AUSTIN - A court would likely conclude that the Texas Tax Code does not authorize a county attorney to serve as legal counsel to the tax appraisal district, according to a recent opinion by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The Office of the Starr County Attorney submitted an opinion request to the Office of the Attorney General on May 9, records show.
According to the request, in April 2022 the elected Starr County attorney vacated the office. The Commissioners Court then voted to appoint Rene Montalvo as Starr County attorney. Montalvo is serving as legal counsel for the county’s Appraisal District.
The opinion request asked whether the Texas Tax Code, Section 6.43(c), permitted the current Starr County Attorney to continue to serve as legal counsel to the Starr County Appraisal District.
The section states: “The county attorney for the county in which the appraisal district is established may provide legal services to the appraisal review board notwithstanding that the county attorney or an assistant to the county attorney represents or has represented the appraisal district or a taxing unit that participates in the appraisal district in any matter.”
The OAG opinion found that the section governs an appraisal review board’s employment of personnel and expressly authorizes an appraisal review board, not a tax appraisal district, to utilize the legal services of the county attorney.
“A court would likely conclude that subsection 6.43(c) does not authorize the county attorney to serve as legal counsel to the tax appraisal district,” the opinion states.
Opinion No. KP-0432