Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-256

Opinion No. 256 Citi.es and Towns--DisincorpOl'ation- Title to Real Property-County Com- missioners-Taxation-Debts, Payment of. HJ<JLD: "'here a town is disincor- porated, real property owned h~- it passes to county for &'lle to pay dehts. Taxes ma~' be levied by hoard of eounty commissioners to pay dehts of disincol1)ol'ated town wi:thout limita- tion as to special funds. June 27, Hl33. You have stated that the Iioal~d of county commissioners has passed a resolution disincorporating the town of Sweet Grass. in accordance with Chap- ter 3, Laws of 1931; that the town waH the owner of Lot 7. Block 3 of the orig- irial townsite of Sweet nrass and that it has liabilities amounting to $13.119.65 while its cash assets aside from the above named lot are $446.11. You lun-e submitted the question whether the title to the lot has passed to the coun- ty or to the State of MOntana. Section 4975, H. C. i\f. Hl21, upon dis- incorporation of a city or "to\\'n, pro- vides: " * * * all moneys in the hal1(ls of the city or town treasurei' must he paid to the county treasurer, which must be applied in payment of the in- debtedness of such cit~, or town. allli all other property must be delivered to the boanl of county commissioners, which must be sold and disposed of for the purpose of paying suth indeht- edness." Inasmuch as the town was in- debted as abO\'e sta'ted at the time of disincorporation and the stlLtute re- quires that the IH'operty of the City or town be applied to the payment of in- debtedness, I am of the opinion that it was not the intention of the Ie/,,'is- Iature that the title to the real property in case the city or town were indebted, !<hould not re\'ert to the State of Mon- tana but rather to the county for the ],urpose of paying the indebtedness. It is not necesl;ary, of course, to consider what would hetome of the title to real property if the,city or town were not indebted or if the sale of saiel property was not necessa ry for the purpose of paying debts. You have also inquired "whether or not the commissioners have power to make a levy for the General Fund and Police Fund larger than necessary to pay the warrants against the same and apply the surplus to payment of war- rants registered against the street and alley fund, which would greatly expe- tlite payment of the latter." It appears that the rel,,'istered warrants in the Gen- eral Fund amount to $5~.10, and in the Police Fund to $842.31, and in the Street and Alley Fund $12.224.24. Section 4!}74 H. C. M. 19:?1 as amend- ed by Chapter 3 Laws of 1931 pro\-ides: " * * * the board of county commis- Hioners * * * must provide for the pay- lllent of the indebtedness of the same. and thereafter annilally "levy a tax on all the property situated within the limits of such city or .town until all of such indebtedness is paid. * * *." I ha ve heen unable to find anything in our statutes or decisions whieh bears directly on this point and since the town has been disincorporated, it would seem that the county commissioners. who are commanded to provide for the payment of the indebtedness by the levy of a tax for that purpose, in the ab- sence ()f some express limitation, are not hound hy the limitations imposed on cities and towns in levying taxes according to the (lifferent funds.