Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF THE AITORNEY GE~NERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN
Nonorable Thos. A. %heat
County Attorney
Liberty County
Liberty, Texer
Orlnlon Mmb8r c)-18d2 flat Artfs private drolna are oonntructed in nccordnnce with Artlclc 6153, shall ouch prlvata drnlne be ropeired and mlntolmd by tho.Draineae Coz&mlonora out of Dralnar,e Dlstriat funds?
Xe hatie your latter of Jenuarp 16, in which yekre- quest our opinion on the above oaptlonsd question, scd t&e Soots undei’lying your question arei briefly, 0s follon%t,
CThatLlberty CountyP.epoixi Drelnage Distriot Ember 2 lagally cstabliehed dnd oreatod in ocoord- (rnoe with Title 128, Chn;ter 7 of the Revised Civil Btnttitoa lme’becn and in funotioning.88 dlatrlot pursuant to.such d drainQ6e lavr( and thnt under authority of hrtlole 8133 of anld title, private drains have been aoostruotod ivhloh find a8 -their ultlntite souroo or outlet oemle drains, ditches and ls~eea, aonstrWted by thk dkxiot.* Your quueatlon iaj
Y?hethsr or not those so-aellad private drains, oonetruotnd in txkaordance with Article RlR3, shall be rzir;tnlned and repnlrod by: the Drolnnf;e Co:mla- alonaru out of the Drslmqe Dletrlot funds, to-:vit, tha Kaintannnaa Fund, doas the xi~alntomnaa and of mid so+olled private drains kav@ ropalflng to be done by the person ownlng land who had the aamo oonetruated et hla awn expense In aoaord- anoe dtb aald artioloru
Eonorablo ThOEi. Wheat, page #a
It 18 ouc oplnlon that the fnalntenance of ssld private drolne roust be at the oxpenee of the person or persons who thorn, that the oomloaloncra of the drainage oanatmcted distriot are not outhorfzed to exppnd funds of the Ulstrfat obtalned through a maintenanae fax: levy upon tho owners resld- lng wlthln the dlatriot.
In fJUpl;Ort of this cono~ueion we wish to stnto that as e qoncrsl proposition of law, a dralnnge district organized pursuant to stntuta Is R aubdlolsion.ot State which oxer- olaes grantod po:vere withIn it& torrltarlal jurisdiction, and that its dutlao aro Fubllc,.not private, In their caturo. They are political pub110 aubdlvlalons of the State, created for n special purpose find exaralslng only auoh po~~ra es ore ex- presslp grontod or which are essential ond inoidont to the cxorolse of 33xprossed powara FJven. *on (I drain8.y dlstriat is organized pursuant to, Title 120, Chnptor 7, of Revised Clvll Statutes of 1925, wa think there la only one purpose Sor whlah it 1s created, and that la to dreln the lnnd wlthln the dlatrlot, or to ereat and nnintaln asnale and dltohas, to central floods and other flowing wntore. hit Is, thdrofore, a neoessary conclusion thet if the ofgenlzatlon 1s to be camp- tent to aaoozpllsh ito destined pu.rporre, there must be come sutharlzed manner in rhloh the requlrcd oosta are to be mt, and t is a baa’io prlnclple of’ anr kind of texation that those ahw I d poy who are banaflttcd. 3~ think t.ho.t the !.ot tiuthor- king the ostabllnhmant of dralnces districts contenplatea lmprovemcnt of the area wlthle the drnlnago dlatrlot in rucb mnnor na at large within the intorest aaid district pil). brat be served. Article 8103 reads aa followa!
“If &t the heorlng it ap&re to the oou.rt thnt la feosible and prao- the dralnoge.of such distriot’ tlcablo, nnd that it la needed, that tke dralnnne would be conduolve to the publio health or would bo.s public benefit,or a pub110 utility. then the aourt shell so find. But if .that court fl.nd8 any of anld lasuee in the neqatlqe, it shall dismiss the potltlon at the coat of the petitionera. The rlnblnga ohall br rntered of ~remrd .* *3 Bonorablo Thos. ~Whhsat, pa@ #S ‘iie think the langurge,in this artlalo Is indicative l
of the public bonefit oontemplated by the entire Aot..
Article G13’? providoe : that~ tee oo~.zIssionere shall annuelly file a detnlled report of the condltlon of tho lm- provemcnts theretofore mada in the distrlot, ivith on astimate of the probable oost of mnintenanca end nccdcU repairs during ths onsuing Year, end hrtiole 0136 rrc8cribea tho mcnnor of ls~ylng, the tax for both bonded lndebtadnons rind xzalntenanoe ond otctos thct oufficieut ttires nhnll bo coll6ctod upon all such i~~roveixenta aa havu been mode pursuant to’ the r~ppa End profiles of drain&@ dltohee and othor improvements deoorlbed in Artlole 8126 and that it does not in any nmy have rofaranoe to draIna ditohoa construottid bp private owners in sooord- snoe with IIrtIole R153.
Article 8154 provides that *the drainage oommlssioners shell keep the canals, drains, dito’hes an& levees nnd other improvements wde hcreunaer in repair and ~qhll hove general. suthorlty to -wise t1r.d ccntrol the construotlon end tilnte- ncnce of same.” In the hot8 .cf the Thirty-soccnd Lee,islature, 1811, this FrOVi0iOn ws.s Saotion 42 of Chaptar 118, and. the article next abova quoted was 3eotlon 39 of na1.d ohaptcr, and Seotlons 40 and 41 were FUfJtili9nt purts Of thnt Act. Thea6 lest two sootlons wem anrrlad forward Into tho 19lJ gavlaed Clvll Stntuteo aQ Articles 3420 and 3426 of the Penal Coda, with ArtIole 3420 beine subnequontly repaoled. Article 342d beln6 carried forward to the 1925 rovielon 08 Article 852 of the Penal Code. Eaoh OC sa.@ oriqlnul oeotiona, when apenk- :,;go8mprovemcnte .:ithIn the dralna6e districts, used thle
: aConstruoted, repaired or Improved under the pro- zi$y,” of’~thIe Aot, for .tha ixwpose of drcinsge snd from which. v.e hav6 oonoluded that hrtlole 0184, vJhereIn it uses the laneage “other improvements medo hereunder*, refers *4 Honorable Thee. Wheat, page #4
to such im~rovementa ss aro authorized by this i<,ot to ba msde by the distriot aa a dlatriot. It obviously naa deemed wise by Le&lqture to permit privnto osnara .to oonatruot drain ditches to tie into the sfstam provided by district, but the exercise of auoh privilege was limited by the terma of this article.
It ie our apInion thot.ony of the z;nlntenanoo tax f&d that mnp b,e expended by the oor%iasionera for mointenence of u privately owned drnin dltoh would oonotltute nn unsuthor- ized uac of nuoh X’und. rn the f3aaa of Jc:ffurson Countf Drain- age 3Istrlct ~8. XoFaddln, CO1 C.ti. 322, afflrmod Corrmiaelon or Appeals, 4 9.V. (ed) 33, tho!Supromo Court anid!
Woney voted 6peoILioslly .for the purpose only of cdnstructiq. a~-drainagei Bystem wlthin tho bounds or the ,droinsgO dlstrlat, msp bo aaed only for that purp9ae.n
Then in the oaae of btrroll vs. ~x’illirms, till2 8.W.B04,, by ihe 3opreme Court, we find thla i’urther limgu2r301
n * * *- -ha Q mMtor of common honoaty and fsir desllng, tax money ~tnkcn iron the pcoplo ostensibly for ont apeoitied ‘mrpose, : &all be expend@ aa needed for thnt purpouo,clone * * *.*
Xe think the expenditure of pub110 funds, nuch as the mtlnte- nanoo tox.lunds of drainage .dlatrIot, on the improveGent mointenanoe of privctely oxned drulnsge dltohea would oonstltute a diversion of suoh f’undu under the law.
Trusting that th@ &atIofaetorilg mnsaors~~pour pusa- tlcn, wo are
Very truly fours