Tmm ATTORNEYI GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

AUBTIN. Tmx~s 787ll 

JOHN I,. BILL 

*-m o-AI. 

May 13, 1975 

The Honorable Hank Anderson 

County Attorney 

Wichita County 

Wichita Falls, Texas 76301 

Dear Mr. Anderson: 

Opinion No. ‘H,- 604 

Re: Whether a commissioners 

court may contract with the 

County and District Retirement 

3ystem. 

You have asked if 

[f]or the purpose of achieving amortiratiorrof the 

county’s liability for prior service, . . . [may the] 

County Commissioners . . . contract with the 

Board of Trustees of the Texas County .and District 

Retirement System for the annual payment of a 

specific sum of [tax] money which could be credited 

to prior service and which would enable the county 

to fulfill total liability for prior service credited by 

the year 1992. 

The Texas County and District Retirement System is established by 

article 6228g. V. T. C. S. Section 4(2)(d) provides: 

Each participating subdivision shall make payment 

of Prior Service Contributions to the Subdivision Prior 

Service Accumulation Fund of the System each month 

of an amount equal to a per cent of the current-service 

earnings during such month of the members of the 

System’employed by such participating subdivision which 

per cent shall be the difference between the normal cantribution rate, as above determined, and the subdivision 

benefit contribution rate as determined pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection 1 of this section. 

p. 2680 
The Honorable Hank Anderson, page 2 (H-604) 

Without fully exploring the computations involved, we note that this 

section, in conjunction with other provisions of article 6228g, establishes 

the method for determination of the amounts to be paid for various retirement purposes. These amounts are determined from the current service 

earnings in each particular month. Section 4(2)(d) establishes the method 

for determining the amount to be contributed to provide retirement benefits 

for service rendered prior to the effective date of article 6228g. Your 

question arises from the desire of a county to forego this method of determination and to contract with the Board for the annual payment of a specific 

SUl-ZL 

The recently enacted article 16. section 67 of the Texas Constitution 

empowers the Legislature to provide a statewide system of benefits for the 

officers and employees of counties and also provides that current statutes 

shall remain in effect. Thus, the Texas County and District Retirement 

System is to be operated as provided by statute. 

The terms of article 6228g are mandatory; there is no contemplation 

of alternate methods. A method provided by statute is generally read to 

exclude other methods. Foster v. City of Waco, 255 S. W. 1104 (Tex. 

Sup. 1923); Weaver 268 S. W. 133 (Tex.Sup. 1924). We therefore construe article 6228g, section 4(2)(d), to be the mandatory and exclusive 

means by which tax monies may be contributed to the prior service sector of 

the Texas County and District Retirement System. See Attorney General 

- 

Opinion V-508 (1948). 

We express no opinion concerning such a contract when the subdivision 

wishes to contribute money other than tax money and such contribution is 

additional to that required by article 6228g. See art. 6228g, sec. 5(7), (entitled 

Endowment Fund). 

SUMMARY 

Article 6228g. section 4(2)(d) is the mandatory and 

exclusive means by which a subdivision may contribute 

tax monies to a retirement system, in order to satisfy 

its prior service obligations. 

Attorney General of Texas 

p. 2681 
The Honorable Hank Anderson, page 3 (H-604) 

APPROVED: 

DAVID M. KENDALL, First Assistant 

I 

Opinion Committee 

p, 2682