Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

,- OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Honorable Corlos Ashley District Attorney Lilano,‘I’exas Desr Sir: Honorable Carlos Ashley, page #2 groveled or paved roads and turnpikea, or in aid thereof, within said oounty, and speoiflcally for the purpose of aoquirlng right of way incident to the construction of the following highways: “(a) Brady to Llano to Round Mountain Highway, in tlano County; “(b) Highway No. 29, through Llano County, and to levy an ad valorem tax on all taxable property with- in said county sufficient to pay the interest on said bonds and the prinolpal thereof at maturity; said bonds to be issued in the manner provided by the laws of the state of Texas, and as authorized by-Section 62 of Article 3 of the Constitution of the State .v We find that prior to the eleotion the Commissioners* Court passed another order on Deoember 12, 1938, providing, in part, as follows: ” * * * No?,-Therefore, be it resolved by ths Commlaslonersr Court of LLano County, Texas, and it is hereby adopted as the polioy and pledge of this Court to use the proceeds of the above men- tioned bond issue exolusively -- for the following purposes, to-wltr * (a) The ao;uisltFn of rig~t+~?+.sII~I;fl;l tially along t e rou e surveye and approved by the State Highway Department. VI(~)The aoquisitlon of of-ws incident to the straightening out eiihg of Highway No, 29 from Llano to the Mason County line, south of Llano River. n (0) The acquisition or right-of-wax rrom Llano to RuohaG Dam. Honorable Carlo8 Ashley, page #3 "(al The a;y;tzt;ion of rigl$+~~+~ from Llad-inXic& on of Roun Loun a n inoi- dent to the completion .of the Br'ady-Llano-Austin propooed highway. "Adopted in open Court on this the 12th day of Deoember, 1938." (Underscoring ours) Where the order of the Commissioners' Court for an election upon a bond Issue epeoifies the particular,purpose to which the prooeeds she,11be applied, the order i:g,in effeot, a contraot with the voters; findthe funda mcy not be applied to another and different purpose, even though the order was made subsequent to, and not published as a part of, the election notice. Black Y. Strength, 246 S. W. 75 1 Aran- 888 County v. Coleman-Fulton Pasture Co., 191 8. W, 560: Fletcher Y, Ely, 63 S. W. (2d) 817. Therefore, it is our opinion that the Commissioners~ Oourt, by their order of Deoember 12, 1938, pledged the bond proceeds for the aoqulsltion of rights-of-wa for roads speoi- fioallg naned in said order, ;iiTa we belzve-+ hat when this issue of bonds was approved by the voters the prooeeds were "earmarked" with the character of a trust fund which oould not be diverted to another purpose or project, but must be used for the aoq,uisitionof rights-of-way set out in said order. Fletcher Y. Ely, eupra. Therefore, the prooeede from the sale of the.bonds voted Deoember 22, 1938, oannot be used legally for the pur- pose of oonstruotlng roads in Llano County. Very truly yours APPROVEDFEB 18, 1941 ATTOJ@JEylXW.ERALOF TEXAS g iT4 .& & g l 7 %d& Q A!Pl?ORNEY GENERAL GB T~:XAS BY COB-8