July20,1976

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 themeaning of the term "succeeding taxable year" forpurposes 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 20of each year, notify the county tax assessor-collector whose services are tobe 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 tonotify the county tax assessor-collector of the tax rate adopted by the taxing authority, prior to July 20, asprovided in Section 1of this Act, the tax rate for the succeeding year shallbe the tax rate for the preceding year, rather than the tax rate adopted by the taxing authority, and inno 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 20of each year.

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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 inno event shall a new tax rate be in force and effect unless notification of such tax rate is furnished the county taxassessor-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

### ofeach year, or, in the event the county tax assessor-collector has not been furnished anew 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 iswhether article 7044a, since it refers to the .ratefor 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 1of thenext year.

Inproperly addressing your inquiry, we cannot read article 7044a in its own narrow context but rather itmust be read in conjunction with themany other statutes applicable to the advalorem tax on property and understood in the context of the annual taxing procedure as itgenerally applies to property assessed by counties. Property is listed for taxation by the county tax assessor-collector between Janury 1st andApril 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 lateMay 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 tobegin
on October 1,or as soon thereafter as the county tax assessor-collector obtains "theproper assessment rolls, books, or data upon which toproceed." V.T.C.S. art. 7255.

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

The taxes become delinquent ifnot paid prior toFebruary 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 itwas enacted, and the other applicable statutes, it isour opinion that the Legislature intended that the tax rate required tobe seton or before July 20of each year is the one applicable to the taxes thatbecome collectible on October 1of the same calendar year. While the language standing alone is susceptible toother 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 

### orcollection period. The effect of article 7044a is to require each taxing authority covered by the statute toprovide the county tax assessor-collector the "proper

. . .data" necessary to allow that officer'"to proceed" to notify the taxpayers and tobegin collection of taxes on October 1asprovided in article 7255, Following are several of themany reasons which have been considered during our review and which we believe indicate that this is themost appropriate meaning of theprovision.

Some indication of the Legislature's intent may be discerned from article 7044a itself. Section 2of article 7044a provides that if the cqunty tax assessor-collector does not receive the tax rates for the "succeeding year," hemust use the tax rate for the "preceding year." Nomention ismade 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 1preceding 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.

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Section 4of thebill which enacted article 7044a,Acts 1965, 59thLeg., Ch. 343, at 729,gives an indication of the Legislature's purpose when itprovides:

The fact, that there isno deadline forvarious taxing authorities (otherthan 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

. . .thisAct shall take effect and be in force from and after itspassage
. . . . Section 4.
Clearly, the "undue delay" caused for the county tax assessorcollector was innotifying the property owners of their tax and inbeginning the collection of taxes on or about October 1as required by article 7255. Unless the applicable rate isreceived on or about July 20th, the tax assessor-collector could have difficulty meeting the October 1deadline. On the other hand, we have been unable to conceive of any such "undue delay" likely to result from a failure tonotify the ,taxassessor-collector of the rate for taxes that he cannot begin to collect until over 14months 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 ineffect when article 7044awas adopted, the rate for state purposes was tobe calculated by July 20of 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 forpublic free school-purposes for the-current year

. *

. . (Emphasis added).

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

seton July 20th inone calendar year are applicable to taxes which become collectible on October 1of the following calendar year results ina conflict between article 7044a and article 7044. Such a result isavoided ifwe 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, nowrit),

[ilnconstruing statutes it ispresumed that several acts orprovisions relating to the same subject are intended tobe consistent and tooperate inharmony

. . . Even when the literal language of one act conflicts with another they should be read together and harmonized if reasonably possible, so as togive 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, nowrit).

An additional indication of the Legislature's intent with regard to article 7044amay be found inV.T.C.S. article 7045, which, prior to the enactment of article 7044a, provided the time for setting the county tax rate. Article 7045permitted a commissioners court to calculate the county tax rate at any time between July 15 and October 1of 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 itdoes not conflict with article 7044a, or some other statute. Thus, we believe that a commissioners courtmay, pursuant toarticle 7045, continue toadjust 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 setby July 20, 1976, the commissioners court could not adjust county taxes on the basis of assessment rolls, since assessment rolls for the 1977 taxable yearwould not become available until the following spring. SeeV.T.C.S. arts. 7189, 7206, -

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

7218. Inorder, therefore, toharmonize article 7044awith the statutory provisions regarding dates of assessment, it isnecessary to construe "succeeding taxable year" as it appears in article 7044a to refer to the taxpayment or collection period following adoption of the tax rate. As we have previously noted, such harmonization of statutes has longbeen judicially sanctioned.
Finally, in the course of our review of this question,
we have been advised that, since article 7044awas enacted in 1965, taxing authorities, county tax assessor-collectors, and the State Comptroller have construed article 7044a in themanner discussed above. Tax rates adopted on or before July 20of one calendar year have been utilized for those taxes collected beginning October 1of that same calendar year. We know of no taxing authority or tax assessor-collector that has not applied article 7044a in thismanner. It iswell established that the construction placed upon a statute by the authority charged with its administration isentitled to someweight, particularly when anumber 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 isespecially relevant where the statute involved isa revenue measure. Flowers v. Texas Mexican Railway Co., 174 S.W.2d 70, 73 (Tex.Civ.App.-- Austin 1943, nowrit). We believe the construction given by taxing authorities and county tax assessor-collectors to the provisions of article 7044a should be respected.

It isour opinion then, that, on the basis of the uniform administrative construction placed upon article 7044a formore than ten years, together with the established principle of statutory construction that statutes should be read together and harmonized ifreasonably possible, the term *succeeding taxable year," for purposes of article 7044a, refers to the taxpayment 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 setby July 20, 1976.

p. 3,5861.

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ThetaxrateestablishedonJuly20, 1976,willbeeffectivefortaxesthat becomecollectiblebeginningon October1,1976anddelinquentin1977.

AttorneyGeneralofTexas
APPROVED:

OpinionComittee

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