Nonconsent Tow Fees
Re: Whether a municipality that limits fees for police-initiated nonconsent tows must comply with Transportation Code section 643.204 (RQ-0281-GA).
Submitted by Robert E. Talton
Chair, Committee on Urban Affairs
Texas House of Representatives
Summary, Opinion No. GA-315: Transportation Code section 643.204 requires a municipality that regulates nonconsent tow fees to establish a procedure by which a towing company may request that a towing fee study be performed. The city of Victoria, Code of Ordinances section 23-75 limits the maximum fee that a towing company can assess for police-initiated nonconsent tows. The city of Victoria’s ordinance does not appear to regulate nonconsent tow fees. The ordinance is designed to create efficiencies for the city, and its narrow scope, which controls only a portion of the nonconsent tow market, defeats the inference that its primary goal is to encourage a general policy rather than address a specific proprietary problem. Thus, Victoria is not impermissibly ignoring Transportation Code section 643.204.
Overlapping Appraisal Districts
Re: Whether section 6.025(d) of the Tax Code violates article VIII, sections 1(a), (b) and 18(c) of the Texas Constitution (RQ-0285-GA).
Submitted by Bill Hill
Dallas County District Attorney
Summary Opinion No. GA-317: Section 6.025(d) of the Tax Code, which requires the chief appraisers of overlapping appraisal districts to enter into their districts’ appraisal records the lowest appraised and market values from all the values determined by each appraisal district, does not as a matter of law violate article VIII, section 1(a) or (b) of the Texas Constitution. In a particular fact situation, a court could determine that a property value required by section 6.025(d) fails to appraise the property at its market value and causes a taxing unit to levy a tax that is not equal and uniform. Section 6.025(d) does not violate the article VIII, section 18(c) requirement that the legislature establish a single review board for each appraisal district and that appraisal review board members reside in the appraisal district.
Subdivision Road Improvement
Re: Application of Transportation Code chapter 253 to a subdivision road located partially within a city’s boundaries and partially within the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (RQ-0290-GA).
Submitted by F. C. Schneider
Caldwell County Criminal District Attorney
Summary, Opinion No. GA-319: Chapter 253 of the Transportation Code permits, but does not require a county to improve roads in a subdivision in the unincorporated area of the county and to assess the costs against property owners of the subdivision. Chapter 253 applies to the part of a road situated in the county’s unincorporated area, even though the remainder of the road is situated within the boundaries of a city. Chapter 253 authorizes the county to improve subdivision roads to county standards. If the road is partly located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality that has extended its road construction standards into its extraterritorial jurisdiction, the county may not maintain the road to the extent that city road construction standards are inconsistent with county standards. A county’s interlocal agreement to maintain streets within a city’s limits does not affect the application of chapter 253 to subdivision roads in the unincorporated part of the county.