OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
GROVER SELLERS
Arr0RNE-f
GcNLtl*L
Hon. Farris a&3
County Auditor
F5nnh County
Bonham,Texas
Dear Sir:
Opinion No, O-7420
Re: Feee pertaining
tax suits In Ind
Districts.
Your letter.requesting an opinion
on the above subject matter is as follows:
RI em writin you for
to delinquent tax wits In
lets,
of sale issue
fee that the
am;xyJJ-3; OpMon
Inthe
c , provides in part the following:
Attorney shall repre-
County In all suits against de-
and all.eums collected shall.be
to the County Collector.
tho recovery of dalin-
quent taxes for any yew, notice sh‘allbe given to
the owner or owners of safd propert as Is provided
for in hrticle 7324 of the Revised f!
iv5.1Statutes of
Texas, 1925, as mended by Chaptor 117, p%e 196,
66
Hon. Farris Pirtle - Page 2
Acts of the Forty-secondLegislature,Regular Seseion.
The feea herein provided for shall not accrue to nor
shall the varioue officers herein naued be entitled
thereto in any suit unless it be proved that notice
has been given to the owner for the .tineand in the
manner provided by law.
=In Su 429888 the COmpeXisatiOn of 88id Attorney
shall be Two ($2.06)Dollars for the first tract and
One ( 1.001 Dollar for each additionaltract up to
four 41, but said feeFin no ~(188to exceed Five ($5.00)
Dollars. And provided, that in any suit brought against
individual or corporate owner, all past due taxes for
2x pretiouo years on such tract or tracts shall be in-
cluded; and provided further that where there are several
lota in the same addltion.or eubdlviaion delinquent,be-
longing to the same owner, a.U.said delinquent lots &all
be made the Bubject of a single wit.
"All fees provided for the officers herein shall be
treated as fees of office and accounted for aa such, and
said officers shall not receive nor retain said fees in
8XCeD8 Of the !W#XimW eompenraationallowed said officers
under the laws of this State* and provided further that
the County Attorney, Crlmimd District Attorney or Dist-
rict Attorney shall not be entitled to the fees herein
provided for in inetancee where such delinquent taxes
are collected under contra&n between the Commissioners'
Court and others for the collection of such taxes, and
in such instance8 the fee8 herein provided for such of-
fioere shall not be aoaeaaed nor collected.
.I
ecoive a fee of Two (‘2.00)
"The County Clerk shall receive One ($1.001Dollar in
full for his services in each case.
-- rii--rrr ‘* I=’
67
Hon. Farris Pirtle - Page 3
nProvld8d,that the fees herein provided for in
connectionwith delinquent tax suits shall constitute
the only fees,that shall be charged by sa.$dofficers
for FeparilI& ffling, inetituting,and prosecuting
suits on delinquent taxes and securing collection
thereof and al.+,
laws in conflict herersithare hereby
repealeh.
"In case the delinquent tax-payer shall.pay t,c
the collector the amount of delinquent taxes for which he
la liable together with accrued interest after the fil-
lng of euit before judgment is taken against him in the
case; then, only one-half of-the fess taxable in such~a
case, as provided for herein, shall be charged against
him. , i ."
Article 7343, V.A.C.S., provides as followe:
"In any.ineorporatedcity or town in which any
tracts, lots, outlots or blocks of land, situated within
the corporate limits of said city or to%n have been re-
turned delinquent, or reportod oold to said city or town
for the taxes ciuethereon the governing body may prepare
or cause to be prepared l&s of delinquentsin the same
manner as provided in this chapter, and such lists shall
be certified to aa correct by the mayor of said city or
town, if any, and if sdd city or town has no mayor, by
the presidin& officer of the governing body. After said
lists have been proper1 certified to, the governing body
of the city may cause 1fsta of delinquentsto be published
in a newspa r as provided for State and county delinquent
taxes in thrs law. bhen twenty days from the date of last
publication of said Ust or lists of delinquentshas
elapsed, tho governing body of the city or town may direct
the city attorney to file suits for collectionof said
taxes, or said governin body may employ 8ome other attor-
ne of the county to fif8 suits and the city attornoy or
otKer attorney filing said suits shall be entitled to the
same fees as allowed the county attorney or district attor-
ney in &its for collectionof State and count taxes to be
taxed as costs in the suit. IndependentschooP dfst&ts
may collect their delinquent taxes aa above prtided for
cities end townsi the school board prformiq the dutioe
above described for the governin& body of cities -me tllc
president of the school board erforminy: the dutlas ubove
prescribed for the rayor or otter Residin& officer. The
school board may, when the delinquent tax lists and records
Hon. Farris Pirtle - Page 4
are properly prepared and ready for suits to be filed,
inetruct the county attorney to file said suits. If
the school board instructs the county attorne to file
said suits and he fails or refuses to do so wfthin
sixty days the school board may employ some other attor-
ney of the county to file suit. The county attorney, or
other attorney filing tax suits far independent school
districts shah be entitled to the same fees as pro-
vided by iaw In suits for State and county taxes. NQ
other county officer shall receive any fees unless ser-
vices are actually performed, and in that event he shall
only receive such fees as are now allowed him by law for
similar services in civil suita. The employment of an
attorney to file suit for taxes for cities, towns or
Independent school districts shall authorize said attor-
ney to file said suits, swear to the petitions and perform
such other acts as are necessary in the collection of said
taxes.n (Underscoringours)
In the case of Duclos v. Harris County, 298 S.U, 417, the
Commission of Appeals held that under Article 7343 the District Clerk
was entitled to the same fees in delinquent tax suits brought by
IndependentSchool Districts as are authorized in suits for State and
county taxes by Article 7332.
We quote the following from our Opinion No, O-836:
"In view of the plain languwe of all the statutes
pertinent to the,subject and the established rules of law
relating thereto, we conclude that the fees of the re-
sgactive officers named in the question stated are fixed
by Article 7332, as amended; that Article 7345b allows *
no additional fees to be collected by.the District Clerk,
Sheriff Constable or County Attorney, as compensationfor
any addItiona services rendered and occassionedby said
article. However, it appears that where the state or
county is made a party defendant in a suit brought by some
other ta;tingunit, or if not made a party and it is noc-
essary for the state or county to intervene in the suit
and the county attorney,doasfile a plea of intervention
for the state or county, he is entitled to the attorney's
fees allowed on the percentagebasis provided for in
Section 6. In such an event, ha would not be entitled to
the fees provided for in Article 7332, as emended. The
fees there provided for him are for bringing the suit, While
the percentage fees allowed to him in Section 6 are for
..\
69
hon. Fsrris Pirtle - ?age 5
anowering for a defendant or for iatervening for hia
client, a taxin? unit v&ich the Xaw mIcea it his duty
to represent. gho actual serviaes rendered am aub-
stantially the same, the purpose beiag.to obtain a
udgmnt against the taxpayer x3.tha foreclosure of
ilen on the property Involved yet it aems that the
Lagislabxe has Seen fit to 'd&inguLsh betvzmn the
services rendered and prescribed a-different fee for
each service. As heretofore noted, the percentage fee
is allowed M the &,Ileaded or Intervening tax unit,
yet it is specLficaI.
ff
y au*thoriaadto bo collect& &8
'attorney'sfees,' and we belleva a reaso&3.e intarpre-
tation of the statute ia tht t:iofoe xx iSended to be
given, &mn coLlected to t?aoattorney sq-rl-eaenting the
taxing unit 6n the au1t.S
Under the facts a&t~.i~i';ted
and in viax of the foregoiq
authorities, it is the o@iiou of 'UhLsc1ep~~~~::r;r.t
*;!?:tt
t!iedistrict
clerk is entitled LO a lee of Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion