July 20, 1976 

The Honorable Tim Curry 

District Attorney 

Opinion No. H- 849 

Tarrant County Courthouse 

Fort Worth, Texas 76102 

Re: When a taxing authority notifies the county 

tax assessor of the tax 

rate. 

Dear Mr. Curry: 

You have requested our opinion regarding the meaning of 

the term "succeeding taxable year" for purposes of article 

7044a, V.T.C.S. That statute provides: 

Section 1. From and after January 1, 

1966, all taxing authorities which use 

the services of the county tax assessorcollector, either to assess or collect 

taxes for such taxing authority, shall, 

on or before July 20 of each year, notify 

the county tax assessor-collector whose 

services are to be used by the taxing authority of the tax rate for the succeeding 

taxable year adopted by the taxing authority. 

Sec. 2. In the event any taxing authority 

using the services of the county tax assessorcollector for either assessing or collecting 

taxes of the taxing authority fails to notify 

the county tax assessor-collector of the tax 

rate adopted by the taxing authority, prior 

to July 20, as provided in Section 1 of this 

Act, the tax rate for the succeeding year 

shall be the tax rate for the preceding year, 

rather than the tax rate adopted by the 

taxing authority, and in no event shall a 

new tax rate be in force and effect unless 

notification of such tax rate is furnished 

the county tax assessor-collector prior to 

July 20 of each year. 

p. 3581 
. . 

The Honorable Tim Curry - page 2 (H-849) 

shall be the tax rate for the preceding year, 

rather than the tax rate adopted by the 

taxing authority, and in no event shall a 

new tax rate be in force and effect unless 

notification of such tax rate is furnished 

the county tax assessor-collector prior to 

July 20 of each year. 

Sec. 3. In compiling the tax roll for a 

taxing authority using the services of the 

county tax assessor-collector, the county 

tax assessor-collector shall use the rate 

furnished him by the taxing authority prior 

to July 20 of each year, or, in the event 

the county tax assessor-collector has not 

been furnished a new tax rate, the county 

tax assessor-collector shall use the tax 

rate adopted for the preceding taxable year 

by the taxing authority. (Emphasis added). 

Your inquiry is whether article 7044a, since it refers to 

the .rate for the "succeeding year" or "succeeding taxable year," 

requires that each taxing authority adopt by July 20th of one 

year the tax rate applicable to those taxes that do not become 

collectible until October 1 of the next year. 

In properly addressing your inquiry, we cannot read article 

7044a in its own narrow context but rather it must be read 

in conjunction with the many other statutes applicable to 

the ad valorem tax on property and understood in the context 

of the annual taxing procedure as it generally applies to 

property assessed by counties. Property is listed for 

taxation by the county tax assessor-collector between Janury 

1st and April 30th of each year. V.T.C.S. arts. 7151, 7189. 

The list is then submitted to the commissioners court which 

supervises the assessment and equalization of property 

valuations and taxes. V.T.C.S. art. 7212. This generally 

occurs beginning in late May or early June. V.T.C.S. arts. 

7206, 7217, 7218. The actual notification of property 

owners of their tax and the collection of taxes is to begin 

on October 1, or as soon thereafter as the county tax 

assessor-collector obtains "the proper assessment rolls, 

books, or data upon which to proceed." V.T.C.S. art. 7255. 

p. 3582 
The Honorable Tim Curry - page 3 (H-849) 

The taxes become delinquent if not paid prior to February 1 

of the next year, subject to certain exceptions for early 

partial payments, article 7336(b), V.T.C.S., and the passibility of a discount for early payment. Tex. Const. art. 

8 § 20; V.T.C.S. art. 725513. This annual procedure 

affects many taxing authorities in addition to the county 

itself because many such authorities, including the state, 

rely on the tax rolls and assessments of the county and on 

the collection services of the county assessor-collectors. 

After carefully examining article 7044a, the bill by 

which it was enacted, and the other applicable statutes, it 

is our opinion that the Legislature intended that the tax 

rate required to be set on or before July 20 of each year is 

the one applicable to the taxes that become collectible on 

October 1 of the same calendar year. While the language 

standing alone is susceptible to other constructions, we 

have concluded that when we consider all applicable statutes 

the better view is that the term "succeeding taxable year" 

refers to the succeeding tax payment or collection period. 

The effect of article 7044a is to require each taxing 

authority covered by the statute to provide the county tax 

assessor-collector the "proper . . . data" necessary to 

allow that officer'"to proceed" to notify the taxpayers and 

to begin collection of taxes on October 1 as provided in 

article 7255, Following are several of the many reasons 

which have been considered during our review and which we 

believe indicate that this is the most appropriate meaning 

of the provision. 

Some indication of the Legislature's intent may be discerned 

from article 7044a itself. Section 2 of article 7044a provides 

that if the cqunty tax assessor-collector does not receive 

the tax rates for the "succeeding year," he must use the tax 

rate for the "preceding year." No mention is made at all in 

article 7044a of the tax rate of the "current taxable year" 

or "current year." The words "succeeding" and "preceding" 

are relative. A construction of article 7044a, although 

admittedly not the only one possible, is that the tax rate 

for the "preceding year" is the rate for those taxes collectible on October 1 preceding the setting of the new rates, 

and the rate for the "succeeding year" is the new rate for 

those taxes collectible beginning on the October 1 succeding the date the rate is set. 

p. 3583 
The Honorable Tim Curry - page 4 (H-849) 

Section 4 of the bill which enacted article 7044a, Acts 

1965, 59th Leg., Ch. 343, at 729, gives an indication of the 

Legislature's purpose when it provides: 

The fact, that there is no deadline 

for various taxing authorities (other than 

the State of Texas) to adopt a tax rate, 

causing undue delay for the county tax 

assessor-collector, creates an emergency 

and an imperative public necessity that 

. . . this Act shall take effect and be in 

force from and after its passage . . . . 

Section 4. 

Clearly, the "undue delay" caused for the county tax assessorcollector was in notifying the property owners of their tax 

and in beginning the collection of taxes on or about October 

1 as required by article 7255. Unless the applicable rate 

is received on or about July 20th, the tax assessor-collector 

could have difficulty meeting the October 1 deadline. On 

the other hand, we have been unable to conceive of any such 

"undue delay" likely to result from a failure to notify 

the ,tax assessor-collector of the rate for taxes that he 

cannot begin to collect until over 14 months later. 

In section 4, quoted above, of article 7044a, mention is 

made of the fact that "other than the State of Texas" no 

deadline existed in 1965 for the adoption of tax rates. 

Under V.T.C.S. articles 7042 and 7043, which were in effect 

when article 7044a was adopted, the rate for state purposes 

was to be calculated by July 20 of each year. But see Tex. 

Const. arts. 7 S 17, 8 § l-e, which now set the annual ad 

valorem tax rate for state taxes. The Comptroller is then 

directed by article 7044, V.T.C.S., to 

certify to the tax assessor of each 

county . . . the rate of taxes for 

State purposes and for public free 

school-purposes for the-current year 

. * . . (Emphasis added). 

The State is one of the "taxing authorities which uses the 

services of the county tax assessor-collector" under article 

7044a. Any reading of that statute to the effect thatrates 

p. 3584 
The Honorable Tim Curry - page 5 (H-849) 

set on July 20th in one calendar year are applicable to taxes 

which become collectible on October 1 of the following calendar year results in a conflict between article 7044a and 

article 7044. Such a result is avoided if we construe "succeeding taxable year" in article 7044a to refer to the tax 

payment or collection period following the adoption of the 

tax rate bv the taxino authoritv. As the court noted in 

Credit Exchange of Dailas, Inc.-v. Bell, 427 S.W.2d 674 (Tex. 

Civ. App. -- Dallas 1968, no writ), 

[iln construing statutes it is presumed 

that several acts or provisions relating 

to the same subject are intended to be 

consistent and to operate in harmony . . . 

Even when the literal language of one act 

conflicts with another they should be read 

together and harmonized if reasonably possible, so as to give effect to each of them. 

Id. at 676. - 

See also Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Strickland -- 

Transportation Co., 225 S.W.2d 901, 905 (Tex.Civ.App. -- 

Amarillo 1949, no writ). 

An additional indication of the Legislature's intent 

with regard to article 7044a may be found in V.T.C.S. article 

7045, which, prior to the enactment of article 7044a, provided the time for setting the county tax rate. Article 

7045 permitted a commissioners court to calculate the county 

tax rate at any time between July 15 and October 1 of the 

taxable year, Attorney General Opinion C-701 (1966), and to 

"adjust the taxes . . . to the taxable values shown by the 

assessment rolls." Article 7045 has not been repealed, and 

it remains operative to the extent that it does not conflict 

with article 7044a, or some other statute. Thus, we believe 

that a commissioners court may, pursuant to article 7045, 

continue to adjust county taxes "to the taxable values shown 

by the assessment rolls." If, however, the rate for taxes 

becoming collectible on October 1, 1977, must be set by July 

20, 1976, the commissioners court could not adjust county 

taxes on the basis of assessment rolls, since assessment 

rolls for the 1977 taxable year would not become available 

until the following spring. See V.T.C.S. arts. 7189, 7206, - 

p. 3585 
. 

The Honorable Tim Curry - page 6 (H-849) 

7218. In order, therefore, to harmonize article 7044a with 

the statutory provisions regarding dates of assessment, it 

is necessary to construe "succeeding taxable year" as it 

appears in article 7044a to refer to the tax payment or 

collection period following adoption of the tax rate. As we 

have previously noted, such harmonization of statutes has 

long been judicially sanctioned. 

Finally, in the course of our review of this question, 

we have been advised that, since article 7044a was enacted 

in 1965, taxing authorities, county tax assessor-collectors, 

and the State Comptroller have construed article 7044a in 

the manner discussed above. Tax rates adopted on or before 

July 20 of one calendar year have been utilized for those 

taxes collected beginning October 1 of that same calendar 

year. We know of no taxing authority or tax assessor-collector that has not applied article 7044a in this manner. It 

is well established that the construction placed upon a 

statute by the authority charged with its administration 

is entitled to some weight, particularly when a number of 

years have passed since the statute's enactment without legislative intervention. Calvert v. Houston Lighting & Power Co., 

369 S.W.2d 502, 509-10 (Tex.Civ.App.--Austinl963, writ ref'd 

n.r.'e.). Administrative construction is especially relevant 

where the statute involved is a revenue measure. Flowers v. 

Texas Mexican Railway Co., 174 S.W.2d 70, 73 (Tex.Civ.App.-- 

Austin 1943, no writ). We believe the construction given by 

taxing authorities and county tax assessor-collectors to the 

provisions of article 7044a should be respected. 

It is our opinion then, that, on the basis of the 

uniform administrative construction placed upon article 

7044a for more than ten years, together with the established 

principle of statutory construction that statutes should be 

read together and harmonized if reasonably possible, the 

term *succeeding taxable year," for purposes of article 

7044a, refers to the tax payment or collection period 

immediately following the adoption of the tax rate by the 

taxing authority and that, as a result, rates for those 

taxes that become collectible on October 1, 1976 and delinquent in 1917, need only be set by July 20, 1976. 

p. 3,586 
1. . 

The Honorable Tim Curry - page 7 (H-849) 

The tax rate established on July 20, 

1976, will be effective for taxes that 

become collectible beginning on 

October 1, 1976 and delinquent in 1977. 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

Opinion Comittee 

P. 3587