THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

Honorable Allen C. Wilson 

County Attorney 

Kendall County 

Boerne, Texas, 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. Q-585 

Re: In cases where a schodl district 

employs the county tax assessor 

and collector to assess and collect its taxes, may the trustees 

of such distritit Instrudt saia 

assessor-collector~t6 increase' 

the levy in atidbrdance with a vote 

of said indepelident school district 

or must the secretary of s&id board 

first notify the cotiltisioners' 

court as to such increase and they 

in turn levy the iXx and notify 

the,tax assessor and collector of 

such levy. 

We.~atie in rticelpt of your Ietter of April 1, 1939, in 

which you ask whether it is necessary for the secretary of a 

scti601 board of-an Independent school district to notify the 

commistiloners' court of an ~lncrease in tax levy voted by-'such 

alstrict and have said commissioners' court notify the tax 

assessor-collector of the county, who also ~coll&ts and asses6s for said district, or whether or not said board of trustees 

may directly notify said collectorassessor of the Increase. 

The answer to your question depends upon whether' the 

county commlssioner$' court must make the levy of the taxes 

on the property In said Independent school district or whether 

said district may make the levy itself. An examination of the 

pertinent statute Indicates that in the case of an Independent 

school district the board of trustees annually levies and 

causes to be assessed (Ina collected the school tax. Article 

2790, Revised ClvLl Statutes of Texas, reads Fn part as follows: 

"If an independent school district votes a 

maintenance tax, the board of trustees shall thereafter annually levy and cause to be assessed and 

collected upon the taxable property in the limits 

of the district for the maintenance of the public 
Honorable Allen C. Wilson, page 2 0 -585 

free schools of the said district such ad valorem 

tax as the qualified voters of such district authorizy, at the election held for that purpose; 

. . . . 

This statute may be contrasted to the statute relating to the levy 6f common taxes which is Article 2795 of the 

Revised Civil Statutes. In the case of Common SchoolDistrlct the county commissloners' court itself levies the tax. 

Said Article reads, In part, as follows: 

"The Commissioners' Court, at the~time of 

.levylng taxes for county purposes, shall also 

Ievy upon all taxable property wlthlfi any comtion school district the rate of tax so voted if 

a specific rate has been voted; . . ." 

Under Article 273' of the Revised CFvil'Statutes an'- 

lndeije-ti6nt $Chool district may employ a district tax assesSOP anc"coll6ctor. -Also under Article 2792, Revised Clvll 

Statutes, a county assessor may be emijloyed for' an ihdependent' school district. Said Article reads, Fn part, as follows: 

"When a majority of the board of trustees of an 

independent district prefer to have the taxes of 

their'distrLct~assessed and collected by the county 

dssessor and dollector, Or collected only by the 

cotity tax dolledor, same.shall be assessed and collected by said county officers an&turned bver.to 

the'treasureti of the independentschool district for 

which such taxes have been collected. . ..." 

There is nothing In either Article 2790 or Article 

2792, which directs the secretary of the board of trustees to 

first notify the county commissioners' court of an increase 

In the amount of levy for school taxes which had beeti~voted 

by's district. As pointed out in Artlele 2790, the school 

district Itself through its trustees makes the tax levy, 

and ndt the county comnil.ssloners' court. We are unable to 

find any authority or any part of the school law which'would 

require the notification of ~the county commissioners' court 

Inthis case before notification of the assessor-collector 

himself. 

It is the opinion of this Department, therefore, that 

when the county tax assessor-collector who is also the assessor-collector of any independent school a,istrict is notified 

bf an increase in the amount of levy voted by anindependent 

school dlstrlct that he should include the increase on his tax 
Honorable Allen C. Wilson, page 3 o-585 

roll and i.t is not necessary for him to have been notif:ed of 

such lncrea.se by the county commissioners' court. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/Billy Goldberg 

Billy Goldberg 

Assistant 

BG:LM:wc 

APPROVED SEP 16. 1939 

s/Gerald ~C. Mani 

ATTORNE3GENERALOF TEXAS 

Approved bpinion Committee By EWO Chairman