the~tax rolls, statements and receipts to show 

the different valuations and rates to avoid confusion in 

the minds of the taxpaying public. 

------- SUMMARY 

Prior to the 1965 amendment to Article 

2792, Vernon's Civil Statutes, a city or 

county tax assessor, in assessing taxes for 

an independent school district at values 

higher than those assessed for city, county 

and state purposes was required to assess 

the school district tax by using physically 

separate assessment blanks, but the failure 

to use separate blanks did not invalidate 

the taxes assessed. However, the use of 

separate tax rolls, statements and receipts 

was not required. 

Subsequent to the 1965 amendment to 

Article 2792, a county or city tax assessor 

is permitted, but not required, to use completely physically separate assessment blanks 

in the assessment of school district taxes. 

A separate column on the same assessment 

blank may be used in assessing values for 

the different taxing units. The use of 

separate tax rolls, statements, and receipts 

is not required. 

Very truly yours, 

Assistant Attorney General 

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_ . . . 

Honorable G. Dixon Mahon, Page 6 (C-775) 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. 0, Shultz, Chairman 

Gordon Cass 

Robert Flowers 

Pat Bailey 

Marietta Payne 

APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: T. B. Wright 

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