I .
NOV~ID~~P28, 1951
Hon. J. W. Edgar
Commissioner of Education
Texas Education Agency
Austin, Texas Opinion-No. V-1356
Re: Authority of a munic-
ipally controlled in-
dependwnt-school dls-
trlct to compensate
the city or the city
tax assessor-collector
for assess-h-g and col-
lecting the district's
Dear Sir:, taxes.
for an opinion of
We.rei"er,,to,,your.,request
this office concerning-th-e,auth~itg of a municipally
controlled'in6ependent'school.dlstrlctto compensate
the city,~orthe,office .vfthecity assessor-collector
for the;assesslng and collecting of school taxes for
Its school ,distrlct,under the provisions of Articles
2791 and~2792, V.C.S.
-~Thefollowlng~fants .are stated in your re-
quest. -'TheMarshall Independent -SchoolDistrict is
a munl.cfpally~controlle~ddistrict. Formany years
the ~boungaries of the.MzsrshallIndependent School
Distrlctwere~ldsntical withthe corp-oFate.limitsof
the city ofMarshall, but several years ago the city
of Marsball extended its city limits for school pur-
poses onlg,~under,the-provIsIonsof,Article 2803, V.C.S.
The city vf,Narshall,has.a city ,assessor-collectorof
taxes whohas ,assessed and 'collectedtaxes each year
for boththe city and-the .school~district. Due to
the extens~ionof-the'city limits ~for school purposes
only, the duties,lmposed.upon me city assessor-col-
lector of'taxes have been tremendously-increased and
for thisreason thw~3osrd,,of--teesof the Xarshall
Independent.School,Mstrict would;-,,if.,posslble,like
to expend 'schoolfunds to assist the city of Marshall
In the assessment ,and'collectlonof school taxes.
- .
Ron. J. W. Edgar, page 2 (V-1356)
On the basis of these facts, you submit
the following questlons:
"1. Is Artlcle'27pl applicable to a
municipally controlled independent school
district such as the Marshall Independent
School District?
-2. Does the Board of Trustees of the
Barshall Independent School District have
the authority to contract with ~the city of
Marshall under the provisions of Article
2792?'
In Attorney GeneraPs Opinion V-898 (1949)
this office had~ occasion to consider the status of
the Marshall Independent 'School Mstrict. That opin-
ion held that a municipally contr~olledschool district
wNch extends its boundaries for school purposes only,
under the provisions of Article 2803, V.C.S., main-
tains its character as a city controlled school dis-
trict subject to the laws appertaining specifically
to municipally controlled school districts. Ba es v. -
City af.Beawont, 190 S.W.28 835 (Tex. Mr. &--FX5;
error ref. w.0.m.).
In 'a letter pplnion addressed to County
Attorney Carroll Ed Sullivant, Cooke County, dated
August 23, 1950, this ,officeadvised that Articles
2791 and 2792 have no application to munlclpally
controlled independent school districts; that Artl-
cles 2802 and 2803, V.C.S., speclflcally govern such
municipal districts with respect to Its assessor and
collector of taxes. See Att'y.Gen. Gp. 0-2687 (1940).
Article 2802 grovldes inspart as follows:
"In an independentschool district con-
stituted of a city or town having a city as-
sessor and collector of taxes, such assessor
and collector of taxes shall assess and col--
lsct the taxes for school purposes; provided,
that ina city or town having an assessor and
collector of taxes, the levy of taxes for
school purposes shall be based upon the same
assessment of property upon which the levy
for other city~purposes is based. In such
a city or town, the assessor and collector
..
,’
Hon. J. W. Edgar, page 3, .(V-1356)
of taxes shall receive no other compen-
sation forkcollecting school taxbs than.
the compensation paid him for assessing
and collecting city taxes; . . ."
A~tle-le-9803 provides:
" . The*pr&erty of the added ter-
ritory*sf;allbear Its pro rata part of all
~sohaol~taxes;~but of no ,&her taxes. . . ,
Theoff'lcsrs whose ~duty it is to assess and
collect taxes within the city limits shall
also assess and collect school taxes within
the territory added for school purposes as
herein provided."
These statutes specifically require that
the school taxes of a city controlled school district,
to which territory has been added for school purposes
only, shall be assessed and collected by the city tax
assessor-collector. They make no provision for com-
pensation to that officer or to the city out of the
school district's funds for the additional duties
imposed thereunder.
Accordingly, we agree with you that the
Board.aP Truetees~~ufthe Marshall Independent School
District is'"nctauthorized uniler.Articles2791 and
2792 to-contract with the city of Marshall for the
paymentof,tbe, city or the office of the city tax
assessor-collectorfor the assessing and collecting
of the school taxes for the district. Nor do we find
any other statute authorizing a municipally controlled
school district to use its school funds for that pur-
pose.
SUMMARY
Articles 2791 and 2792, V.C.S., have
no application to municipally controlled
independent school districts. Articles
2802 8nd 2803, V.C.S., impose the duty on
th8 city tax assessor-collector to assess
and collect the taxes of 8 city controlled
school district, and the district may not
use its school funds to compensate the city
Hon. J. W. Edgar, page 4 (V-1356)
or the adsessor-collector for these
services.
APPROVED: Yours very truly,
J. C. Davis, Jr. PRICE DANIEL
county Aff8i.m Division Attorney General
Jesse P:Luton, Jr.
Reviewing Assistant By&&-=-
Charles D. Mathews Chester E. Ollison
First Assistant Assistant
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