Case Information
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OFFICE OF ‘WE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable Ralph Brook Atternoy
Lubbook County
Lubbook,. Ton@
day of S'anq,A.D. e l 88entioa at thr that they ha6 in the 8wa of money ia ~aO,OOO.OO) Dollarr, an of oaf& Gomlrrioaora oar* of any rqalrr on the rat of the oouaty, and the Gouatt Court briryr further aware oi the ewrity to l rsirrt thr go~emnmn8 in rable wag to proaaouta the prerait war l galnat aggrm*lto nationa, 18 18 the opla-
loa or tha court that I)W,OOO.OO 0r the runa 8hou.u br inreatod in govmmat boaar.
"IT I8 l!iWOWCBL RESOLVED that aaid Fl?tJ Btousan& ($ao,OOO.OO) Dollara be lnvomted in
I *2 Bonorable Xalph Brook, Page 2
Government Bonds upon approval of the Attorney
General of the State of Texas.
0. v. Faraue tounty Judge, Lubbook County, Texas 0.L Horton Preoinot Eounty Comleeion0r, x0. 1 Ben Eanskrr Commisslonsr, Precinot NO. 2 Edaar E. Gray County Commieaioner, Preoinot x0. 3 Kewton Stokea County Commissioner, Prscinot l?o. 4’ ‘118 oonnsotlon with this rtatter, I wll.1 state that there ~111 remain available in the
permanent improvement funds of Lubbook County,
Texas, a sum or approximately 415,000.00, whloh amount will be eufriaient to take oare of all
neaeesarp repairs and fmprovemente upon county
property.
“In looking into the law relative to this matter, I have found rrtiole 036 of the iWised
civil Statutes of Texas, whioh provldae as tol- lOWiS:
“*The legally authorized govarnlag body or any county, city or town, or the trusteee of any eahool distrlot or eohool: Community, may Invest their raspeotive sinlrin$ zunda for the redap-
tlon and payment of the outstanding bond8 of suoh aounty, olty or town, or oommunity, in bonda of the Gnlted States, war savings certificates, and certificatea or IndebtedneaP, ieaued by the Ssore- tary of the Treasury of the Gnlted States, and
Honorable Ralph Erook, Fage 3
in bonds of Texas, or any county of thie State, or of any lnoorporatea oity or tom. 110 such
bondo shall be purchased which, according to their terms, mature at a date sUbsequent to the time of mturlty of the bonds for the payment
of nrhloh such sinking fund was areated.'
*Under thin article the county would be authorized to lnveet any sinking funds that It
might have for the redemption and
outstanding bond8 of the county. i?i%?"b::~
unable to find a- cam or artiole providing
for euoh Inveetment of the permanent lmprove-
nent fund, however, It would seem to me that
If the county could Inveet the sinking funda
in Enlted States Cmvernment 301168, that thr
county ahould also hare the authority to In-
vest the permanent Improvement fund in Govern-
n;ent Bonds BiAOe the permanent fund repreeenta
a aurplur and Is not needed or required to re-
tire any outstanding indebtedness and it would
seem to me that euch Ed lnveetment would reat
with the dI#cretloA of the ComaIaslonera Court
and If they, in their OpiniOA, thought that
$SO,OOO.OO oould be diverted Into GoQerAmeAt
Ponds and the county property atill adequately for, that such action would be legal.
cared "The County Commissioners CoUft would llke your opinion on this question: 'Can part of
the permanent inprovement Punde be legally in-
vested in u. S. Goverment Defense BoAde?*Vq
The Constitution preeoribee the maximum rate of taxes for general purpoi3eB, for roada aAd bridges, for juries, zid ror permanent improvements, respectively. (Section 9, i&iole VIII, State Constitution). :+he monies arising from taxes levied and collected for eaoh of the enumerated pur- posea are OOAetitUtiOAAl fUAdSi 0Ad the COITJUISSIOAera COUrt has no power to transfer money from one fund to another, or to expend, ror one purpose , tax money raised oetenaibly ror another purpose. The immediate purpose of the provision is to limit the anount of taxes that my be raised for thsee several purpoees, respectively; but It is also designed to *4 Ralph Brook, Page 4
Honorable illhibit e~oe~i~e expenaitur48 ior any such purpose, ana to mpire that any and all money8 raised by taxation for any purpose shall be Qpplled to that partlotiar purpose and to no, other. x0 i6tpua power to transfer money rr0m ona to another of suoh oonetltutiohaL fuuds, or expend such runde for another pumose, la derived from the raot that the origidal fund coazalns more than enough to met the current demanda against it. Suoh exoesa may be retained In that fund, end applied to auooesding yearr to the very purpose for whloh Lt was raised, thereby possibly raduolng the future tax rate for that purpose. Carroll Q. ~illllama, 202 S. W. 504; Com- misslonerst Court of Henderson Go. ‘1. Burke, 252 .S. %. 94i Texas Jurlsprudenoe, Vol. 11, p. 609.
It 16 stated in our 0 inion No. O-4297, Vhe au- thority to invest pub110 funan P n their custody ha6 been- oonferred upon oertain pub110 orrloera by the Lag- expressly lslature In some instanoes and by the Conetitutlon In others, In eaoh fnstanae where this power Is given, the charaoter of the seaurities In whioh such a;oneys may be invested has been careiully presuribed. In every aaae where the Legls- lature har authorlsed lnveatment of publlo funda, It haa named bonds of the United State8 Government amng the se- ouritles in which such funds nay be fmpestad, reoognlzlng the obligations of the United State8 as the safest of se- our1t1ss. If the power to invest your surplus funds exlst- ed, ve oould oonoelie of no safer lnvestmant.‘t xe enoloae a copy of said opinion for your convenienoe.
We find no provlalon of law authorlzlng the Com- nlcaioners* CouA to invest any portion of the permanent lmprovenent fund of the count:! in any seouritlee whatsoever.
iiowever, on the other h&ml it is apparsnt. rrom the above mentioned oases t.hzat any and all money raised by taxation ror any purpose. must be applied to tnat particular purpose and to no other, and t:lut the Coruvlasioners’ Court hae no legal right or authority to ln7est any portion of the con- stitutional runas (which inoludes the permanent lmproveaent in E. C. Government Lefense Eonds or any other sa- tunda) curitiea except sinking funds as authorieed by AlWcle 536, supra . Therefore, we respectfully answer the above etated question in the negative.
Yours vary truly