TX Attorney General Opinion. Fees Yes. Taxes No. Local Dam Fees.

In Opinion KP-0283 fees may be collected by the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

What question is this opinion answering? Whether the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority has authority to impose fees or to by election establish a taxing district to fund the replacement, operation, and maintenance of dams.

What justifies the River Authority’s fees?

• The enabling legislation for the River Authority
• Limits revenue to that revenue reasonably needed for regulation, otherwise courts will find the revenue to be from a tax

Can tax revenue be passed from a separate special district that can tax? With constraints, probably yes

• If the special district that taxed includes “safeguards in its contract to prevent concerns that the transfer amounts to an impermissible lending of credit”
• The special district cannot be created by the River Authority under its current statutes

Law 360 | Texas AG Says River Authority Is Allowed Dam Fees, Can’t Tax