Case Information
*1 HE A~TOIR~TEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
Honorable George H. Sheppard
Comptrollers of Public Accounts
Austin, Texas
Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-3942
Re: Cost of compilation of delinquent tax records.
We have received your letter of recent date which we quote in full as follows:
"As required by Article 7336F, the Tax Assessor-Collector of Dewitt County has compiled a delinquent tax record for the years 1919 to 1935, inclusive. Two years later, he made a supplement to the record covering taxes delin- quent for the years 1936 and 1937. At the end of the fiscal year 1939, he had delinquent taxes for the years 1938 and 1939 which had not been compiled into a supplement. Instead of recbm- piling the delinquent tax record for the years 1919 to 1939, inclusive, OP making a supplement for the years 1938 and 1939, as authorized by Article 7336F, he made a supplement covering delinquent taxes for* the years 1936 to 1939, inclusive.
"Due to the fact that the law only refers
to the recompilation of a delinquent tax record or a two year supplement thereto, you will please advise this department whether OP not we would have the authority to pay a proportionate part of the cost for compiling the four year supple- ment, or should we only pay a proportionate part of the cost for compiling the supplement of de- linquent taxes due for the years 1938 and 1939." Sectlon 2 of Article 7336f, Vernon's Annotated ClvLl Statutes, reads as follows:
"Any County havfng as many as two years' taxes delinquent which have not been Included in the delinquent tax record, the Collector of taxes shall within two years from the effective *2 Honorable George H. Sheppard, page 2 0 -3942
date of this Act, cause to be compiled a delln- , ^ __ _-. quent tax recora 0s all aellnquent taxes not
barred by this Act; the delinquent record shall be examined by the Commissioners' Court and the Comptroller or governing body, corrections may be ordered made, and when found correct and ap- proved by them, payment for the'compllation
thereof shall be authorized, at actual cost to the Tax Collector, proportionately from each
the State and County taxes, or municipal taxes, first collected from such record, such cost in no case to exceed a sum equal to five ‘(5#) cents per item or written line of the original copy of such record and in no event shaI1 any com- piling cost be charged to the taxpayer. The
delinquent tax record when approved, shall be prima facie evidence of the delinquency shown thereon, and when there shall be as many as two years of delinquency accumulated which are not shown on the record, a recomnllatlon, or a two year suonlement thereto shall then be made as herein nroviaed. Tax Collectors shall causeto be compiled'like records of taxes dellnqueiit due any district for which they collect from tax " rolls other than the State and county rolls, and when approved by the governing body of the par- ticular district, the cost of same shall be al- lowed in the manner herein provided. Acts 1935 44th Leg., pe 355, ch. 128.' (Emphasis supplledj
We are informed,by your department that the officer uestion received the above-mentioned cost for compiling the in 193 -1937 supplement. 2
As you mentioned in your letter, reference is made only to a recompilation and to a two year supplement after the original tax record is complied. This fact in itself 1s an implied denial of any right on the part of the tax collector to receive payment of his actual cost for any compilation other than the ones mentioned.
The statute reads that "payment for the compilation thereof shall be authorized at actual cost to the Tax Collector". This payment is In the nature either of the payment of an expense necessarily incurred by the tax collector in the discharge of a statutory duty, or a fee or compensation' for official services performed by him. In either event the tax collector is not authorized under the statute to prepare a four year supplement'; embodying two years previously covered by another supplement, and receive the actual cost Incurred in such compilation.
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Honorable George I-I. Sheppard, page 3 o-3942
In Corpus Juris, Volume 46, pages 1018 and 1019, it is said:
"The right of an officer to compensation for
expenses incurred by him in the performance of an official duty must b'e found in a provision of the constitution or a statute conferring-it either cllrectlg or by necessary implication, and the of- fleer cannot recover compensation additional to the compevsatlon fixed by statute for such expenses e . . . 6
"Statutes relating to the fees and compensa- tion of public officers mustbe strictly construed in favor of the government, and such officers are entitled only to what is clearly given by law . 0 .'I We quote also from 34 Tex. Jur. 508 and 509 as fol- lows:
"Statutes prescribing fees for public officers are strictly construed and hence a right to fees may not rest in Implication. Where this right Is left to construction, the language of the lfw rrmst be construed in favor of the government. . . . .
Article 7336f neither expre,ssly nor implledly author- izes the compilation of a four year supplement. Thus, It fol- lows that whether the payment is regarded as payment of an ex- pense, a fee, or compensation, the payment of the cost for pre- parlng the supplement for the entire four year period is not authorized.
However, the two year period 1938-1939 is covered by the supplement. The tax collector is fully authorized to com- pile a supplement for these years and receive a payment of the cost 8;s provided for in the statute. Therefore, we believe that he may receive payment for compiling that part of the supplement which represents the years 1938 and 1939.
In view of the foregoing, it Is the oplnlon of this department that under Article 7336f the Comptroller is authorized to pay a proportionate part of the cost of the compilation of only that part of the four year supplement to the delinquent .tax record which represents the years 1938 and 1939. *4 O-3942
Honorable George R. Sheppard, page 4 Very truly yours ATTORNEY GBNERAL OF TEXAS By s/Glenn R. Lewis Glenn R.'Lewis Assistant By s/George W. Sparks George W. Sparks GWS:mp:wc
APPRQVXI SEP 23. 1941
s/Gerald C. Mati
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWB Chairman