Montana Attorney General Opinion 16-236

Opinion No. 236. Highway Patrol--County Treasurers --Clerical Services-Drivers License -Refunds. HELD: 1. The Highway Patrol has no power or authority to pay county treasurers for additional clerical serv- ices made necessary by the extra work required to sell drivers' licenses. 2. Speaking generally, where the collection of a license fee is legal and payment thereof is voluntary and without protest, such fee may not be refunded in the absence of a statute authorizing a refund. January 27, 19:\6. Montana Highway Patrol Board The Capitol You have submitted the following: "(1) A county treasurer has sub- mitted to this office a bill for ad- ditional clerical services made neces- sary through the extra work required to sell drivers licenses. We should like to know if such a bill is a legal claim against the Highway Patrol. "(2) Drivers licenses are issued to counties and a county account is opened charging the county with the licenses issued. As they remit their money to the state treasurer cover- ing the sale of drivers licenses, it is placed to the credit of the Highway 244 OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ·Patrol Revolving Fund #186. The county accounts are credited for all remittances received from the sale of drivers licenses, and is also cred- ited for all returned unsold drivers licenses. However, in many instances, counties have returned to this office licenses marked 'cancelled' for vari- ous reasons. As, a man purchases a 25-cent license and then finds that he should have bought a 50-cent license. Therefore, he goes to the county treasurer and asks for credit on a 50-cent license by turning in his 25-cent license and adding an- other twenty-five cents and having the county treasurer issue him a 50- cent drivers license. We should like to know if this practice is legal and proper. "We should also like to know if money can be refunded to an in- dividual who has purchased a drivers license for any reason whatsoever." Replying to your first question, Sec- tion 10, Chapter 185, Laws of 1935, provides that every owner and driver of a motor vehicle shall procure a driver'S license from the registrar of motor vehicles or from the county treasurer of the county in which ap- plicant resides. It also provides for a fee of fifty cents for a driver's li- cense and for a fee of twenty-five cents for any additional drivers of passenger cars. Section 11 Id., re- quires that all fees be placed in a re- volving fund by the state treasurer for the use of the highway patrol: "All fees in the state highway patrol re- volving fund shall be used only for the purpose of said patrol as pro- vided in this Act, and warrants there- on shall be issued as provided by law." There is no provision made in the law for payment to county treasurers for additional clerical services made necessary by the extra work required to sell drivers' licenses. In the ab- sence thereof and in the face of the provision that all fees in the state highway patrol revolving fund shall be used only for the purposes of the patrol, I am of the opini.m that the highway patrol has no power or au- thority to make such payments to county treasurers. All the facts in a particular case have not been given in your second question. Speaking generally, how- ever, it may be said that where the collection of a license fee is legal and payment thereof is voluntary and without protest, in the absence of a statute authorizing it such fee may not be refunded. (See our opinion No. 295 in Volume 15, Opinions of the Attorney General, given to George L. Knight, August 9, 1933, and the au- thorities therein cited.) This also answers your last ques- tion. It must be understood, however, that we are stating the general rule and that there might be exceptions. Inasmuch as no facts are stated, however, we are unable to go further than to give you the general rule.