May 15. 1950
Hon. B. .F. McKee Opinion No. V-1057.
County Auditor
Hidalgo County Re: The authority of counties to
Edinburg;Texas use anexcess oft the State tax
remission, over the annual
bond retirement requirements,
to build and maintain farm-
Dear Mr. McKee: to-market road6,.
You have requested the opiidon 0%this office on the above-
captioned matter.
Section 51 of Article III of the Texas Constitution pro-
vides in part as follows’:
“The Legislature shall have no power to make
anjr grant or authoriszthe making of any grant of pub-
lic moneys to any individual. association of individuals,
municipal or other corporations whatsoever;.provided,
. . . further; that the,provlsions of this section shall
not be construed so as to nrevent the grant of aid in
cases ofpublic calamity.i .(Emphasicadded through-
out.)
Section 10 of Article VIII of the Constitution provides:
“The Legislature shall have no power to release
the inhabitants of, or .property in, a~ny county, city or
town from the payment of taxes levied for State or coun-
ty purposes, &less itrcase of great public calamity in
any such county, city or town. when such release may
be-made by a vote of two-thirds of each House: of the-
Legislature.“’
It is clear that these .ronstitutional provisions them-
selves would prevent the use of remitted’tax funds for any purpose
other than the prevention of.public calamities, under the conditions
set forth in the statutory .grant. unless there is some subsequently
adopted constltutlonal provision that provides otherwise.
In Opinion No. O-1276 this office ruled that:
Hon. B. F. McKee, Page 2 (V-1057)
,-The calamity clause fin Article 3. Section 51, of
the Constitution was not intended to provide a vehicle
for the wholesale transfer of money from one coastitu-
tiooal fund to another. It was written into the Constitu-
tion to enable the State as a whole to extend relief to
those parts of its areas which from time to time might
be stricken with such calamitous visitations as fire,
flood, tempest or disease. We think the term ‘public
calamity’ has the same meaning in Article 3, Section
51, as in Article 8, Section 10 of the Constitution. In
the case of Jones P. Williams. 45 S.W. 2d 130, the ques-
tiouas to the constitutionality of a tax remission bill
of state-wide s,cope was before the Supreme Court. In
that Act the Legislature had found as a fact that the ‘pres-
ent world-wide economic crisis’ constituted a public ca-
lamity. We take the following excerpts from Chief Jus-
tice Cureton’s opinion:
* ‘As stated, the Legislature was of’ the opinion
that .the present industrial depression was .a ‘great pub-
lic calamity” within the meaning of Section 10, Article
8, of the Constitution. With that interpretation of the
Constitution we cannot agree. The word ‘calamity” in-
dicates ,or suppases a somewhat contiguous state; pro-
duced .aot usually by the direct agency of man, ybut by
aatural causes, such as fire., flood,.teanpes,t, disea6.e:”
etc. .Webster’s Revised Uuabridged Dictiouary . . .
“We thixk it clear that it was thus co&mplated
and intended that levies for State and county.~urpose.s.
should be kept separate and distinct; snd that taxes col-
lected for county pnrposes should uot be appropriated
for State uses, nor taxes collected for State purposes
diverted to county uses.”
Section .1-a of, Article VIII of the Constitution was a-
mended in 1.948 to provide in part as follows:
: “Prdvided that in those. counties or political sub-.
divisions or areas of the State from which tax donations
have heretofore. been granted, the State Automat16 Tax
Board shall continue to kvythe full amount of the State
ad valorem tax for .the duration of such donation. or. un-
til all legal obllgatio~ns heretofore authorized by .the law
granting such donation or donations shall have been fully
dischar.ged. .whichever shall first o&r; provided-:tbat
if suchdomtion toany such county or’political s&di’d-
*ion is for less than the~fullamount of State advalorem
taxes so levied, the portio~n of such taxes .retiining over
Hon. B.. F. McKee, Page 3 (V-1057). ,
,and above su.ch donation 6hall.be retained by said coun-
ty or. subd{vision.- Sec. 1a. Ar.t,. 8, adopted. electiou
Nov. 2. 1948.7.
After the .ameudment of .Section.l-a, the 51st Legisla-
ture enacted Chapter 464, codified as Article 704ga, V’.C.S. Sec-
tion 10(a) provides in part as follows:
y(l) :Begianlng in the.year ,195i;atid each year
thereafter the State Automatic Tax Board created by
Article 7041 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texasi
1925, shall cause to be levied annually in each county,
political subdivision or other defined area, the full
thirty cents (30$) State ad.valorem tax for general rev-
enue purpose’s, the proceeds of which heretofore were
donated and granted by the .Legislat,uye to certain coun-
ties, political s.ubdivisionq o,r other. ,defined areas .for
the purpose of carrying out pndperforming actious of.
preventing calamities, improving., protecting and xc-
clamting certain’areas for pnd ,op. betalf of the State as.
more fully declared in each applicable law or laws mak-
ing .such donation or grant and said Board shall contin-
ue to levy such tax at said rate in each such designated
area uutil.,the bonds or .other obhgahons of said areas
authorized or incurred’in connection with the pertorm-
ante of such aC&OD on behalf of the State shall have been
fully pald or discharged or until the expiration date of
such dohation or grant as Wy be determined from the
law or laws rziaking such grant or donation, whichever
shall first occur. . . .
“(3) The tax assessors and collectors in each of
such Counties shall continue to assess and collect ,su.ch,
tax and make the proceeds thereof available to the. douees
or grantees in the manner provided by the law or laws
makiugeachsuch grant or..donation. The moneys.thus
collected by said tax assessors and collectors and.re-.
ceived by su,ch grantees or donees shall be used~ano ac-
counted for annually as prescribed by the law or laws
making such grant or donation.
“(4)’ In those instances where less than the full
State general ad valore’m tax was granted or donated,
the oortion of the monev collected in excess ot the a-.
mot&t donated or grantkd shall be paid over to the gov-
erning body of the county or political subdivision from
which such tax is collected and in the discretion of said
gpvernlng body shall be us& either for the construction
and maintenance of F&-m-to-Market Roads or for’Elood
Control only withiu the county,,,. , . ”
Hon. R. F. McKee, Page 4 (V-1057)
Thus. we see that, under both the Constitution and the
statutes, the.doaated taxes can be used only for the prevention of
the recurrence of public calamities, under the condition6 set forth
in the statutory grants. The donation is to continue until the end of
the statutory grant or untilallobligations are paid, whichever shall
occur first.
Mauitestly. the collbtruction and mainteoauce of farm-
to-market roads ‘would not constitute a prevention of recurrence of
public calamities within the coqtemplation of the Constitution or
statutes.
SUMMARY
.State ad valorem taxes douated or granted to
counties to prevent the recurrence of “great public
calamities+” caused by dkmitous overflows, floods,
storms, and the like, cannot be diverted to the con-
struction and maintenance of farm-to-market roads.
Yours very truly,
PRICE DANIEL
*,:“?rxwGew.i&
APPROVED:
W. V. Geppert Assistant
Taxation Division
Joe R. Greenhill
First Assistant
Price Daniel
Attorney Geneial
FL/ls/mwb