Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1940 )

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS . AUSTIN Bon. w. x. Ncclain Criminal Dirtriot Attorney Willlameaa oountr Oeorgetown, Tern& your aounty 8aa three 0 combinedto formarwal opinion in reaponae to t Sahool Mstriat as pentiotledi ‘0 Annotated Statutes aaaept by the County Tax bese8sorT oaedure for the pro- 001 Mstriata to have on what lc@tallration tory that the mard of Tru.%teelr 1 Mstriat ae provided for b. rnon@8 Anuotatod Statutes appoint tion for the purpose of equallring iat$ or, 3.8thlr proaedure optIona rd where they prefer to aaaept the anassssent Fsadeby the County Tax Atmea1)ort” Ax’tlcls3mb, Revised Civil Statuteo, providea that “rural high ochool dlatrlata 8s pro’lldedSOP ln the pnaediug Hon. W. JC.WoClain, Page 2 article shall be classed a8 oomon school dlstMct2." Article 2795, Civil statutee, read2: "The oomI8alonere court, at the tlmb of lovying taxeo for county purposes, 8hall also levy upon all taxable property vithin any common school dletrlot the rate of tax uo voted If a specific rate has been voted1 othervise lrafdaourt ahall levy suah a rate within the limit 80 voted a8 ha3 been determlned by the board of trustees of said dlstriot and the county 8uperlntendent and certified to said court by the aounty superintendent. If such tax has been voted after the levy of oountp taxes, It shall be levied at any meting of laid oourt prior to ths delivery of the assessment rolls by the assessor. The tax as8esmor shall ~8088 said tax as other taxer are assessed and make an abstract shoving the amount of apeolal taxes as8eased agalnat each school district in his county and i'urtiuhthe same to the county auperintendont on or before the first day of'Septom- her of the you for vhioh 8uch taxe8 are assessed. ,~_. The taxes levied upon the real property in erold distriots shall be a Men thereon and the aamc1 oh811 be aold for unpaid taxes in the manna- and at the time of sales for 3tat.eand oountg toxos. The tax oolloctor shall oolleot 8aid taxes aa other tax08 an colleoted. The tax a88essor ohall ce- aelve a aommis8lon oi one-half of one per cent. for rs8e8slng suah tax and the tax collector a aommls- eion of one-h8lt of one per omit. for colleoting the 8ILIw. The tax collector shall pay all ruoh taxea to the oountytreaourer,and said treasurer rhall aredit eaah sahool district vith the smount belo lrrgto it, and psy out the aama In accordance rlthYiw.n Artiole 2922L, Vernon's Civil Statutes, provides in part; n ... The board of truetoes cf any rural hlgb school dlstrlot w%y appoint an assessor of taxes vho shall assess the taxable property within the linlts of said diatriot within the ti.moprovided by existing laws, and errldasaeslmsnt shall be equalized by the board of equalltation composed of three (3) members appointed by the board of trustees of eald dietriot. The said board of equallaation seals be composed OS legally quallf'ledvoters r@sIdIng j,nsaid district, and shall h~vS the SMso Hon. Y. X. PWlaln,~Page 3 parer and authority, and be subjsat to the muw ~e8tXlCtlOm that nov govern such boards in ad~pen- dent School districts. The t8x asaes8or herein provided for Shall receive such compensation for hf8 lO~ViCOSas the tlw8tees of said dfstriat my 8lloV, not to exoeod two (2) per cent of taxer ae8038ed by him. The aounty tax oolleotor shall collaat such tax and shall moelve one-half of on8 per cent for hla services for coll.mt~ 8uoh tax. Suah tax vhen oollooted Shn11 be depoalted in th8 COWlty depoaltoxy to the credit of Such ruml high eohool district. The tax a8seasor herein provided for aha11 make a complete list af all assessments made by him, and when apprmre&hy the board 0s txurtoos shall be submitted to the county tax oalleator not titer than September 1st of each yem." Without thenspeoial provl8lon8 oontaimd ln Article 29225 authorising rUz=alhigh sohool district8 to appoint their own asse8eora (and boards of equalization), such diStriat8 being classed us commn school districts by Artlolo 2922b would be governed by the lava relating to suah common rohool dlatrlots. We do not believe that AHiolo 2922L vas meant to Rake It ~~&~tory upon rural hLgh school tiiatriotsto appoint their ovn asemmora 8nd to prevent their using the a8tse8snamta nmde by the county tax assessor. Rather ve belleve that it MS lntondod to give such districts a choloe in the IIBttur, 8imibr to the 0h0100 giWXA the b0WdS Of trUStOe5 Of'iodepen- dent school &lstrIats with reference to t&x as5088ar8 and collectom. We armwar your first question afflrzkativoly. Hovever, if the board of tmatees of auoh a dlstrlot eloota to appoint Its oun ItBsesaorIt ia quite blear fYom the statute that the board must elao appoint a board of eqUallaatlon of the number of men and pOSseasln& the qUtilfiCation8 the-in sat out. mere the board of trustees has its own aaaeaSor, the statute requires that assesmi?nta shall be eqUallzed by the diatrlotla board of equalization thus appointed. The work of the various oami13s~onarBt COUftS sitting ILLboards or eqUaLlzation -underArtlala 7206, Revlred Civil Statutsrr, Is accepted by common school diStPiOt8, the ValImtiorUI arrlvod at belw the name for oo&?ionoohool distriot purposes as for State and oountg. Co-n school distrlots have no OthOP boards of eqUlitstion. Such ve think ia contemplated by hrtlcla 2735 and IS the conmon and aocoptod practioe. . . Ron. v. IL HcClalrl,Pa&e 4 Rexme, if the bomd oP truatses of the rural high school distrlot in question desires, it may have tha taxes of tha dlatriot assessed by tba county txu asmosaor. But, in suah ovont, under ArtiaLe 292Zb, the dlotrlat mwt aaaept the valu8tlona arrived rt by the c~sriorrsm’ aourt rlttdng M a b0a-d 0r 0qwlh8tion. The langwgeofhrtial82g22L doemnot v8rr8nt the appointment of the spoolal bomd oP oquallz8tlon,in our opinion, exaopt to eqwllro usesenmnts nade by an 88aossoz Por the dlstriot rppolnted by the bawd under authority of said A~tiolo 2922 L. We believe the above 8uPfiaiantly akuera your quaet1ona. Pours very truly ATTORERY -h 6l+9’lKAS