October 2, 19%

HonorableRobert S. Calvert Comptroller of Public Accounts Capitol Station Austin 11, Texas OpinionNo.

## wti-~a Re: Authority of the Comptroller to issue a warrant inpayment of a recording fee in order to record the Agriculture lease on lands purchased by Dear Mr. Calvert: the Veterans' Land Board.

You have requestedan opinion concerning the authority of the payment of a fee to the County Clerk of a salaried county for recording an agricultural lease on landpurchased by the Veterans' Land Board. TheVeterans' Land Board requested that the payment of the recording fee to the County Clerk be paid out of funds in the State Treasury comprised of money collected ursuant to the followingprovisions of Section 21 of Article E 5 21m: "TheBoard Is further authorized and required to charge and collect for the use of the State the following fees for the processing and servicingof purchase applications and Contracts of Sale and Purchaseand matters incidental thereto. Any such fees, or a portion thereof, which In the opinion of the Board are.unused shall be refunded.

II

. .

‘“7

. . Service fee for each Contract of Sale and Purchase
. . . . . . . $25.00 “All money8 received by payment of the above fees and not re$Izndedshall be deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the Veterans' Land Board Special Fund, and aaid Fund ie hereby approprlated to the Veterans' Land Board to be wed as It deems necessary to pay any expenses of the Veterans' Land Board, Including salaries, ln-HonorableRobert S. Calvert,page 2. m-508)
creasing of salaries,or travel expenses of the employees of the Veterans' Land Board, or employees of the General Land Office .dolng work with the-veterans'Land Program,provided;however, that such'salaries,or expenses, shallbe in linewith the salaries or expensespaid to similaremployees of other Statedepartmentsperforming similarduties." The contention of the VeteransILand Board.ie stated in a letter ,tothe Comptroller'sOffice dated August 21, 199, as follows: "TheVeterans' Land Board,by necessity,

must correcterrors in deeds and forty-year contract8when such errors are~discovered during the life of the contract. Themethod In correcting such errors is by means of a corrected instrumentwhich must be recorded in the County where the land is located. It is the opinion of this office that the $25.00 servlce.fee Is set up specificallyunder Article %21m, Section 21; Vernon's Civil Statutes for thepayment of the recording fee for recording the corrected lnstrument and for the payment of othernecessary expenses of servlaingthe Veteran!8 contract. "Underthe above referred to Article %21m, Section 21,Vernon's Civil Statutes, the $25.00 service fee is, quote, 'depositedin the State Treasury and credited to the Veterans' Land Board's special fund, and said fund is,hereby appropriated to the Veterans' Land Board to be used as It deems necessary to pay any expenses of theVeterans' Iand Board."' If the recording fee were.a legal expense, of the Veterans' Land Board, the service fees appropriatedby the Lagislature could be expended for thispurpose. However, Sections 1 and 3 of Article 3912e,Vernon's Civil Statutes, specifically prohibit the payment of such fees. Section 1 states that "nor shall the State . . .pay to any county officer
. . .any fee or coplesion for any serviceby him performed as such officer

. . . (Exceptionsnot applicable)., Section 3 provides "neitherthe,State
. . . shallbe chargedwith or pay to any of the officers
. . .any fee or commissionfor the perfortmance of any or all of the duties of their offices
. . ." (Exceptionsnot applicable).Honorable Robert S. Calvert,page 3. mi-508)

Since the charge is specificallyprohibited by statute, these instrumentsmust be recordedwithout any charge to the Veterans' Land Board. If the Tree!' for rendering the service of recording these instruments should be construed to be a charge against the individual rather than the Veterans' Land Board, the aoney deposited in the State Treasury could not be used for the payment of personal expenses of an individual. Therefore,you are advised that you are not authorized to Issue a warrant in payment of thesefees. SUMMARY

The Comptrollerof PublicAccounts Is not authorized to Issue a warrant in payment of a recording fee for recording an Agriculture lease on landspurchased by the Veterans' Land Board. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas JR:$l APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE Gee. P. Blackburn, Chatrman L. P. Lollar Arthur Sandlln RichardWells John Steinberger REVIEWEDFORTRE ATTORNEYGERERAL By: W. V. Geppert