E ORNEY GENERAL
OF~ILCXAS
Honorable RLchard F. Stovall
Distrkt Attorney
110th Judicial Dlstr1at
Floydada, Texas
Dear Sir: OpinLon NO. 0-6600
Re: Whether the tax collector of Floyd
County is required to collect a One
Dollar ($1.00) fee for each certl-
flcate of redemptfon Issued when
delinquent taxes are paid?
Your request for an opinFon from this department has
been referr~edto the writer for attention and reply. Your
request reads In part as follows:
"Please give me your opinion as to whether
or not the Tax Collector of Floyd County, Texas,
is required to collect a one dollar ($1.00) fee
for each Certificate of Redemption Issued when
del1nquer-ktaxes are paid. The tax collector
has been advised by the audltor that she must
collect a one dollar ($1.00) fee for each year
that the taxes have been delfnquent, in other
words, if a tax payer has been delinquent in
the payment of his taxes on a certain piece of
property for 5 years and desires to pay said
taxes, the Tax Collector must collect, in addi-
tion to the,taxes, penalty and interest, $5 .OO
for issuing a Redemption Certificate, andif thfs
is not done, the Tax Collector would be Liable
to the county for failure to do so. In our
county the Tax Collector advises that the maxI-
mum fees of office are earned without the neces-
sity of collecting the one dollar ($1.00) redemp-
tion fee for each year that the taxes may be
delinquent.
Article 7331, Revised Civil Statutes, provides in part:
"For calculating and preparing redemption cer-
Honorable Richard F. Stovall, page 2 O-6600
tifFcates and receipts, reporting and crediting re-
demptions , posting Comptroller's redemption numbers
on the delinquent tax record or annual delinquent
list, mailing certificates of redemption to tax-
payers after approval by the Comptroller, and for
Issuing receipts or certificates of red~emptionfor
property shown on the annual delfnquent list, ,the
tax collector shall be entitled to a fee of one
dollar ($1.00) for each correct assessment of land
to be sold, said fee to be taxed as costs against
the delinquent. Correct assessment as herein used
means the inventory of all properties owned by an
indFvFdua1 for any one year. Q . n .'
We are advised by the Comptroller's Department that
the county officers of Floyd County are compensated on the
basis of fees earned by them in the performance of their of-
ficial duties. The maximum fees which may be retained are
fixed by Articles 3883 and 3891, R.C.S. The fees must be
collected and paid to the county treasurer after deducting'
salaries and'authorized expenses as provided by Article 3891,
R.C.S. In fact, failure to charge up the fees OP costs that
may be due under existing laws is made a penal offense by Ar-
ticle 102 of the Penal Code, which reads as follows:
"Any county officer or any dlstrfct attorney
to whom fees or costs are allowed by law ,who shall
fail to charge up the fees or costs that may be due
under existing laws, or who shall remit any fee
that may be due under the laws, or who shall fail
to make the report requir3j by law, or who shal~l
pay his deputy, clerk or ass'Lstanta,less sum than
specified in his sworn statemeht, or receive back
as a rebate any part of the compensation allowed
such deputy, clerk or assistant, si~lall
be rined
not less than twenty-five nor mo~c3,thsr:
five hun-
dred dolIars. Each act forbidder by this articl,e
Is a separate offense."
We trust that the above ~11'1 satlsfac,t.oi:iIg
answer
your inquiry.
Ver-y truly 'yours
HTBD:db:wc ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
APPROVED MAY 29, 1945 B-ys,/BiT. Bob Donahue
s/Grover Sellers H. T. Bob Donahue
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS Assistant
Approved Opinion Committee By s/i%63Chai:rmari