# Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion > Texas Attorney General Reports · July 2, 1942 URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4142033 ## Case - **Court:** Texas Attorney General Reports - **Decided:** July 2, 1942 - **Precedential status:** Published - **Opinion:** Opinion - **Judges:** Gerald Mann - **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library ## Citator (automated) - No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases. - Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4142033 ## Opinion text THEAIToRNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS RonorableRugens Brady CountyAttorney Greenville,Texas Dear Sir: OeinionNot O-4311 Re: Validityof action taken by independentsohwl distriat's board of equalization$n month.ofOotober. We have your ,lstterof April 15.~1942,requestingan opinion of thiird+artment, 'andwhich reads a6~follow~: ~.. 'An Indepsndent'Roh~ol Divtridtin this oburity organi,sedunder the generallau throughtheir..duly appointedspecial‘tnva6sefmor and aolleotorassessed propertylaaatedinsaid,distri& for taxes beed.upon : 1 the value of~the land as of January1,.1941. ~A~board equalizationiras'appointed by the trusfeesof the ~$a- dependentsohoul districtand.meton Oatober,lS;a941 for the purposeop equalizingtaxw 3n the diafriot. The.taxpayera m&e duly notifiedof the time and plaae of the meetinggf the equalizationboard and had due opportunityto appear .&fore same on the date set.. Onb taxpayern&w oontandsthat becausethe,taxrolls shouldhave be&ready for aolleotion'onOctober1st and the equalipationbard did not meet until Odtober 15th the taxes'areQlegal and he:is not bound to pay same. "The statute8providetha.t.the,lan as applicable. to the oolleotionof taxes af inoorporatedcitiesand towns shall be applicablelikewiseto oolleotionof taxes of independentrohooldistricts. Article8IQ43 and 1044 RCs provide~for.the oolleafionand asssesment of taxes in ai.tiesand towns. Artiole 1049 provides that the city oounoilshall~ annuailyat their first meetingor as soon thereafteras'praotioable appoint three oommissioners saoh a qualiftddvoter, a resident and propertyouner~of the cityrho'shallbe styledthe. board of equalization..At the same meeting said council shall fix the time for the meeting of suoh board. Artiole 1049~&ate8 'The'Boardof Rqualizatiunshall oonvene annuallyat the time $0 fixed to reosiveall the assessment lists or books of the~assessorof their oity for examination,~ Hcnorable.Sugene Brady, page 2 04311 correction, equalization, appraisement and approval.' Article 1051 provides that any person may file with said board at any time before the final action of said board a oomplaint as to the assessment of his property and said board shall hear said complaint. "The question presented here as I see it is must the Equalisation Board of an Independent School District meet at any particular time during the year, or is this requirement met by the equalization board meeting at any time during the calendar year? "It is generally held that the statutes that regulate the time when the assessor shall make out his rolls, end thetime whenthe board of equalization shall certify to their ocrrectness,C,are directory and not mandatory. In the absence of any law decreeing when the assessment shall be made, or when the board of equali~zationshall meet, or when the rolls shall be prepared, these matters are under the ocnticl of the local authorities. If the only statu- tory requirement is that the'taxes be laried during the year, delivery of the rolls tothe collector may be made at any time duringthe;yearr,; 37:Texas Jurisprudence, 1012; "The statutes'herdtbfcre quoted donot &quiie.the ;. board of equalization to meet any prtioular,time during '. the year. It only requires,that the board shall convene“. ...,. annually at a time fixed by the governing'bbdy. This being true I think it would olearly.follcw that all else' being regular'the fact that the board of equalizationdid " not convene until~October 15 would not invalidate .the taxes.'!. We agree with'your conolusicn and have little to add'to'the. reasoning by which~itis reached. We might mention that e&n though the time for the sitting cf,such a board of equalization be fixed in the manner that county ccmmissioners' courts are required to meet as boards of equalization in the month cf May of each year;suoh wculd not, in our opinion, invalidate the assessment. From Mr. Sutherland in his work on Statutory Construction (2nd'Ed.), Section 612, page 1117, we quoter "Provisions regulating the duties of public officers and specifying the time for their performance are in that regard generally directory. Though a statute directs a thing to be done at a particular time, it does not necessarily follow that it may not be done afterwards. In other words, as the cases universally hold, a statute specifying a time within which a public officer is to perfOXYsan Official act regarding the 'rightsand duties of others isdirectory. Un- less the nature of the a&to be performed, or the phraseology cf the statute is such that the designation of time must be Bcnorable Eugene Brady, page 3 o-4311 considered as e limitation of the power of the officer." . Again this same author observes, in Section 611, at page 1142 "Those directions which are not of the essence of the thing to be done, but which are given with a view merely to the proper, orderly and prompt conduct of the business, and by the failure to obey the rights of those interested will not be prejudioed, are not ccmmonly to be regarded as mandatory; and if the act is performed, but not in the time or in the precise mode indiceted, it will still be sufficient, if that which is done accomplishes the sub- stantial purpose of the statute." This canon of statutory construction is illustrated by the cese of Graham v. Lasater, 26 S. W. 472, holding that under Sayles Civil Statutes, Article 1517a. Subdivision 1, providing that the County Cmmissioners' Court shell convene snd sit as a Board of Equalization on the second Monday in June, or "as soon thereafter practioable before the first day of July," does not render a oontin- uation of their proceedings into July a nullity. Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENEBAL OF TEXAS By S/Glenn R. Lewis Glenn R. Lewis Assistant CRL:db:wc APPROVED APRIL 24, 1942 s/Grover Sellers FIRST ASSISTAET ATTORREY GLNERAL Approved Opinion Ccmmittee By BNB Chairman --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4142033. Public record. Not legal advice.