i 

OFFICE OF ‘WE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

Honorable Ralph Brook 

County Atternoy 

Lubbook County 

Lubbook,. Ton@ 

day of S'anq,A.D. 

e l 88entiao t a th r 

that they ha6 in the 

a 8wa of money ia 

~aO,OOO.OO) Dollarr, 

an of oaf& Gomlrrioaora 

oar* of any rqalrr on the 

rat of the oouaty, and the Gouatt 

Court briryr further aware oi the 

ewrity to l rsirrt thr go~emnmn8 in 

rable wag to proaaouta the prerait 

war l galnat aggrm*lto nationa, 18 18 the oplaloa or tha court that I)W,OOO.OO 0r the runa 

8hou.u br inreatod in govmmat boaar. 

"IT I8 l!iWOWCBL RESOLVED that aaid Fl?tJ 

Btousan& ($ao,OOO.OO) Dollara be lnvomted in 

I 
Bonorable Xalph Brook, Page 2 

Government Bonds upon approval of the Attorney 

General of the State of Texas. 

0. v. Faraue 

tounty Judge, Lubbook County, 

Texas 

0.L Horton 

Eounty Comleeion0r, Preoinot 

x0. 1 

Ben Eanskrr 

County Commisslonsr, Precinot 

NO. 2 

Edaar E. Gray 

County Commieaioner, Preoinot 

x0. 3 

Kewton Stokea 

County Commissioner, Prscinot 

l?o. 4’ 

‘118 oonnsotlon with this rtatter, I wll.1 

state that there ~111 remain available in the 

permanent improvement funds of Lubbook County, 

Texas, a sum or approximately 415,000.00, whloh 

amount will be eufriaient to take oare of all 

neaeesarp repairs and fmprovemente upon county 

property. 

“In looking into the law relative to this 

matter, I have found rrtiole 036 of the iWised 

civil Statutes of Texas, whioh provldae as tollOWiS: 

“*The legally authorized govarnlag body or 

any county, city or town, or the trusteee of any 

eahool distrlot or eohool: Community, may Invest 

their raspeotive sinlrin$ zunda for the redaptlon and payment of the outstanding bond8 of suoh 

aounty, olty or town, or oommunity, in bonda of 

the Gnlted States, war savings certificates, and 

certificatea or IndebtedneaP, ieaued by the Ssoretary of the Treasury of the Gnlted States, and 
Honorable Ralph Erook, Fage 3 

in bonds of Texas, or any county of thie State, 

or of any lnoorporatea oity or tom. 110 such 

bondo shall be purchased which, according to 

their terms, mature at a date sUbsequent to the 

time of mturlty of the bonds for the payment 

of nrhloh such sinking fund was areated.' 

*Under thin article the county would be 

authorized to lnveet any sinking funds that It 

might have for the redemption and 

outstanding bond8 of the county. i?i%?"b::~ 

unable to find a- cam or artiole providing 

for euoh Inveetment of the permanent lmprovenent fund, however, It would seem to me that 

If the county could Inveet the sinking funda 

in Enlted States Cmvernment 301168, that thr 

county ahould also hare the authority to Invest the permanent Improvement fund in Governn;ent Bonds BiAOe the permanent fund repreeenta 

a aurplur and Is not needed or required to retire any outstanding indebtedness and it would 

seem to me that euch Ed lnveetment would reat 

with the dI#cretloA of the ComaIaslonera Court 

and If they, in their OpiniOA, thought that 

$SO,OOO.OO oould be diverted Into GoQerAmeAt 

Ponds and the county property atill adequately 

cared for, that such action would be legal. 

"The County Commissioners CoUft would llke 

your opinion on this question: 'Can a part of 

the permanent inprovement Punde be legally invested in u. S. Goverment Defense BoAde?*Vq 

The Constitution preeoribee the maximum rate of 

taxes for general purpoi3eB, for roada aAd bridges, for juries, 

zid ror permanent improvements, respectively. (Section 9, 

i&iole VIII, State Constitution). :+he monies arising from 

taxes levied and collected for eaoh of the enumerated purposea are OOAetitUtiOAAl fUAdSi 0Ad the COITJUISSIOAera COUrt 

has no power to transfer money from one fund to another, or 

to expend, ror one purpose , tax money raised oetenaibly ror 

another purpose. The immediate purpose of the provision is 

to limit the anount of taxes that my be raised for thsee 

several purpoees, respectively; but It is also designed to 
Honorable Ralph Brook, Page 4 

illhibit e~oe~i~e expenaitur48 ior any such purpose, ana 

to mpire that any and all money8 raised by taxation for 

any purpose shall be Qpplled to that partlotiar purpose 

and to no, other. x0 i6tpua power to transfer money rr0m 

ona to another of suoh oonetltutiohaL fuuds, or expend such 

runde for another pumose, la derived from the raot that the 

origidal fund coazalns more than enough to met the current 

demanda against it. Suoh exoesa may be retained In that fund, 

end applied to auooesding yearr to the very purpose for whloh 

Lt was raised, thereby possibly raduolng the future tax rate 

for that purpose. Carroll Q. ~illllama, 202 S. W. 504; Commisslonerst Court of Henderson Go. ‘1. Burke, 252 .S. %. 94i 

Texas Jurlsprudenoe, Vol. 11, p. 609. 

It 16 stated in our 0 inion No. O-4297, Vhe authority to invest pub110 funan P n their custody ha6 beenexpressly oonferred upon oertain pub110 orrloera by the Laglslature In some instanoes and by the Conetitutlon In others, 

In eaoh fnstanae where this power Is given, the charaoter 

of the seaurities In whioh such a;oneys may be invested has 

been careiully presuribed. In every aaae where the Leglslature har authorlsed lnveatment of publlo funda, It haa 

named bonds of the United State8 Government amng the seouritles in which such funds nay be fmpestad, reoognlzlng 

the obligations of the United State8 as the safest of seour1t1ss. If the power to invest your surplus funds exlsted, ve oould oonoelie of no safer lnvestmant.‘t xe enoloae 

a copy of said opinion for your convenienoe. 

We find no provlalon of law authorlzlng the Comnlcaioners* CouA to invest any portion of the permanent 

lmprovenent fund of the count:! in any seouritlee whatsoever. 

iiowever, on the other h&ml it is apparsnt. rrom the above 

mentioned oases t.hzat any and all money raised by taxation 

ror any purpose. must be applied to tnat particular purpose 

and to no other, and t:lut the Coruvlasioners’ Court hae no 

legal right or authority to ln7est any portion of the constitutional runas (which inoludes the permanent lmproveaent 

tunda) in E. C. Government Lefense Eonds or any other sacuritiea except sinking funds as authorieed by AlWcle 536, 

supra . Therefore, we respectfully answer the above etated 

question in the negative. 

Yours vary truly