EXAS
Honorable Joe Resweber Opinion No. C-751
County Attorney
Harris County Re: Commissions of County Attorneys
Houston, Texas in counties of 20,000 poRula-
tion or more for suits for
delinquent personal property
taxes - Offiuer'e 6alary
Dear Mr. Resweber: Fund.
We have received your request for an opinion reading as
follows:
"When the County Attorneys In counties
with populations of twenty thousand (20,000)
or more have successfully represented the
State and County in suits to collect delin-
quent personal property taxes, are said County
Attorneys entitled to deduct their commissions
from said taxes and pay the same into their
respective County Treasuries (Officer's 'Salary
Fund)?"
Youhave submitted a brief on the question propounded
in which you reached the conclusion that it should be answered
in the affirmative. We agree with your conclusion.
While the statute (Article 7332, Vernon's Civil Statutes)
specifically provides for the fees of the county attorneys in
suits for delinquent taxes on real estate, there is no specific
statute mentioning compensation for suits for delinquent taxes
on personal property.
Article 335, Vernon's Civil Statutes, reads as follows:
"Whenever a district or county attorney
has collected money for the State or for any
county, he shall within thirty days after
receiving the same, pay it into the treasury
of the State or of the county in which it
belongs, after deducting therefrom and retain-
ing the commissions allowed him thereon by
law. Such district or county attorney shall
be entitled to ten per cent commissions on
the first thousand dollars collected by him
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Honorable Joe Resweber, Page 2 (C-751)
in any one case for the State or county
from any individual or company, and five
per cent on all sums over one thousand
dollars, to be retained out of the money
when collected, and he shall also be entitled
to retain the same commissions on all collec-
tions made for the State or for any county.
This article shall also apply to money realized
for the State under the escheat law."
This office has consistently held that the above Article
provides for compensation to be paid to the county attorneys
on money collected in suits for delin uent ersonal property
taxes. Opinions numbers 0-260, O-109% , O-9t;
8 and o-2410. In
view of this, the only question to determine is whether the
compensation collected by the county attorney in such cases is
to be placed in the Officer's Salary Fund.
Article 16, Section 61 of the Texas Constitution reads
as follows:
"All district officers in the State of
Texas and all county officers in counties
having a population of twenty thousand (20,000)
or more, according to the ~then last preceding
Federal Census, shall be compensated on a
salary basis. . . .
"All fees earned by district, county and
precinct officers shall be paid into the county
treasury where earned for the account of the
proper fund, provided that fees incurred by the
State, county and any municipality, or in case
where a pauper's oath is filed, shall be paid
into the county treasury when collected and
provided that where any officer is compensated
wholly on a fee basis such fees may be retained
by such officer or paid into the treasury of
the county as the Commissioners Court may direct.
All Rotaries Public, county surveyors and public
weighers shall continue to be compensated on a
fee basis. . . .'
The enabling act for the above constitutional provision
is Article 3912e, Vernon's Civil Statutes. Section 1 of this
Article provides that neither the State nor County shall pay to
any county officer of any county containing a population of
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Honorable Joe Resweber, Page 3 (C-751)
20,000 or more inhabitants any fee or commission for any service
by him performed as such officer, with certain exceptions, which
exceptions do not mention the compensation provided for by Article
335. However, we believe that this provision was intended to pro-
vide that such officer shall not be entitled to receive and keep
any fee or compensation authorized by law, but only provides
that such compensation so received shall be placed in the Officer's
Salary Fund since Section 5 of the same Article provides as
follows:
"It shall be the duty of all officers
to charge and collect in the manner authorized
by law all fees and commissions which are per-
mitted by law to be assessed and collected for
all official service performed by them. As and
when such fees are collected they shall be de-
posited in the Officers' Saiary Fund, or funds
provided in this Act. . . .
In view of the above, we answer your question in the af-
firmative.
SUMMARY
When the County Attorney in a county of
a population of 20,000 or more has successfully
represented the State and County in a suit to
collect delinquent personal property taxes and
has collected such taxes, said attorney is
authorized to collect the commission provided
by Article 335, V.C.S., and may deduct the
same from the taxes collected, but is required
to pay the same into the Officer's Salary Fund.
Yours very truly,
WAGOOWER CARR
Attorney General
By:
HGC/fb:lr
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Honorable Joe Resweber, Page 4 (C-751)
APPROVED:
OPINJIORCOMMITTEE
W. V. Geppert, Chairmm
James Broadhurst
Jack Goodman
Lewis Berry
Ben Harrison
APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: T. B. Wright
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