E ORNEY GENERAL 

OF~ILCXAS 

Honorable RLchard F. Stovall 

Distrkt Attorney 

110th Judicial Dlstr1at 

Floydada, Texas 

Dear Sir: OpinLon NO. 0-6600 

Re: Whether the tax collector of Floyd 

County is required to collect a One 

Dollar ($1.00) fee for each certlflcate of redemptfon Issued when 

delinquent taxes are paid? 

Your request for an opinFon from this department has 

been referr~ed to the writer for attention and reply. Your 

request reads In part as follows: 

"Please give me your opinion as to whether 

or not the Tax Collector of Floyd County, Texas, 

is required to collect a one dollar ($1.00) fee 

for each Certificate of Redemption Issued when 

del1nquer-k taxes are paid. The tax collector 

has been advised by the audltor that she must 

collect a one dollar ($1.00) fee for each year 

that the taxes have been delfnquent, in other 

words, if a tax payer has been delinquent in 

the payment of his taxes on a certain piece of 

property for 5 years and desires to pay said 

taxes, the Tax Collector must collect, in addition to the,taxes, penalty and interest, $5 .OO 

for issuing a Redemption Certificate, andif thfs 

is not done, the Tax Collector would be Liable 

to the county for failure to do so. In our 

county the Tax Collector advises that the maxImum fees of office are earned without the necessity of collecting the one dollar ($1.00) redemption fee for each year that the taxes may be 

delinquent. 

Article 7331, Revised Civil Statutes, provides in part: 

"For calculating and preparing redemption cer- 
Honorable Richard F. Stovall, page 2 O-6600 

tifFcates and receipts, reporting and crediting redemptions , posting Comptroller's redemption numbers 

on the delinquent tax record or annual delinquent 

list, mailing certificates of redemption to taxpayers after approval by the Comptroller, and for 

Issuing receipts or certificates of red~emption for 

property shown on the annual delfnquent list, ,the 

tax collector shall be entitled to a fee of one 

dollar ($1.00) for each correct assessment of land 

to be sold, said fee to be taxed as costs against 

the delinquent. Correct assessment as herein used 

means the inventory of all properties owned by an 

indFvFdua1 for any one year. Q . n .' 

We are advised by the Comptroller's Department that 

the county officers of Floyd County are compensated on the 

basis of fees earned by them in the performance of their official duties. The maximum fees which may be retained are 

fixed by Articles 3883 and 3891, R.C.S. The fees must be 

collected and paid to the county treasurer after deducting' 

salaries and'authorized expenses as provided by Article 3891, 

R.C.S. In fact, failure to charge up the fees OP costs that 

may be due under existing laws is made a penal offense by Article 102 of the Penal Code, which reads as follows: 

"Any county officer or any dlstrfct attorney 

to whom fees or costs are allowed by law ,who shall 

fail to charge up the fees or costs that may be due 

under existing laws, or who shall remit any fee 

that may be due under the laws, or who shall fail 

to make the report requir3j by law, or who shal~l 

pay his deputy, clerk or ass'Lstant a,less sum than 

specified in his sworn statemeht, or receive back 

as a rebate any part of the compensation allowed 

such deputy, clerk or assistant, si~lall be rined 

not less than twenty-five nor mo~c3 ,thsr: five hundred dolIars. Each act forbidder by this articl,e 

Is a separate offense." 

We trust that the above ~11'1 satlsfac,t.oi:iIg answer 

your inquiry. 

Ver-y truly 'yours 

HTBD:db:wc ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

APPROVED MAY 29, 1945 B-y s,/Bi T. Bob Donahue 

s/Grover Sellers H. T. Bob Donahue 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS Assistant 

Approved Opinion Committee By s/i%63 Chai:rmari