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._,.. Mr. E. N. Jones, President

Texas Techno&oglcal- College Lubbock. Texas Opinion No. WW-531 Re: Whether certain property owned by Texas Technological College In Carson County isexempt from Dear Mr. Jones: .' taxation under,~thelaws ~ofthe.State of Texas. :.j ~~

.. We quote .from your ,opinionre2qu&t-asf++vs:- .,I "Yin&oplkLo~ respectfullyrequested "Yin&~~oplkLo~

Is respectfullyrequested as to whether cer,talti

property owned by Texas Technological whether cer,talti

property Technological College in Cakon ~Countyis exempt College I ~County the laws ofO$he State cf'Texas. from,taxationunder from,taxatlon

"The property was originally the PanTex Ordnance ~~ Plant and was .deed@d by:the Federal 

### Governmenttom. Texas Techi.on

April'l, 1949 by deed without warranty for t&purpose df.edtlcatlonal util+zation. The deed

. contained~a recapture clause in event of a national emergency. "During t:?e

Konean emergency In 1951 and l%Z!, the Government,exercl,sed the recapture clause and recaptured approximatWy lO;OCO, acres of the 16,000~, with improvements, originally .deededto the College. A period of negotlatlops.began'andculminated In the 

### instruments dated August 19, 1955 whioh have been sent to your office. "For the.sake.

of clarity,the prop&y till be divided Into two-clas~lflcatlons,with a description of each: "PROPERTYHELD PURSUANT TO THE

EDNATIONAL USE PLAN "This propeky was.conve$ed to T&as Tech'by the United StatesGovernment fork a period of twenty years on April 1, 1949 on tte contentlon (sic) that such l property be used In compliancewith an Education Use Plan which was establishedby the General Services Administration,has been revised,landIs now under: ”

Mr. E. N. Jones, page .2, Opinion No. WW-531

the jurisdiction.ofthe Department of Health,Education and Welfare. If the property Is not operated strictly in accordance to suchplan, the United~StatesGovernmentmay re-take it for non-complianceany time within the remaining years of the twenty-yearperiod in keeping with the reversionary clause in the Amended:Deed. 'Atthe end of the twentyyear period, Texas Tech will own the property outright.

"Themajority of this property is eitherunder cultivation or being used for the grazing of experimental herds owned by Texas Tech. Texas Tech keeps a full-time crew~on the property for the purpose of maintenance and to aid in research. One particularly outstandingresearchproject presently being conducted is the bullprogeny tests..; Faculty and students are brought-up from~TexasTech's main campus to study and observe the work being conducted.

.- "Four buildings, located'on the aforesaidproperty are temporarily excess to the needs of Texas Tech in its operationpursuant to the EducationUse Plan. Three of these buildingsare being leased to Phillips Chemical Company and the other to one of their employees by Texas Tech for and with the.permission of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. It is contemplated that as~theeducationalprogram expands, this
. property will be used.in connection therewith and is '. beingheld for the purpbse.

. . "PROPERTY OWNED OUTRIGHT BY TEXAS TECH "Thisproperty 1s~owned outright by Texas Tech, having been purchased from the United StatesGovernment by use of accumulatedamortized credits. TL:e majcrit3 of this property is rented to&e Phillips Chemical Company for storagepurposes. Phillips rents three warehouses on a five-year basis and it rents one hundred and two (102) igloos on an 'as-neededbasis,'paying only for the'igloos actually.used. Certain staff residences located on'thisproperty are rented to individuals on a month-to4month tenancy. Certain buildings, located on sald~prop,erty, and.known as PanTexVillage, are owned by Carson County.'Texas Tech leases the land under such buildings to the'county on a year-to-year basis for $1.00. .~ :

"The income from'all of the aforesaid rentals is credited to the.PanTech Farms' Account and Is used solely for the promotion,of the educationalprogram at PanTech

47 '. _~,

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Mr. E. N. Jones, page 3, Opinion No. WW-531

Farms in Carson.County. It is contemplated that this property will be eventuallyneeded as part of the PanTech Farms operationpursuant to the Education Use Program and is being held for such futureuse." It is the opinion of the Attorney General that all of the above-describedproperty is exempt from taxation under the laws of the State of Texas.

PERTINENT STATUTORY AND CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS Article 8, Section 2 of the Texas Constitutioncontains the foll,owing

language: II

. . the legislaturemay, by general'laws, exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes;

. .bng all buildingsused exclusivelyand owned by persons or associations of persons for.schoolpurposes. . . .' The provisions of the aforesaid Article are permissive and not mandatory. #Pursuant thereto, the legislature enacted Article 7150, Texas.kevised Civil. Statutes, the.salientprovisions of which read as follows: "The followingproperty shall be exempt from taxation,~ to-wit: "1. Schools and.Churches. -- Public schoolhouses,
. . . ~A11public colleges,~ public academies, and all endowment funds of institutions of learning and religion

.. not used with a view to profit, and when the same are Invested ,inbonds or mortgages, and all such buildings used exclusively and owned bypersons or associations of persons for school purposes; ~ . .‘I~

II

. . . "4. All property, whether real or personal, belknging exclusively to~thls State, thereof.
. .I' or any political subdivision

GENERAL DISCUSSION The exemption of property used for schoolpurposesapplies to private schools as well as public schools. Cassi'ano v. Ursuline Academy 64 Tex. 673 j1823). However, 5he exempfion accordednr

sivateschools ismze restrictive than the exemption given to public schoolhouses9 public colleges and publicMr. E. N. Jones, page 4, ' Opinion No. WW-531

academies. Chief Justice Staytonpointed out this distinction inthe case of St. Edward"s Collegev. Morris, Tax Collector, 17 S.W. 512 (Tex.Sup.Ct.1851):

"In reference to the exemption from taxation of property, when used exclusively and owned by persons or associations of personsfor schoolpurposes, the statute simply repeats, the~language of the Constitution whichpermits th,eexemption to be made; thus indicating an intention to make the exemption in such cases more restrictive than is the exemptionwhen given to public school-houses,public college6 and public academies. The Constitution,aswell as the statutes,make thedistinctionbetweenpublicproperty and privateproperty owned and used for schoolpurposes. . .' Texas Technological College.was created and is governed by the laws of the State of Texas. It is a public college. Its property is public property of the State of Texas, and is held bv Texas Technological College as an agency of the State of Texas. See Statev. University of Houston 264 S.W. 2d 153 (Tex.Clv.App.1954, N.R.E.) The test for determiningwhether public property is tax exempt becauseused for a "public purpose" is whether it is used primarily for the health, comfort and welfareof the public. A. & M. Consolidated Independent SchoolDistrict v. City of Bryan> lo4 S.W.'2d 914 (Tex.Sup.Ct. 1945). Fublic education is recognized as a function of State government. Cassianov. Ursuline Academy, supra. There can be no doubt that themaintenance of a public school is a public purpose as envisionedby Article 8, Section 2, Texas Constitution. 5 Therefore, this opinion is concerned with the exemption accorded to "public property used for public purposes" by Sectiornland 4 of Article 7150, Texas Revised Civil Statutes. From >, supra,we quote: "Public schools, colleges, .andacademiesmay,,,under authority of law, be established for the purpose'of giving Instruction In
. . : agriculture, or other pursuit, which can be done practically only by having landswhich may be used for the purpose of giving practical instruction, and in such a case all the buildings and land used for such a purpose would evidently be exempt." **On** the authority of this case it is apparent that all the property described as "Property Held Pursuant to the EducationalUse Plan," (with thenexception of the four buildings

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Mr. E. N. Jones, page 5, Opinion No. WW-531

which are temporarily excess to the needs cf said plan and which are being rented) is exempt from taxation. The exemption accorded to "publicpr+operfy used for public purposes" is not lost~ even though suchpropertymay be temporarily leased or rented, so long.as the public purpose of the property has not-been abandoned, and so long as the revenue from such renting or leasing enures'to the.publlc benefit. State v. City of Beaumont 161 S.W.,2d 344 (Tex.Civ.App.1942, no writ history); City of Abi1ene.v. 1938 Error Dismissed.) State 113 S.W. 2d 631 (Tex.Clv.App.

In your letter you state that it Is contemplated that the property~describedas "Property Owned Cktright by Texas Tech," and the four buildings listedunder "PropertyHeld Pursuant to the EducationalUse Plan" which are temporarily excess to the needs of suchplan, will eventually be used in connectionwith' the educationaluse plan .andare beingheld for that purpose. You further state that the Income from all rentals Is credited to the PanTech Farms Account and is used solely for the promotion of the educationalprogram. It Is therefore apparent that the property described as "PropertyOwned Outright by Texas Tech" and the four rented buildings listedunder "PropertyHeld Pursuant to the Educational Use Plan" are also exempt from taxation.

The properly held by Texas Technological

Collegepursuant to the EducationalUse Program Is exempt from taxation under the laws of the State of Texas on thengrounds that such property' Is the property of a public collegeused in connection with'the college's educationalprogram. The remainder of~the.property is also exempt from taxation under the 1aws::of the State of Texas though temporarily leased or rented by reason of its beingpublic property "held" for public purposes, since the public purpose of such.propertyhas not been abandoned and all revenues therefrom enure to the benefit of Texas Tech and are used solely for the provotion of the educationalprogram at PanTech Farms.Mr. E. N. Jones,page 6,

JNP:db APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE: Opinion No. WW-531

Very truly yours, WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas 

# ,~ zii15iIrP&-L--u

Assistant Attorney General

Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman C. Dean Davis B. H. Timmins, Jr. L. P. Lollar Henry G. Braswell REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEYGENES& 

## m: W. V. Geppert .'