Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

EXAS PRICE DANIEL ATTORNEY GENERAL Hon. Dud&a, Brummett :?,.~QplnionNoi V-1499 ,, ~:,, ., “, (J~y$ &g@&&& y.;g,: I.!;&::(!:::,,; ,,,I,, ‘,,: Lubbock, &unty :“‘? “’ ,’Re : Authority of tha bo&+rdQf Lubbock, Texas _(.: dtrectors of an nnd~:lrgraand water oonservation ci&trlct to require aesessmtit &ldB IL’ colJection of ltir tazt@@~by L,<;*;, i ., the County Tax Assessor- Dear Sir: ,I ,.,~ Collector. You have requeated.an opinion on the follow- ing question: : ‘5s the Tax Ass&o&C&eotor of a county located withih an Underground Water Conservation District- required to a8sess and collect taxies ,f’or the District on the property located within this county?” &lcle 7880-3c, V.CrS,, under which ,under- ground water conservation districts are organized, was enacted in 1949 .as. an add.ltlonal section to Chapter 25, A&s 3 th Leg.-; R.S+ 1925; ‘p”, 86 (Art. 788Q:l et seq.,, y,.c>s~,3;.;w,hlch provides for the creation and: admlnlstra- tlon of water .cont&l and improvement districts. Article 7880-.3c does not contain a ‘sp,eclflc provislon~ as to the method of assessing and ‘eol’lectlng taxe,s le,Pieh% by under- ground water conservation districts, b’ut Subdivi-slon B of this article provides: “Districts may hereafter be created for the conservation, preservation, pro- tection, and recharging and the.preventlon of waste of the underground water of an underground water reservolr or subdivision thereof, def’Xned and designated In acQordance nrovisions with the provisions or Subsection C E o? a? this Hon. ,.Dudley Brummett, page 2. (V-1499) ., .,,’ Districts shall t be organized~ for any purposes except those set forth In this Section 3c." (Emphasis ours.)~ Chapter 25, su ra Is the only statute author- lzdng the creation of -+-’ wa er c@irol and Improvement dls-. tricts, and since Its enactment In 195,lt has remained the baslo statute regulating their operation. Section 54 of Chapter 25 (Art. 7880-54)provides for assesiment arid’c’&i&flon...of +,xea through an assessor-collector appointed. b$ the dlsttiict”board of ,d,lrectors. Section 33, aa .amended In 1935 (Art. .7880&33), ‘provfdes, for as- sessment and collection through county tax assessor- “. : oollectors pursuant to’,contracts between the district and the county commissioners’ oourts. These provlsgons were in effect at the time of the enactment of Article 7880-3~in 1949. Tn $951, the Le islature~passed an Act (Aots 52nd Leg., 1951,.oh. 21 f , p. 348, oodlfled as Art. 7880-74a, V.C.S.) which requlres oounty tax asses- sor-collectors to perform these services for water CQn- trol and Improvement dlstriots when the dlstrlat board of direotors adopts a ,resolution to have the dlstrlct taxes assessed and colleoted In this manner. Article 7880-74a was not enaoted as a formal amendment to Chapter 25, butaunquestlonably It Is germane to the subject ‘matter of Chapter 25 and oould properly have been enacted as an,.amendy,+n$,thereto. Indeed, the ,effect of t&e 1951 act is to ameiid’the,flormer law relat&ng to water control and improvement diktrlokby addi& a new prooedure for. asseesment and collection of the’ir taxelr. Seotl,on, 1 .of ArtioIe 7880-744provides: “Instead of prooeeding for the aasess-’ ment, equalization, and oolleotlon of~taxea ” in the manner elsewhere- provided by Statute, when a majority of,the Board of Deeotors of a Water, Control and Tmproveaent Dlrtrlot, which assess all of ita taxer eon an ad valorem basis, adobbr a resolytlon to have the ta%es on their DIntriot alrrlrdd and oolleoted by the County du&orr6~ ,and oolleo- tor, or by the oity asaerrsor an4 oolleotor of an lnoorporated olt or tW In trhelimita of whloh the Water Dls t riot LD looated, same shall be assessed anQ oolleoted by sald oounty or olty offloors, 811 luy be deaermined : ,,, Ron. Dudley Brummett, page 3 (V-1499) by the Board of Directors of said Water Dls- trict, and turned over to the treasurer of the WaterDlstrict Porwhlch such taxes have been colle-dted." As we,have seen , .undergroun,d water conservation districts must look to provisions relatlng,to assessment and collection of taxes "as now or hereafter contained in Chapter 25, . . . as amended" to determine the manner in'whlbh their taxes may be assessed and collected. There is no question of the validity of %eference" pro- . visions of this nature. Trlmmler v. Carlton, 116 Tex. 572, 296,~S.W. lC70,(1927). : The only ~problem Is to determine what' the LkgLslature in&ended,by the above- quoted provision. Ifs the Legislature lnt.ended.that only those future provisions' which were formally enacted as a part of Chapter 25 were.to apply to underground water conservation districts, then the provisions of Article 7880-74a are not available to these districts. However, In our opinion the Legislature dld'not intend to make the applicability of future statutes depend on whether they were enacted as formal amendments of Chapter 25. We think the Legislature intended that future legis- lation regulating administrative and procedural affairs .of, water.control-,and Improvement districts which were organized under Section 25 should likewise be available to underground water conservation districts "in so far as applicable to such districts," even though it was not enacted as a formal amendment bo Chapter 25. Since Article 7880-74a~provldes for an addi- tional method of assessment and collecting taxes for water control and improvement districts, It is our opinion that it constitutes an amendment to Acts 39th Leg., R.S. 1925, oh. 25, p. 86, within the meaning of subdivision B, ~&%icle 7080-3~. Therefore, its provl- .sions are applicable to under@?o.und water, conservation districts. hit 1s our further, opinion that when the governlng~ board,of such district adopts a resolution to that, effect ,> Article 7880-7&a makeslt the mandatory duty of the county tax assessor? and collector to assess and collect taxes for the district, SUMMARY The board of directors of ~sn:cundsr~>i- rgrtnund:~trarv~~~~orC~~~trr~dtfichas the authority to requ%re.asaess@nt and col- - , Hon. Dudley Brummett, page !+ (?-1499) lectlon oft Its taxes by the cotity.tax, assessor-collea,tor pursuant to the pro- vls+ons ,oP Article 7880-i)ta, V.&S. Yours'vtiry truly., APPROVED: ~,~ ',. PRICE~DANIEL Attorney General J. C. Davis, Jr. Cdunty Affairs Division Mary,K. Wall Reviewing Assistant Assistant : Charles D. Mathews First Assistant GR:am