Honorable P. L. Marquess Opinion No. O-806
County Auditor Re: May land annexed to a common
Wharton County school district in 1931 but not
Wharton, Texas entered on the records of the
County Clerk until May 6, 1939,
be entered upon the tax rolls of
such common school district as
Dear Sir: of January 1, 19391
By your letter of May 9, 1939, you submit for the opinion of
this dep,artmentthe following question, which we quote from your letter:
“The Liberty School District No. 45, Wharton County,
Texas, was enlarged in 1.931 by action of the County Board
upon a petition by four landowners of another district who
tasked to be annexed to District No. 45. This was not entered
on the records of the County Clerk until May 6, 1939. Can
this land be entered on the rolls of District No. 45 as of Jan-
uary 1, 1939, or must it wait until 1940? The tax collector
does not knov just how to enter it and we would like to have
an opinion from you on this matter.”
Although January 1st of each year is the date fixed by stat-
ute as determinative of the ownership of property and consequent liability
for taxes for the ensuing year, such statutory date does not control the
subsequent levy, assessment, or collection of taxes, It has been held that
property owned on January 1st of any given year, in territory which is in-
cluded in an independent school district thereafter created, on which is
~thereafter affixed to an existing independent school district, is chargeable
with taxes subsequently le~vied by the district for that year. Cadena v.
State, 185 S. W. 367; Yorktown Ind. School Dist. v. Afferbach, 12 S. W. (2d)
130; Blewitt v. Megargel County Line Ind. School Dist.. 285 S. W. 271.
In Cadena vs. State, supra, it is said:
*All property owned on the 1st day of January is subject
to any tax authorized by law, whether sush taxes have been au-
thorized theretofore or may be authorized during the year, and
can be levied by the body given the power to levy at any time
during the year. Laws naming the time for the levy of taxes are
Hon. P. L. Mar,,,-,. a ..gc y
merely directory, and legal taxes can be levied whenever
the necessity arises. Laws authorizing taxes are not re-
trospective so far as the year in which they are authorized is
concerned.*
The case of Blewitt v. Megargel County Line Ind. School Dis-
trict, et al, supra, like the instant case, involves the annexation of terri-
tory to an existing school district, rather than the creation of a new dis-
trict, as the case discussed above, and is consequently considered more
nearly in point. The Commission of Appeals in this case, after approving
the holding in the case of Cadena v. State, supra. and extending it to the
statute governing the annexation of territory to an existing school district,
had this to say.
“A consideration of the above statutory provisions in
connection with all others pertaining to the subject leads to
the conclusion that all taxable property situated on January
~1st. of any given year, in a territory which is subsequently,
during such year, annexed to an independent school district
under the provisions of article 2865 of the Statutes 1911. be-
comes, by such annexation subject to the taxing power apper-
taining to such district, and chargeable with such taxes for
that year as are levied under proper~ authority.”
Although each of the cited cases involved an independent school
district instead of a common school district, as the inptit question, we do
not feel that this fact wilI serve to distinguish these cases, or prevent them
from being controlling, in principle. upon your question. The time and man-
ner of the levy, assessment and collection of taxes in the case of an inde-
pendent school district is not so fundamentally dissimilar to the levy, asSes.s-
ment and collection of taxes for common school districts, as to remove the
latter case from the rule of law announced in these decisions.
It is our conclusion that the land or territory annexed to Liberty
School District No. 45. Wharton County, Texas, is subject to maintenance
taxes of such school distr~ict for the year 1939, and consequently may be
entered upon the rolls of such district as of January 1, 1939.
APPROVED JUN 26, 1939 Yours very truly
/s/ Gerald C. Mann ATTORNEYGENERALOFTEXAS
ATTORNEYGENERALOF
TEXAS BY /s/ Pat M. Neff; Jr.
Pat M. Neff, Jr.
APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE Assistant
BY B. W., Chairman
PMN:N :da