County of El Paso v. Ortega
| Decision Date | 10 February 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 08-92-00275-CV,08-92-00275-CV |
| Citation | 847 S.W.2d 436 |
| Parties | COUNTY OF EL PASO, et al., Appellants, v. Mary Lou ORTEGA, et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Jose Rodriguez, County Atty., El Paso (on appeal only), for appellants.
Michael Wyatt, El Paso, for appellees.
Before OSBORN, C.J., and KOEHLER and BARAJAS, JJ.
This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment. Mary Lou Ortega, Patricia Waggoner, Anna Torres, Luz Maria Loya and Fernando Pena, Appellees, brought an election contest and a declaratory judgment action against Appellants, the County of El Paso, the Honorable Alicia Chacon, El Paso County Judge, and County Commissioners Orlando Fonseca, Rogelio Sanchez, Jimmy Goldman, and Charles Hooten, in their official capacities as the Commissioners Court of El Paso County, Texas. The trial court, on agreed facts, entered judgment declaring invalid a tax rate rollback election conducted in El Paso County, Texas and the results of said election unenforceable. In two points of error, Appellants seek reversal of the trial court's judgment and as a consequence, seek to decrease the effective tax rate after having earlier voted to increase it. Appellees 1 seek to have this Court affirm the judgment of the trial court and as a consequence, desire to pay higher taxes. For the reasons set forth below, we dismiss this appeal.
This action, tried on agreed facts, arises in a most peculiar and unconventional manner. 2
The record demonstrates that in 1991, the Commissioners Court of El Paso County, Texas adopted a tax rate in excess of the rollback rate provided by Texas Tax Code § 26.04. Pursuant to Section 26.07(a), a petition drive was initiated by local anti-tax advocates seeking a tax rate rollback election. 3 Section 26.07(a) of the Texas Tax Code states that the qualified voters of the taxing unit may, by petition, require that an election be held to determine whether or not to reduce the tax rate adopted for the current year. In the instant case, in order for the rollback petition to be valid it must bear the signatures of at least 10 percent of the qualified voters of El Paso County, according to the most recent official list of qualified voters. Accordingly, 20,046 valid signatures were required to force the tax rate rollback election in El Paso County on the tax rate at issue.
On January 9, 1992, petitions containing 23,038 signatures were presented to the El Paso Commissioners Court. The County Commissioners presented the petitions to its County Elections Administrator for verification. The verification process resulted in several thousand signatures being rejected, so that the total number of valid signatures on the petitions was 19,865, some 181 signatures short of the number required to force an election to determine whether or not to reduce the tax rate.
The record shows that on January 29, 1992, at a meeting of the El Paso County Commissioners Court, the Honorable Alicia Chacon, County Judge of El Paso County, moved for passage of a resolution declaring the petition to be invalid in light of the fact that the petition to compel the rollback election failed to contain the statutorily required number of valid signatures. Her motion failed. The record further shows that some Commissioners expressed a desire to order an election, irrespective of the fact that the rollback petitions failed to reflect the requisite number of signatures. 4 In response to a request for a legal opinion, the El Paso County Attorney's Office, a member of which was then present, advised the Commissioners Court that pursuant to Section 26.07(c) (Vernon 1992) of the Texas Tax Code it was within their discretion to exercise any one of following three options:
(1) take action finding the petition to be invalid, in which case there would be no election called; or
(2) take action finding the petition to be valid, and order an election; or
(3) take no action to validate or invalidate the petition, or "fail to act on the petition," in which case the Tax Code § 26.07(d) would require them to order an election.
The El Paso County Commissioners Court, relying on the above legal advice, voted for and passed a motion to "take no action" on the petition. Subsequently, on February 19, 1992, the El Paso Commissioners Court ordered that a tax rate rollback election be held on April 4, 1992. The rollback election was held, resulting in the majority of the qualified voters voting in favor of a tax rate rollback. 5
Appellees filed their action contesting the tax rate rollback election and for a declaratory judgment seeking to have the election declared invalid. After severing the election contest from the declaratory judgment action, the trial court entered judgment declaring the tax rate rollback election of April 4, 1992 void and its results unenforceable. It is from that judgment, which effectively reaffirmed the earlier vote of the El Paso County Commissioners Court to set a higher effective tax rate, that this same Commissioners Court now appeals. Upon request, the trial court rendered findings of fact and conclusions of law.
The Texas Constitution does not confer on a commissioners court, the body politic of county government, "general authority over the county business," and thus such courts can exercise only such powers specifically conferred upon them by Constitutional authority or legislative enactments. Vinson v. Burgess, 773 S.W.2d 263, 267 (Tex.1989). The constitution authorizes counties, subject to prescribed limitations, to levy ad valorem taxes on all property within its boundaries for county purposes. Tex. Const. art. VIII, §§ 1-a, 9. The specific procedures to be utilized by political subdivisions for the assessment of property taxes is mandated by legislative enactment, as are the rights of the aggrieved taxpayer. Tex.Tax Code Ann. § 26.01 et seq. (Vernon 1992). In light of that statutory authorization, the El Paso County Commissioners Court voted for and approved an effective tax rate for the year 1991 which was in excess of the rollback tax rate. Tex.Tax Code Ann. §§ 26.04 and 26.07.
Citing Vinson v. Burgess, 773 S.W.2d at 266, we begin by noting the inalienable rights which have been reserved to the citizens of the State of Texas by the Bill of Rights to the Texas Constitution. Article I, § 27 of the Texas Constitution proclaims:
The citizens shall have the right, in a peaceable manner, to assemble together for their common good; and apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances or other purposes, by petition, address or remonstrance. [Emphasis added].
That constitutional right, as it relates to the instant case, is protected and furthered by the Texas Tax Code. Tex. Const. art. I § 27. The Texas legislature has provided in § 26.07 of the Texas Tax Code that if the tax rate set by the Commissioners Court exceeds an increase of over 8 percent from the preceding tax year, the voters of a county (if 10 percent sign a petition to the Commissioners Court) can trigger a rollback election to determine if the tax rate should be rolled back to the prior year's tax rate plus 8 percent. 6 Texas Tax Code § 26.07 provides in pertinent part as follows:
§ 26.07. Election to Repeal Increase
(a) If the governing body of a taxing unit other than a school district adopts a tax rate that exceeds the rollback tax rate calculated as provided by Section 26.04 of this code, the qualified voters of the taxing unit by petition may require that an election be held to determine whether or not to reduce the tax rate adopted for the current year to the rollback tax rate calculated as provided by Section 26.04 of this code.
(b) A petition is valid only if:
(1) it states that it is intended to require an election in the taxing unit on the question of reducing the tax rate for the current year;
(2) it is signed by a number of qualified voters of the taxing unit equal to at least 10 percent of the number of qualified voters of the taxing unit according to the most recent official list of qualified voters not counting the signatures of voters gathered by a person who received compensation for circulating the petition; and
(3) it is submitted to the governing body on or before the 90th day after the date on which the governing body adopted the tax rate for the current year.
(c) Not later than the 20th day after the day a petition is submitted, the governing body shall determine whether or not the petition is valid and pass a resolution stating its finding. If the governing body fails to act within the time allowed, the petition is treated as if it had been found valid.
(d) If the governing body finds that the petition is valid (or fails to act within the time allowed), it shall order that an election be held in the taxing unit on a date not less than 30 or more than 90 days after the last day on which it could have acted to approve or disapprove the petition.
Appellants, pursuant to Tex.R.Civ.P. 296, requested and ultimately obtained findings of facts and conclusions of law. As a general rule, findings of a trial court in a nonjury case have the same presumption of conclusiveness and weight on appeal as a jury verdict. Chitsey v. Winston Interior Design, Inc., 558 S.W.2d 579 (Tex.Civ.App.--Austin 1977, no writ). Consequently, unless the findings of the trial court are challenged by a point of error on appeal, they are binding on the appellate court. 7 Wade v. Anderson, 602 S.W.2d 347 (Tex.Civ.App.--Beaumont 1980, writ ref'd n.r.e.); Bilek v. Tupa, 549 S.W.2d 217 (Tex.Civ.App.--Corpus Christi 1977, writ ref'd n.r.e.); Zelios v. City of Dallas, 568 S.W.2d 173 (Tex.Civ.App.--Dallas 1978, writ ref'd n.r.e.). The judgment of the trial court will not be set aside if there is any evidence of a probative nature to support it...
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