Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE AITORNEY GE~NERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN

Nonorable Thos. A. %heat
County Attorney
Liberty County
Liberty, Texer

Orlnlon Mmb8r c)-18d2
flat Artfs private drolna are
oonntructed in nccordnnce with
Artlclc 6153, shall ouch prlvata
drnlne be ropeired and mlntolmd
by tho.Draineae Coz&mlonora out
of Dralnar,e Dlstriat funds?

Xe hatie your latter of Jenuarp 16, in which yekre-
quest our opinion on the above oaptlonsd question, scd t&e
Soots undei’lying your question arei briefly, 0s follon%t,
CThatLlberty CountyP.epoixi Drelnage Distriot
Ember 2 lagally cstabliehed dnd oreatod in ocoord-
(rnoe with Title 128, Chn;ter 7 of the Revised Civil
Btnttitoa lme’becn and in funotioning.88 d drainQ6e
dlatrlot pursuant to.such lavr( and thnt under
authority of hrtlole 8133 of anld title, private
drains have been aoostruotod ivhloh find a8 -their
ultlntite souroo or outlet oemle drains, ditches
and ls~eea, aonstrWted by thk dkxiot.*

Your quueatlon iaj
Y?hethsr or not those so-aellad private drains,
oonetruotnd in txkaordance with Article RlR3, shall
be rzir;tnlned and repnlrod by: the Drolnnf;e Co:mla-
alonaru out of the Drslmqe Dletrlot funds, to-:vit,
tha Kaintannnaa Fund, or doas the xi~alntomnaa and
ropalflng of mid so+olled private drains kav@
to be done by the person ownlng the land who had
the aamo oonetruated et hla awn expense In aoaord-
anoe dtb aald artioloru
Eonorablo ThOEi. A. Wheat, page #a

It 18 ouc oplnlon that the fnalntenance of ssld private
drolne roust be at the oxpenee of the person or persons who
oanatmcted thorn, and that the oomloaloncra of the drainage
distriot are not outhorfzed to exppnd funds of the Ulstrfat
obtalned through a maintenanae fax: levy upon tho owners resld-
lng wlthln the dlatriot.
In fJUpl;Ort of this cono~ueion we wish to stnto that
as e qoncrsl proposition of law, a dralnnge district organized
pursuant to stntuta Is R aubdlolsion.ot the State which oxer-
olaes grantod po:vere withIn it& torrltarlal jurisdiction, and
that its dutlao aro Fubllc,.not private, In their caturo. They
are political or pub110 aubdlvlalons of the State, created for
n special purpose find exaralslng only auoh po~~ra es ore ex-
presslp grontod or which are essential ond inoidont to the
cxorolse of 33xprossed powara FJven. *on (I drain8.y dlstriat
is organized pursuant to, Title 120, Chnptor 7, of the Revised
Clvll Statutes of 1925, wa think there la only one purpose
Sor whlah it 1s created, and that la to dreln the lnnd wlthln
the dlatrlot, or to ereat and nnintaln asnale and dltohas, to
central floods and other flowing wntore. hit Is, thdrofore, a
neoessary conclusion thet if the ofgenlzatlon 1s to be camp-
tent to aaoozpllsh ito destined pu.rporre, there must be come
sutharlzed manner in rhloh the requlrcd oosta are to be mt,
and t is a baa’io prlnclple of’ anr kind of texation that those
ahwI d poy who are banaflttcd. 3~ think t.ho.t the !.ot tiuthor-
king the ostabllnhmant of dralnces districts contenplatea
the lmprovemcnt of the area wlthle the drnlnago dlatrlot in
rucb mnnor na the intorest at large within aaid district pil).
brat be served. Article 8103 reads aa followa!
“If &t the heorlng it ap&re to the oou.rt thnt
the dralnoge.of such distriot’ la feosible and prao-
tlcablo, nnd that it la needed, that tke dralnnne
would be conduolve to the publio health or would
bo.s public benefit,or a pub110 utility. then the
aourt shell so find. But if .that court fl.nd8 any
of anld lasuee in the neqatlqe, it shall dismiss
the potltlon at the coat of the petitionera. The
rlnblnga ohall br rntered of ~remrd .*
Bonorablo Thos. A. ~Whhsat, pa@ #S

‘iie think the langurge,in this artlalo Is indicative l

of the public bonefit oontemplated by the entire Aot..
Article G13’? providoe : that~ tee oo~.zIssionere shall
annuelly file a detnlled report of the condltlon of tho lm-
provemcnts theretofore mada in the distrlot, ivith on astimate
of the probable oost of mnintenanca end nccdcU repairs during
ths onsuing Year, end hrtiole 0136 rrc8cribea tho mcnnor of
ls~ylng, the tax for both bonded lndebtadnons rind xzalntenanoe
ond otctos thct oufficieut ttires nhnll bo coll6ctod upon all

such i~~roveixenta aa havu been mode pursuant to’ the r~ppa End
profiles of drain&@ dltohee and othor improvements deoorlbed
in Artlole 8126 and that it does not in any nmy have rofaranoe
to draIna ditohoa construottid bp private owners in sooord-
snoe with IIrtIole R153.
Article 8154 provides that *the drainage oommlssioners
shell keep the canals, drains, dito’hes an& levees nnd other
improvements wde hcreunaer in repair and ~qhll hove general.
suthorlty to -wise t1r.d ccntrol the construotlon end tilnte-
ncnce of same.” In the hot8 .cf the Thirty-soccnd Lee,islature,
1811, this FrOVi0iOn ws.s Saotion 42 of Chaptar 118, and. the
article next abova quoted was 3eotlon 39 of na1.d ohaptcr, and
Seotlons 40 and 41 were FUfJtili9nt purts Of thnt Act. Thea6
lest two sootlons wem anrrlad forward Into tho 19lJ gavlaed
Clvll Stntuteo aQ Articles 3420 and 3426 of the Penal Coda,
with ArtIole 3420 beine subnequontly repaoled. Article 342d
beln6 carried forward to the 1925 rovielon 08 Article 852 of
the Penal Code. Eaoh OC sa.@ oriqlnul oeotiona, when apenk-
:,;go8mprovemcnte .:ithIn the dralna6e districts, used thle
:
aConstruoted, repaired or Improved under the pro-
zi$y,” of’~thIe Aot, for .tha ixwpose of drcinsge

snd from which. v.e hav6 oonoluded that hrtlole 0184, vJhereIn
it uses the laneage “other improvements medo hereunder*, refers
Honorable Thee. A. Wheat, page #4

to such im~rovementa ss aro authorized by this i<,ot to ba
msde by the distriot aa a dlatriot. It obviously naa deemed
wise by the Le&lqture to permit privnto osnara .to oonatruot
drain ditches to tie into the sfstam provided by the district,
but the exercise of auoh privilege was limited by the terma
of this article.
It ie our apInion thot.ony of the z;nlntenanoo tax
f&d that mnp b,e expended by the oor%iasionera for mointenence
of u privately owned drnin dltoh would oonotltute nn unsuthor-
ized uac of nuoh X’und. rn the f3aaa of Jc:ffurson Countf Drain-
age 3Istrlct ~8. XoFaddln, CO1 C.ti. 322, afflrmod Corrmiaelon
or Appeals, 4 9.V. (ed) 33, tho!Supromo Court anid!
Woney voted 6peoILioslly .for the purpose only
of cdnstructiq. a~-drainagei Bystem wlthin tho
bounds or the ,droinsgO dlstrlat, msp bo aaed only
for that purp9ae.n
Then in the oaae of btrroll vs. ~x’illirms, till2 8.W.B04,, by ihe
3opreme Court, we find thla i’urther limgu2r301
n * * *- -ha Q mMtor of common honoaty and fsir
desllng, tax money ~tnkcn iron the pcoplo ostensibly
for ont apeoitied ‘mrpose, : &all be expend@ aa
needed for thnt purpouo,clone * * *.*
Xe think the expenditure of pub110 funds, nuch as the mtlnte-
nanoo tox.lunds of the drainage .dlatrIot, on the improveGent
and mointenanoe of privctely oxned drulnsge dltohea would
oonstltute a diversion of suoh f’undu under the law.
Trusting that th@ &atIofaetorilg mnsaors~~pour pusa-
tlcn, wo are

Very truly fours