. . .

E YTORNEY 

## GENERAL OF TEXAS

FVIIiL WXEASON AlTORNRY ORNERAL June 27, 1960

Mr. Ramle H. Griffin Criminal District Attorney Beaumont,Texas OpinionNo. WW-866
Re: Payment of auditing or accounting fees under a Dear Mr. Griffin: tax remission act.
You have requested an opinion from this Department on the followingquestion:

“May the corpus of the fund set up under Acts 1929, blat Legislature,page 656, chapter 292, as amended by Acts 1941, 47th Legislature,page 1308, chapter 584 and Acts 1945, 49th Legislature,page 615, chapter 353 for the benefit of the City of Port Arthur be reached to pay expenses of an audit required to be made annually by said Act and forwhich no funds have been allocated?' Section 1 of the above mentionedAct, (which is codified in the historical note found under Article 6830,Vernon's Civil Statutes) provides in part:

"Commencingwith the fiscal year beginning September 1, 1929, and endingAugust 31, 1961, there be and hereby are donated and granted by the State of Texas to the City of PortArthur,Texas, situated In Jefferson County, Texas, eight-ninths (8/g)of the net amounts of the state ad valoremtaxes collected on all property,both real and personal, in Commissioner'sPrecinctNo. 2 of Jefferson County,Texas, as it existed on January 1, 1945, which shall be ascertainedand apportionedas now providedby law;

. . .' Section 2 provides that the Collector of Taxes of the County shall make a monthly report to the Comptroller.

Mr. Ramle H. Griffin, page 2 (WW-866)
showing each and every item of State ad valorem taxes collectedby him upon the property in PrecinctNo. 2. He shall present such report togetherwith the tax reccl t stubs to the County Clerk,who shallwithin ten (lo!da 8 y compare the report with the stubs, and If the same agrees as regards names, dates and accounts, the Clerk shall certify to Its correctness forwhichg shall be paid by the CommissionersCourt,Twenty-five 7256) cents for each certificateandTwenty-five (25$) cents for each two hundred (200)taxpayers named In said report. Section 4 provides in part: "Themunicipalauthorities of the City of Port Arthur,Texas, shall, on the 1st day of January of each year, cause to be made an itemized statement,under oath and in tripllcate, showing the amount of money receivedby the City of Port Arthur,Texas, under this Act, and how, to whom, and for what purpose the same has been expended. One copy of such statement after having been audited shall be forwarded to and filedby the County Clerk of Jefferson County, Texas, as hereinafter provided,and the other to the Comptroller of PublicAccounts. The said statement shall be sworn to by the treasurer of said City, and the correctnessthereof shall be certifiedby an auditor appointed by the CommissionersCourt of JeffersonCounty, Texas, who shall,while auditing said statement, have before him all vouchersuoon which expenditureshave been made from said fund.

. 1 .'I (Emphasisadded). Section 5 provides in part: "Themoneys herein and hereby granted donated to the City of PortArthur,Texas,

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. and are aeclarea to be trust funas sor tne purpose of aiding said City in paying the Interestupon and principal of and providinga sinking fund for an issue or Issues of bonds heretofore or hereafter issued, the proceeds of which bonds have been or are to be used exclusively In constructingand maintaining seawalls,breakwaters,. -

Mr. Ramie H. Griffin, page 3 (WW-866)

shore protectionsand primarydrainage systems in order that said'citybe protected from calamitous overflowsand stormwaters;

. . .The use and diversion of suchmoneys for any other-purposewhatsoever is hereby prohibited;

. . .I'(Emphasisadded). The Legislature declared that the moneys donated by this Tax Remittance Act shall be a trust to be used for a threefold purpose only; i.e., to provide a sinking fund for, pay Interesttipon and the principalof certain bonds Issued or to be issued. It expressly states that the use of suchmoneys or corpus for ane other purposewhatsoever Is prohibited. The payment from these funds for the expense of an audit could certainlynot be classifiedunder one of the above named categories. Therefore, your question is answered in the negative. The State, while donating these funds to the City of Port Arthur, providesvarious "check-points"to ascertainwhether or not the trust is being properly administered. It is the duty of certain county officials to see that this "checking" Is accomplished. Section 4 of the above Act requires the Commissioners Court to appoint an auditor to audit an annual statement made by the municipalauthorities of the City. The Act is silent as to justwho shouldbear the expense of the audit, thus your opinion request. Section 2, however, expressly states that the Commissioners Court shall pay the County Clerk for checkingmonthly reports made by the Collector of Taxes in regard to this fund.
In view of this and the fact that it is the delegated duty of the CommissionersCourt to appoint or employ the auditor,we are of the opinion it was the intent of the Legislature that the expense of such an audit should be paidby the CommissionersCourt of JeffersonCounty. SUMMARY The corpus of the fund set up under Acts 1929, 41st Leg., p. 656, ch. 292, as- .

Mr. Ramie Griffin, page 4 (WW-866)

amendedby Acts 1941, 47th Leg., p. 1308, ch. 584 and Acts 1945, 49th Leg., p. 615, ch. 353 for the benefit of the City of Port Arthur may not be used to pay the expense of an annual audit requiredby said Act. It Is an expense that shouldbe paid by the CommissionersCourt of Jefferson County. Very truly yours,

JMF:hb
APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE J. C. Davis, Chairman Byron Fullerton Charles D. Cabaniss C. Dean Davis Robert A. Rowland WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas

James M. Farrls AssistantAttorney General

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY Leonard Passmore