, -
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable T. D. Sanaing
COUity Attornsg, HtInSrOrd COUntJ
S~earmn, Taxas
Dear Sir1
on raquaat of Ootober 10,
tlonmay ba &an
of tha Comdm-
Tsxaa, pasaod 8nd *a-
& 1932, 18 hera now
PRESCRIBINO DUTIES OF TH6: O?-
IR REFERE;NClI.THKRPIGTO.
on the 14th day or Bepteabber, lQ2Q,
bald ti the Spearman Indopendsnt Road
aby the iO8UMo@ of bond8 in tha azount
OS $240,000.00 wore authorlxad for the pux’posa of the
oonstruotion, caaintmnnoa and operation or a~oatlamird,
(gnwld or paved roads 4nd turnpikea, or in al4 theroof;
and
**Whoroam, on the 2lst day of Maroh 1930, tha Oom-
dsslonars Court ade an order suthorlrlng tha fssuanos
of $60,000.00 and later on tha 3rd day of Fobruary, 1931,
the second awla of bondm In the naount of $60,000.00
0r bond6 were iasuttd, mnklng a total or $120,000.00 or
the )240,000.00 bond llttotion beine i66Ud, learln~
lipnorabl. T. 0. Anolng, palg 2
~110,000.00 worth of the boondo rhloh ha-0 not boon lo-
luea ~~a nd
w*Yhero~m, the Commiooloaoroa0urO or Xauaford
County, Voxmm, 4oolro to anooltho $UO,OOO.OO worth of
bondm whioh hr*o.sot boon 18ouodg
"A8 I 800 the rttet tha prrnnt ma8l8~:onon
Court of 8alA Ooanty i8 ooaSroat8dwith thrn qtlootlon88
.l. Dl& tko Caaaluioaera Coart oa 8ho htm
~oreul(L:4~~tho authority to uke an4 entar or
raoord la o hor 6o r 2
*‘r. It idh order ia ~Oid,~“th.~ OIBth. bal-
MOO0f #tbi)er9 iB th0 MiOUnt Oi $l~o,OOO~OO
ltill bo imao ud 8oldt
-8. If raoh bond* mannet bo lwaad, tlna
m& x lbtk oOomlmloau8 Qo ur oto lla nllootlon
in lala rod airtriot t4 detordno whather or mat
ths balumo of 8aoh road bond8 8lW.l be rerokd
or eulwlld?
*Still I toorth quootloa muot lm lmtar~r
"4. If an lleotlon lo omllo4 and the voter8
lbnuld vote agrlnot oona~lllng the bond8 orduod
loouoa in the ori&nd lleotloa, thma 00uia the
Com&oslonero* Court losuo the balonoa of oald
'bon&o an6 l.Ll ma=?
I. + .I
eo llnd no provl8lon in tr.a law, either at tn.3 tlm
ths above or&r w18 entorod, or at the preeent time, authorlrlng
ths Coxnl8olonsr8~ Court of n OOUflty to entar an order revoking
or o8noellng a logally authorized bond 188~. The Commlaolonsro~
Court, bolng a oourt of llmltod jurl8dlotlon, 18 mnlln~d otrlotly
to tha authority oonferrod upon that Court by the Legiolaturo.
In the oaoe of Orr, et al., T. bGsrs, et al., 47 9.
W. (Ed) MO, the Taxarkaua Court of Civil ~ppeal8 said:
l l The
“* bonds arnnot bo rwobd or oan-
oelled by
a nylg o no yunlooo Cha porrr to do l o 18
oorUorr~4 by l~glolatlvo authority, and any doubt
am to the lxlotonoo o r 8uoh power 18, under roll-
latabllahmd rlnolploo, re8alrad against it.8
P
e x l8tsno o . l l”
Therefore, in reply to 9uootlon N0. 1, it 18 the oglnlon
of this deprtzmnt that the Commi88loner8 * Cour8 0r Enn8ronl County,
Toxm, had no authority to antu the order revoking or canceling the
4120,000 authorire bonda.
Elowersr, wo oall your attention to the raot that in
1958, the Leglalaturo paseed a law 8attlng up prooedura whereby 8uoh
road bond8 oould be legaLly reroked and oanoelad. Chapter 31, Aot8
1938, 3rd C. S., iutlole 764a, Vunon~o ‘hmotated Clrll Statute8.
(Pirootlro data, Sopteabrr ar, 10%). hia Artl01e reads, in part,
aa r0u0w8:
*+ l l doetloa 1. Ia’ the event any road
b o ~do voted or luua do r l4-portion or ouoh road
bonds voted or authorlmd by a oounty, polltioal
subdlrloloa or e~rin~e diotriot or the oounty,
rmaln unsold at the tlmo of pao8age of this Aot,
then the Comaiooioner8* Court aa upon it8 own
motion or upon petition or not -3 088 than rmy (50)
or P majority 0r tha qdirid prowrty taxpaying
vo tor8 thoroor , am shown by the rsoordo of the oounty
tax ooll~otor, 8hall order an sleotlon to determine
whether 0r not broad baud8 shall be reYOked 01
0anoelled. Aoh llaotlon shall be ordorod, hmld
ana oonduoted in tha 8amm form and mannor aa that
at which eu0h b05d8 war0 orlglnally authorized.
I( . .I
By the authority of thim ltmtutm, tha Cornmimmlonorm~
Court, mmy, upon lta own motion, omll an mlmation, or upon thm
petition or rirty (SO) or a mjority 0r the qualiried property
taxpaying votorm, sh a llo r dera nlloatlon. Theruon, in reply
to your third qumation, we lro of the opinion that it la In the
4Imormtloa or thm Commlmmlowrm * Court whether or not they oall
mn llootlon to ravokm or mmnoml maid bond.. However, ii rirtr (30)
of the qualiflod property taxpaying rotara or a maforlty of the
qadirid pmpmrty taxpmyln6 votmrm, pmtI8loa thm Court, it WOUND
bm mandatory upon them to oall much aa llootloa.
In nply to ~ummtlonm lfom. a md 4, wo qwte from th0
Buprmm Court of Tuam, la ttm oam of City of Howton v. YoCraw,
lls 8. w. (au) lRlS:
“* l + It m4oma to ba fieldin the JJJJ or
City o f Au&in v.Va lle,
lupra, Cohen v.city oi
bumton, luprm, utd ~lmQin&StItrmr Road Building
co. v. Clammtmin,Tu.C~V.ARR. ?a a. 1. 819, that,
where authority to immue bosdm la8 bon oonferrd
on a gotam% body by mn llmotIoa ordmrmd and hmld
rOr that pUXpOJe, muoh gorernlng body mmy mxmroImm
auoh authority and l~aaa muah bonda within a rwmoa-
able tlnv after muoh elsotloa. On thm other hand,
thorn. mW authoritiem, in eiioot, hoLd that the
Guomtioa am to what is a reamonablm or unrmnaonmblm
lmn&h of tlim oannot always ba detormlasd by thm
lmngth 0r tiso mlonm, but that all of the murroun4Ing
r80t8 and olrournstanomm mumt bo taken into oonmldsra-
tion. In the oaae at bar tlu orI&ml lleotlon to
Imaum thou bonda waa hmld In 19JZ7. About mix ymarm
later oa August 86, 1933, at an liaotIoa ordared lnb
&oLl in thm olty on the qwatloa, thm puallfled property
taXpayIng rotor8 thermoi again lxproaaod it mm their
domlre that tlmmo bond8 mbuld k 188~04, awl thm olty
&Ju OOll8tNOtd, atO. The ordInmno* prorldlng ror ttm
IJ~UMO~ of thamo bond8 waa pammod on January 3, 19S8,
l llttlo aor. thmn four ymmra Uter the llmotlon Or
august 86, 1953. It thum appear8 thmt not ten yeara,
but only a little morm than four year8 harm elapsed
llnom thm 18e lxprmmmlon 0r the qualiriea property
tarpmylng votera on the queatlon. We 40 not under-
mtand that the Attorney tinera l rmn contandr that
a~ unreamonable length of tills ham elapsed mlnoe the
ehoti0n 0r Auau8t is, 1933. Furthermore, wb hold,
ama matter or law, tbut the lays. or a 11tt1. Lwre
than four yeera user the r:lOts anil clrcu:nstanceo of
this oase is not unruauouhbia. In this ccnneotlon,
we OHAL attautlon to IA!!*f.lct r.rwt during a pirt of
t:.13 tlae the c0untr.y end city were in