Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

November 29, 1947 Hon. Eugene Talbot Opinion NC. V-442 County Attorney Smith County Re: Constitutionalfund Tyler, Texas from which c0unt.y hospital bonds are payable. Dear Sir: We have received your letter of November 18, 1947, in which you ask whether county hospital bonds are payable from the county general fund or from the county permanent improvement fund., Article 4478, Revised Civil Statutes, under the conditionsstated therein, authorizes the issuance of county bonds.for "establishing,enlarging and equipping said (county) hospital and for all other necessary per- manent improvementsin connection therewith,"is and parenthetical.insertion added.) Section 9 of Article VIII, Constitution of Texas, and Article 2352, Revise~dCivil Statutes, limit the authority of the county to levy ad valorem taxes to certain purposes and prescribe the rate~for each purpose. Such purposes are the following: 1. For county purposes. ,2. For,road and bridge purposes. To pay jurors. For the erection of public buildings and other permanent improvements.- We believe that the question in which you are interested has already been fully determined both by the courts of the state and by this department: namely, that bonds issued for county hospital purposes under Article 4478 are issued for permanent improvement pur- poses and are payable from taxes levied therefor out of the permanent improveme.nt tax authority, and that the same cannot legally be paid out of the general fund, Hon. Eugene Talbot - Page 2 L V-442 the case of'Seydlerv. Border (W. E. Ref.), 115 Y.W. $7 702, the constitutionalityof Article 4478 was upheld. The court, in effect, held that such bonds were payable out of the permanent,improvementtax, cit- ing the case of Robertson v. Breedlove, 61 Tex. 316. In Opinion No. O-2599, this departmentheld that the county hospital improvementsauthorized by Ar- ticle 4478 were payable from the permanent improvement tax. In Opinion No. V-118, this department held that county hospital bonds could not be issued because the necessary tax levy to pay the bond requirementswould exceed the constitutionallimitation. Similarly,'thisdepartment has determined that county park bonds and county airport bonds are issued for purposes of "permanent improvementsnand are payable from the permanent improvementfund. If such bonds are payable from the permanent improvementfund, then moneys of the general fund can- not be used therefor, for it is well settled that mon- eys from one constitutionalfund cannot be transferred to another.such fund, and can be.ex ended for no other purpose. Carroll v. Williams 109 iex. 155 202 S.W. 504, (affirming,in part, Wiliiams v. Carroil, 182 S.W. 29). SUMMARY County hospital bonds, issued under the authority of Article 4478, are issued for permanent improvementsand are payable, both as to interest and principal, from taxes levied therefor under the authority of the commissioners'court to levy taxes for the erection of,public buildings and other permanent improvements. Provided, how- ever, that such bond taxes can in no event 'increasethe maximum amount of the total permanent improvementtax beyond the con- stitutional limit. Such county hospital bonds cannot le- gally be paid with moneys belonging to the * . , . Ron. Eugene Ta~lbert- Page 3 - v-442 county general fund or with taxes levied for such county purposes. , Very truly yours, ATTORNEY G!%NERA&OF TE'XAS GWS:erc APPROVED: .. . ATTORNEY GENERAL , .