Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Honorable Joseph A. Beyer County Attorney crane County Crane, Texas msr slrr ty pur~sss. passed an act allow- a in advance and Crane resolutions and or- payers to take advantage coqtrsllar, a warrant ay the taxes assessed ageinst the exas; but DzDmmD fron the amount the roll two (25) per cent of the full amount of the taxes; This warrant will not be payable for so&e nine (9) or ten (10) months. RNo~ the question on which I would like your opinion la: y!ouldthe Gniverslty of Texas be en- Honorable Joseph A Beyer, Page 2 titled to this discount in as'much as the money will not be available to the County for use for a period of nine or ten months unless they should discount the Sam, which would probable amount to another two or three per0ent.n Article 715Oc, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, as mended 1931, prOYid8S for the pzlynz8ntof'county ad Yaloram taxes upon lands of the University of Texas. Sec- tion 6 0r said article de&ares that *It shall be the duty of the Comptroller 0r Public Accounts to fissue warrant8 upon the General mud to pay taxes due eaoh county . . . .8 House Bill Ro. 225 of the 4Cth Legislature (at page 4210 ot th8 House Journal) appropriates $j34,000.00 ror the paynent of suchtaxes for each of th8 fiscal years ending August 31, 1940 and August 51, 1941. The Coslptroller*sDepartment advises us that the $34,000.00 appropriation was inadequate by a small alcount to pap in full the total amount of the county ad valorem taxes aSS8sS8d against all the University lands for the current year. yorthls reason the aisO0m privileges for the prompt paymnt of taxes provided by Article 70576, Ver- non's AMOtat8d Civil Statut8S, a6 amended, w8re invoked as a method oi prorating the available $34,000.00 song the several counties to whoa taxes were due. The State has no zeans of paying county taxes in 8xcess of the sum appro- priated theretor. 'Z'eb8li8Y8 therefore, that in the absence oi'a supplercentalappropriation, the question of whether the Stat8 is entitled to discount taxes under Article 70576 neat be 5xnmaterial. The claim of your county ror an aaai- tional 2% or the 1939 taxes on University lands may be ap- PrORriately pl'8S8ht8dto the next session of the Legislature. Yours very truly ATTORNXYGEmFiALOF TEXAS