Case Information
*1 Mr. Murphy Cole
County Auditor
Liberty county
liberty, Texas Opinion Nmber O-2037
Dear Sirs
Rer Authority to collect taxes for the retirement of dmin- age bonds during the year within which said bonds were authorized.
5% have your letter of October 17, in which you outline the following faotsr
*On June 22, 1940, P special election was held in Liberty County on the question of oreating Liberty County Drainage Distri6t Ho. 33 and the issuance of bonds. Such election oarried by more than two-thirds majority and thereafter the Commissioners' Court authorized the issu- anoe of the bonds3 and said Commissioners* Court levied a tax on the property within the dietriot.
'Valuations used by the Tax Assessor for properties within the district are the same values which were assessed for county purposes3 namely, the values as of January 1, 1940." You request our opinion upon the follow questions "May taxes be oolleated for the year 1940 tider and by virtue of the authority for creating the district, the issuanae of bonds and the subsequent levy of a tax rate?"
Chapter 7, Title 128, of Vernon*s Annotated Civil Statutes, Articles 8097, et seq., presoribe the manner in which drainage districts may be created and bonds issued for the acccanplishment of the purposes sought by the establisIvnent of the district. Article 8136 reads a8 follows2
h Mr. Murphy Cole, Page #2. (O-2837)
"Plhen bonds have been voted, the court shall anuual- ly levy and cause to be assessed and collected taxes upon all property within the district, whether real, personal or otherwise, and sufficient in amount to pay the interest on such bonds as it falls due, and to redeem such bonds at maturity. Such taxes when so collected shall be placed in the interest and sinking fund."
It till be noted that this article not only provides for the levy of the tax but that it states it shall be collected. We think that when bonds have been voted it becomes the duty of the Commissioners' Court to levy the tax, and that duty carries with it the duty to collect same0 Therefore, the fact that the bonds were not authorized until June of 1940 can have no bearing upon the time of the levying and collecting of taxes.
The levy must be made at any time during the year that the bonds may be authorized and the tax is levied as soon as it has been ascertained that the bonds have been voted, and the levy is made in a sufficient amount to pay the whole principal and interest divided into annual payments, As stated in the case of David ~8. Timon, County Judge, et al, 183 S.W. 88, "assessments for taxation are made on all property held by the owner on January 1 of each year, and tknt assessment forms the basis for and is essential to the levy and collection of taxes. All property held and owned on the first day of January of each year is bound for and subject to the taxes levied during that year, whether such levy iamads in the beginning, the middle or the last of the year."
You are, therefore, advised that in our opinion the tax levied by the Commisdoners~ Court of Liberty County pursuant to the spedal elec- tion held on June 22, 1940, not only may be oolleoted for the year 1940, but, under the law, must be oolleoted.
Trusting that the foregoing satisfactorily answers your inquiry, we *re
Very truly youra, ATlDRNEYOEIWtAL OF TMAS ay PI/ Claranoe E. Crow Clarenoe E. Crowe hsaiatant CEC-stegn
APPROVED OCT 25, 1940
s/Gerald C. kn Approved Opinion Committee ATPORNEY Gh'NERAL OFTEXAS
By BWB Chairman