Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

Honorable John W. Crudgington County Auditor potter county Aniarlllo,Texas Dear Sir: Opinion Number O-5493 lb: Construction of the decision in the Co&ran County Mmdmmm Suit in the Supreme Court of Texaa . We are in receipt of your letter of recent date, read- ing as followa: "With reference to the man~amua'proceeding, involving a refunding bond recoz+d,filed last April by Cochran County in the Supreme Court of Texas, which recently has rendered a final de- cision, as we are informed, in favor of the petitioner, will you kindly advise us with respect to the following points of law: "(a) What is your official qonstruction of the declsion'~ l'(b) ;t;;,;;nty bonds are slgible for re- "(c) '%hatspecial procedural requirements, under this rulfny;,must be met by a county, scekin-,to refund its outstand- ing bonds, :n crdcr tc FreDare a prcper reccrd for submission for your apprcq&lV .. -* Honorable Sohn ii.grudgington, page 2 C-5493 "(d) In your opinion, is there any reason why PrOCSSdingS under this decision should not be instituted at once by a county, desirous of refunding its elgible bonds? "In view of the many conflicting opinions current, regarding the proper constructlcn of this law, as it now stands, we beg to submit that a comprehensive, forthrl@t, official statement from your office, to clarify the slt- uation, would be,of inestimable value at this time to county officials throughout the state, toenable them to appralss the opportunities lntellinentlv and to oroteet the legal righta of thel$ res&ctive cbuntier ,‘I Your questions are answered In their order aa fol- lows: (a) Our construction of the oEinibn is that the At- torney Coneral is requiz+J,toapprove the ochrm County bonds issued to refund co&ran County Courthouse bonds. The origina bonds sought to be refunded were issued under Chap- ter 1, i ltle 18, tievised#tatutes 1911. The opinion of the court declares: "As we construe the above statute, where bonds are issued under the Chapter therein referred to, if the ~ommlssioners I Court at the time- are issued makes no provision concerning its.'right to redeem the bonds prior to their maturity, they may be redeemed at the pleasure of the county at any time after five years after the "8ssuence there- Of. However,,the Commissioners' Court may, by sn appropriate order entered at the time the bonds are issued postpone the date after which the bkds may be redeemed to not exceeding ten years from the date of their issuance." (Underlining curs) L - Honorable John W. Crudgington, page 3 C-5493 Chapter 1, Title 18, Revised Statutes of 1911, is now Chapter 2, Title 22, Revised Statutes of 1925. (b) We construe the opinion of the court ES being appliczableonly to county bonds issued under authority of Article 610, Revlaed Statutes 1911 (now Article 18, aevlsed Statutes 192.5). This statute provides that the zommisalon- ers’ Court of a county, pursuant to an election duly held, may Issue the bonds of such ccunty for the following pur- poses: 1. To erect a county courthouse and jail, or either; 2. To purchase suitable sites within the county and construct buildings thereon to provide homes or schools for dependent and delinquent boys and girls or for either; 3. To establish county pocr homes and farms in the county; 4. To purchase and construct bridges for public pur- poses within the county or aoross a stream that conatltutea a boundary line of the county: 5. To improve and maintain the public roads in the coutlty. 'When the Commissionera~ Court shall deem it advisable to issue bonds for both the purchase or ccnstruction of bridges and Improvement and maintenance of the public roads, both ques- tions may be submitted and voted on as one proposition. The Supreme Court confined its opinion cnly to bonds issued under Chapter 1, Title 18. 'Ne.cannot,of course, determine what effect the Supreme Court would give said ocinlon In constru!.ngother statutes relating tc bond issues. Honorable John W. Crudgington, page 4 O-5493 (c) There are no special procedural requirements. The refunding bonds may be issued as any other refunding bonds Issued to refund optional bends. The court should adopt a resolution authorlslng the publication of call notice, a copy of such notice to be supplied tothe paying agent names in the outstanding bonds, and published in such papers of general circulation as shall be designated in the resolution. (d) 'dethink that whether a ceunty proceeds to re- fund its bonds under the decision of the upreme Court In the Sochran County case is a matter wit,hiAthe discretion of 'the Commissioners Court. "cry truly yours ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TMAS BY C. F. Gibson Aseiat%ult CFG-s/Pw APPROVED AU0 6 1943 GROVER SELLERS FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE BY WiB, CHAIRMAN