OFFICE OF THE AYTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS / I

RoncrebleJ. 26.

Williams This has been made good again by Acts 58th Leg 6.

County~Auditor Tarrant County Fort Wmth, Texao
Dear Sir:

"It haa boefi.a,well eettlad aoume ai 'px%- oedura for many years r0r the Aaeessor-Colleator to pay his oommlaslc~n for aseesalng end ooXleo$- ing taxes out or the dirrerot funds of the County affeoted,in the same proportionas the tax rates of eeah fund bears to the Wtal tax rate for the county.HonorableJ. M. %'illiam8, Page 2

*In view or the above, we eek this question:
"*In cerrylng out the duty im@tiGd upon the Court under Artlole 7212, ea above pointed out, oan the expenses thereby inourred be paid out of the differenttex funds in the proportionas the tax rate of eeoh fund bear8 to the total tex rate for the County?
".
. . ."
As to the valuation of renderedproperty,Article 7185, Vernon'sAnnotatedCivil Statutes,provides in pert;

"If the twsse68or Is Satisfiedwith the valuation as rendered * * *, he shall 80 enter the same; ii he Is not satisfiedwith the valuation,he 8hall rerer tha same to the Board or Pquallurtlonor the County for their aotion, and shall immediatelynotii9 the person rrom whom he reeelvedsaid liet that he ha8 rererred said valuation to the Board of I.'quelization.* Artiole 7206, Vernon*8AnnotatedCivil Statute8 provide8 in pert:

6Eaoh Coaaalesionere* Oourt shall oonvene and sit a8 a Bo~ard of Equalizationon the seoond hondey in May of each year, or a8 soon thereafter a8 practioablebefore the first day of June, to receive 811 the assessvmntlists or hook6 0r the as8eseoreof their Countlee for inapeotion,oorreotion or equalizationand approval. "1. They Shall cause the sssessor to bring before them at such meeting all said assessment lists, books, 6tO., for inspeotion,end see that every person has renderedhis propertyat 8 fair mnrket velue, and shall have power to send ror persons,books and papers, swear and qualifypersons, to esoertain the value of auoh property, snd to lower or raise the value of the same.

*I. l . .*HonorableJ. Y. Wllliama, Page 3

Artiole 7211, Vernon's AnnotatedCivil Stetutea, provides in etieot that In listing property,the laseasor shall state hie valuation ii he oonaidersthat the owner has undervelued. Furthermore,&?ticle 7212,Vernon'sAnnotsted Civil Stetutes,gives to tha Board of Eqrlalizetion a general power of SuperViSing a8aee8menteend "if Setlafied thst the valuation of any property is not In aooordanoe with the laws of the atete, to inareaseor diminish the s8me and to fix 8 nroper valuation thereto, as providedrar in the preoeding artlo1e.v Referring to these provisionsIt was stated in the case of Republio Ino. Companyva. Highland Park Inde ndent "ohool Dlstriat (57 S. W. (2) 627, error dismissed Y that "the plain import and meaning of theee stetutory prOViSiOn is, that when an owner tendersto the aaaesaora listing end valuation of his propertyror taxation it la the duty of the asBeaaor to rsoalve the same, and In oaae of dlfferanoe of opinion between them as to the valnationa plaoed upon the property by the aner, the a8aeaaor*a duty then is to refer the aattor to the Con6nisslonerar Oourt as a Board of Equalization,and the Court, arter notioe to the owner, is to hear evldanae,settle and fl% the disputed valuatlon.W

Prom the iaots stated in your letter,we assume, that you desire our o inion as to whether or not money may be taken from the 3:

var 0~8 funda of the oounty inoludingall the constitutional funds to pay such personawho shall teatify under oath conoamlng the aharaoter,qualityand quantity or suoh property,es well 68 the value thereofunder the provialona or Artlole 7212, aupra. It is to be noted in the first plaoe th8t the Commissioners* Court has no authority aside from that granted to it by the Oonstltution, or Legislature. ~a stated by the .Supreme Court of Texas in the oaae of Commiaaloner8~ Court of Idadieon County ~6. :Tallaoe, 15 s. w. (2) 535:

v* * * As aaid by the Court of Civil Appeela in its opiniont the Commiaalonera* Court is a oreatureor the %ate Constitution and its powers ere limited end oontrolledby the Constitution and the laws as paS88d by the Legislature.*
It %S to be noted that in the oaw 0r Roper vs. Hall, 280 3. W. 289, the oontraot about whioh the case was oonoerned,oelled

### ror th6 payment of the rw 0r tax e@neera by warrantsdrawn on the general fund of the oounty. TheEonorableJ. M. Williams,Peg8 l+

Court dose not discuss the questionof whether Or not the enginsersaould have been paid with warrant8drawn on aMna of the cOnstitutiona fund8 Of the County.

The outetandlng authorityon the propoeitionOr the purposea f=or

whloh the oonstitutional fund8 may ba 8xponded by the C~mmlseioners ' court IS the ease or Carroll Y& vfiiih?~~6,

202 !% we sob, %1p81!18 cOWt Or ?8Xa13. In this o&38, the 3lprBPl8 COUl't sp8OiriOally

held that th8 mOn8y oOlleOt8dfor the various OoMtitutional funds could not ba Spent for any Other purpose then the.purposaior whioh euoh fund was set up by the Oonetitution.

The OaS8 Of Wyatt YS. MoOill, County Judge, et al, ll4 2. K. (2) 860, among other things,holds that the Corn-- mirslonere~ Court may Yalidly employ "akilled ezpert~* to value ror taxationpurpo5ssprop8rty in epeolal lnstanaea, Wh8r8 t8OhniOal WJUiplWlt iS r8qUil’8d.

In OpinionIj,.

O-1612, this d8pOrtm8nt held that the County Commlsaionera* Gtiurt had authorityto employ tax fSfi,nsiA88rS

t0 r8p888nt the C0mBiSBiOnBrB' COurt ill

arriYiIlg at various 011 valuations in Folk County. And that suoh oontraotwas not analogousto the oontraotror thr 001180- tion for delinquenttaxea.

The case or Maxpart, et al Ys. Harris County, et al, 117 S. W. (2) 494, holds that a oontraotWb8r8by e county 8mp1OyS skill8d 8m8rtS to dieowar and p1aO8 On rOfls f0r taxationpropertywhhioh has tharetoioraaecaped taxationwa8 a oontraot *in 'oouneotion with oolleotionor delinquenttarsaw and wlthln tha statuterequiring suoh OOntrsot~to be apprwed by th8 ComptrollerOr Pub110 Aueounta and Attorney &n8ral Or t&S State of Texas and was raid without suoh approral. Th.%a oaae iurtherholds that the partioipatioaOf the Comptraller was an :ndlepansable requirementror the validity or the oontract whereby sk$iled experts agreed to eaaroh for, ~u??Y~J, identitythe owners of, and make an appraiealof all the taxab16 pereonaltyin a oounty shOwing the Yalue of suoh prapcrty aa of January 1, 1938, and to 0olDplete a land and building valuationsurvey for tha 8ntira 00Unty and ii18 th8 eaaplete report of such lend and btildlngsand the Yalusa ior the use of tha Board of Equalizationend th6 Tax Ass8sBOrand Callee%or.

It, is further stated in OpinionNo. 0-~612, supra, *that the Commissionera t Court le unauthorizedto pay the firm of tax engineare InYolYadto aselat said Court In evaluation or oil propertiesin the county out 0r any or the verlouaflonOrabl8 J. W. Williams,Paga 5

6onatltutlonal

funds or said county. There is no authority for the paymnt or such money out or sny fund except the gfneralfund."

In view of the roregoingauthoritiesand the roots stated ill YOU? letter,W8 r88DWJtiPgly 8llSWeeI the above 8t6t8d qucation in the negativs.

Truetingth6t the toregoing fully emw6re your lnqulry,wa m-8
Yours very truly
ATTOFINEYGFBERAL

UP TRXS

(5L&a!d --GiLBY **Ard8l.l** Williams

Aaeldmnt