Does a Texas county appraisal district office have to be located in its own county?

TX AG Opinion GA-0681: Must a county appraisal district office be in its own county?

Plain-English summary

A county criminal district attorney explained that the office of the Waller County Appraisal District was actually located in Fort Bend County. He asked whether the appraisal district's office must be physically located in Waller County, and if so, how soon it had to move.

The Attorney General turned to Tax Code section 6.05. It requires each appraisal district to establish an appraisal office, and that office must be located in the county for which the district is established, though the district may set up branch offices outside the county. Section 6.05(b) carves out one exception: a district whose board of directors has contracted with an appraisal office in another district to perform its appraisal duties is excepted from subsection (a)'s requirements.

Applying that, the opinion concluded the Waller County district was not excepted. The district attorney did not indicate the board had contracted with another district's appraisal office, and he did not indicate the Fort Bend County location was merely a branch office. So the district's primary office must be in Waller County. As to timing, the opinion noted section 6.05(a) is mandatory and includes no grace period. The district has an existing, mandatory duty to locate its primary office in Waller County, and until it does, its office location does not comply with section 6.05(a).

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2008. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

The Tax Code provisions on appraisal district offices have been amended over time. Confirm the current text of section 6.05 before relying on this analysis.

Who this opinion affected (as of 2008)

Appraisal districts: The opinion concluded a district's primary office must be in the county for which the district is established, unless it runs the location as a branch or has contracted appraisal duties to another district's office.

The Waller County Appraisal District: The opinion held its Fort Bend County office did not comply, that it had a mandatory duty to locate its primary office in Waller County, and that there was no grace period.

Property owners and taxpayers: The opinion treated the in-county office requirement as a mandatory feature of how appraisal districts must be organized.

Common questions

Must the appraisal district office be in its own county?
Yes. The opinion concluded that under section 6.05 the primary office must be in the county for which the district is established, absent a branch-office or contracted-out exception.

How soon did the Waller County district have to move?
The opinion explained section 6.05(a) is mandatory with no grace period, so the duty to locate the primary office in Waller County already existed and the current location did not comply.

Are there any exceptions to the in-county rule?
Yes, two. A district may run branch offices outside the county, and a district that contracts with another district's appraisal office to do its appraisal work is excepted from the location requirement.

Background and statutory framework

Tax Code section 6.05(a) requires each appraisal district to establish an appraisal office located in the county for which the district is established, while permitting branch offices outside the county (Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 6.05(a) (Vernon 2008); see also id. § 6.01(a) (an appraisal district in each county)). Section 6.05(b) excepts a district whose board contracts with an appraisal office in another district to perform its appraisal duties (id. § 6.05(b)). An appraisal district may exercise only powers expressly delegated by the constitution or statutes and those necessarily implied (Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JM-72 (1983) at 2, citing Tri-City Fresh Water Supply Dist. No. 2 v. Mann, 142 S.W.2d 945, 948 (Tex. 1940)).

Citations

Statutes:

• Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 6.05(a)-(b) (Vernon 2008)
• Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 6.01(a)

Cases:

• Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JM-72 (1983)
• Tri-City Fresh Water Supply Dist. No. 2 v. Mann, 142 S.W.2d 945, 948 (Tex. 1940)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/greg-abbott/ga-0681
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/2008/ga0681.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

GREG ABBOTT

November 6, 2008

The Honorable Elton R. Mathis
Waller County Criminal District Attorney
846 Sixth Street, Suite # 1
Hempstead, Texas 77445

Opinion No. GA-0681

Re: Whether the Waller County Appraisal District Office must be physically located within the boundaries of Waller County (RQ-0715-GA)

Dear Mr. Mathis:

The office of the Waller County Appraisal District (the "Appraisal District") is located in Fort Bend County.[1] You ask whether the Appraisal District's office must be physically located in Waller County, "and if so, by what time period should the office be moved to Waller County." Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1.

Tax Code section 6.05(a) requires that, "[e]xcept as authorized by [s]ubsection (b) of this section, each appraisal district" must "establish an appraisal office." TEX. TAX CODE ANN. § 6.05(a) (Vernon 2008). Further, "[t]he appraisal office must be located in the county for which the district is established," although the appraisal district "may establish branch appraisal offices outside the county." Id.; see also id. § 6.01(a) (establishing an appraisal district in each county). Section 6.05(b) excepts from subsection (a)'s requirements the board of directors of an appraisal district that contracts "with an appraisal office in another district . . . to perform the duties of the appraisal office for the district." Id. § 6.05(b).

You do not indicate that the Appraisal District's board of directors has entered a contract with an appraisal office in another district to perform appraisal duties for the district; consequently, the Appraisal District is not excepted from the requirement in section 6.05(a) that its primary office be located in Waller County. And you do not indicate that the office located in Fort Bend County is a branch office. We must conclude, therefore, that the Appraisal District's primary office must be located in Waller County.

You then ask how soon the Appraisal District must move its office to Waller County. Section 6.05(a) is mandatory and does not include a grace period. Thus, the Appraisal District has an existing, mandatory duty to locate its primary office in Waller County, and until it does so, the location of the Appraisal District's primary office will not comply with section 6.05(a). See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JM-72 (1983) at 2 (concluding, based upon a general statement about the powers of quasi municipal corporations and other non-municipal political subdivisions in Tri-City Fresh Water Supply Dist. No. 2 v. Mann, 142 S.W.2d 945, 948 (Tex. 1940), that an appraisal district may exercise only those powers that are expressly delegated to it by the constitution or statutes and those necessarily implied from such express powers).

SUMMARY

Under Tax Code section 6.05, an appraisal district's office must be located within the county for which the district is established, unless (1) the office is a branch office or (2) the appraisal district has entered an interlocal contract with an appraisal office in another district to perform appraisal duties for the district. In the absence of either of these two exceptions, the Waller County Appraisal District's primary office must be located in Waller County. Until the primary office is located in Waller County, the Appraisal District will not comply with section 6.05.

KENT C. SULLIVAN
First Assistant Attorney General

ANDREW WEBER
Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel

NANCY S. FULLER
Chair, Opinion Committee

Kymberly K. Oltrogge
Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee