LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE
TITLE 3. ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT
SUBTITLE A. ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES
CHAPTER 71. CREATION OF COUNTIES
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 71.001. CORPORATE AND POLITICAL BODY. A county is a
corporate and political body.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.002. PLACE FOR HOLDING TERMS OF COURTS IN NEW COUNTY
BEFORE COUNTY SEAT IS DESIGNATED. Until the county seat of a new
county is established, the terms of the district, county, and
commissioners courts of the county shall be held at the place
designated by the commissioners court.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
SUBCHAPTER B. ELECTION FOR DETACHMENT OR ATTACHMENT OF COUNTY
TERRITORY
§ 71.011. APPLICATION AND ELECTION. (a) A part of a
county may not be detached from one county and attached to another
county unless the proposition for the change is approved by a
majority of the voters in both counties as required by Article IX,
Section 1, of the Texas Constitution.
(b) On the written application of at least 50 qualified
voters of a county, the county judge of the county shall order an
election to consider detaching from the county a part of its
territory or to consider attaching to the county a part of another
county.
(c) The application must designate the part by a metes and
bounds description and must show:
(1) the number of acres contained within the part;
(2) the number of acres remaining in the county from
which the part is detached; and
(3) the distance on a direct line from the county seat
of the county from which the part is detached to the nearest point
on the boundary of the detached territory.
(d) The notice of the election must contain substantially
the information included in the application and the election order.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.012. ELECTION RESULTS. (a) The returns of each
election shall be made to the county judge of the county in which
the election is held.
(b) The county judge shall:
(1) estimate the vote;
(2) make duplicate statements of the estimate; and
(3) officially certify the statements.
(c) The county judge shall seal in an envelope one copy of
the certified statement and a certified copy of the voters'
application for the election. The judge shall write the judge's
name across the seal of the envelope and shall endorse the envelope
as "Election returns of ____________________ County." The judge
shall send the material by mail or other safe conveyance to the
speaker of the house of representatives at the State Capitol so that
the material will be received as early as practicable during the
next legislative session.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.013. SUBSEQUENT ELECTION. If the election is held
in a county and the proposition to detach part of the county is
defeated at the election, a subsequent election for the same
purpose may not be ordered or held within five years after the date
of the initial election.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
SUBCHAPTER C. ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES
§ 71.021. ATTACHMENT OF COUNTIES. (a) Until a new
county is legally organized, the territory of the new county
remains subject to the county from which it is taken.
(b) A legally organized county that, for any reason, loses
its county organization is attached to the organized county whose
county seat is closest to that of the disorganized county. The
attachment is made for judicial and surveying purposes and for the
registration of a deed, mortgage, or other instrument that is
required or permitted by law to be recorded. The disorganized
county remains attached until it is again legally organized.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.022. ESTABLISHMENT OF PRECINCTS. (a) If a new
county is established, the commissioners court of the county from
which the largest part of the territory of the new county is taken
shall, not later than one month before the date of the next
scheduled general election:
(1) divide the new county into convenient precincts
for the election of justices of the peace and constables; and
(2) select convenient polling places in the new
county.
(b) The commissioners court shall direct the county clerk to
make a record of its actions under this section and shall transmit a
copy of that record to the person who is elected county judge of the
new county.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.023. ELECTION OF COUNTY OFFICERS. (a) Before one
month before the date of the next scheduled general election after a
new county is established, the county judge of the county from which
the new county is taken shall order an election for county officers
to be held in the new county on the general election day. The order
shall specify the number of precincts, the precinct boundaries, and
the officers to be elected in the new county.
(b) The county judge shall appoint a presiding officer to
hold the election at each designated place in the new county. Each
presiding officer shall hold the election in accordance with the
state election laws and shall make the returns to the county judge
who ordered the election.
(c) The county judge shall open and examine the returns,
issue certificates of election to the persons elected, and approve
the bonds of the elected officers.
(d) If the office of county judge is vacant, any two of the
county commissioners may perform the duties required of the county
judge under this section.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.024. ORGANIZATION OF ATTACHED COUNTY. On the
written petition of at least 75 qualified voters who are residents
of a disorganized county, the commissioners court of the county to
which the disorganized county is attached for judicial or other
purposes shall legally organize the county without delay in the
manner provided by this subchapter for the organization of new
counties.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.025. DELIVERY TO NEW OFFICERS. The officers of a
county from which a new county has been created or to which a newly
organized county has been attached and all other persons who have in
their possession books, records, maps, or other property that
belongs to the new county shall deliver the material to the proper
officers of the new county within five days after the date on which
the new officers legally qualify.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
SUBCHAPTER D. APPORTIONMENT OF COUNTY INDEBTEDNESS
§ 71.031. LIABILITY OF NEW COUNTY. (a) A new county is
liable for a proportionate share of the indebtedness of the county
from which it was created.
(b) The new county's liability is the amount that bears the
same ratio to the property value in the territory excised from the
original county that the total indebtedness of the original county
at the time of the creation of the new county bears to the total
property value in the original county, including the value of the
property in the territory excised from the original county.
(c) After organization of the new county, the commissioners
court of the new county shall levy a tax on all property in the new
county in order to pay the proportionate share of the indebtedness
at the same tax rate as that set by the commissioners court of the
original county for the payment of the debt.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.032. SUIT TO ENFORCE PAYMENT OF LIABILITY. (a) A
county from which a new county has been created may sue to recover
the new county's share of the original county's indebtedness. The
suit may be brought in a district court of either county.
(b) If a suit is brought to enforce payment of the
indebtedness created by the original county or of the excised
territory's proportionate share of the indebtedness, the tax
assessment rolls of the original county for the year in which the
new county was created are conclusive evidence of the property
remaining in the original county, the property in the excised
territory, and the value of that property as of the date of the
creation of the new county. However, if the new county was
organized and made assessment rolls for the year in which it was
created, those assessment rolls are conclusive evidence of the
property in the new county and the taxable value of that property as
of the date of the creation of the new county, and the assessment
rolls of the original county for that year are conclusive evidence
of the property remaining in the original county and the value of
that property as of the date of the creation of the new county.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.033. TAX TO PAY INDEBTEDNESS. (a) If the original
county recovers in a suit brought under Section 71.032(a), the
court that renders the judgment shall order the commissioners court
of the newly created county to levy a special tax on all the
property in the territory taken from the original county in an
amount that is sufficient to satisfy the judgment.
(b) If the first levy is insufficient to satisfy the
judgment, the commissioners court shall make annual levies until
the judgment is satisfied.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.034. LIABILITY OF ATTACHED TERRITORY. (a) If a
part of a county is detached from a county and attached to another
county, the attached territory remains liable for its proportionate
share of the indebtedness of the county from which it was detached.
(b) The commissioners court of the county to which the
territory is attached shall levy a tax in the territory at a rate
sufficient to pay the territory's share of the indebtedness.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
§ 71.035. COUNTY BONDS HELD BY SCHOOL FUND. (a) The
comptroller of public accounts shall apportion between a county and
a new county created from territory detached from the original
county the bonds, and the coupons due on those bonds, that are held
by the permanent school fund if the bonds were legally issued by the
original county before the new county was created. The comptroller
shall apportion the bonds and coupons in the manner provided by law.
(b) The commissioners courts of the original county and the
new county shall levy a tax at a rate sufficient to pay each
county's proportionate share of the bond debt.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
