Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-142

Opinion No. 142 County Commissioners-Ta.~ Titles- Expelllli tures--Tmd Index. HELD: Under the facts presented, the installing of a tract index is a mat- ter that the board of county commis- sioners may determllle in its discretion. April 6, 1933. You request an opinion from this of- fice as to whether the board of county commissioners are empowered to in- stall at the expense of the county, a tract index. You state that your re- quest arises out of the fact that Phil- lips County has expen(}pd large sums of money in the last few years for ob- taining abstracts of various tracts of land which ha "e come into possession of the county by reason of the county obtaining tax titles and necessarily the county desires to know the condition of the title of the "arious tracts, and it is rour opinion aud that of the board that by installing the tract index you can determine the title to such lands at a much less expense than by obtain- ing abstracts from a regular abstract- er. If the board of county commissioners has power to employ one to supply ah- stracts of title, as was held in the case of Arnold v. Custer County, 83 Mont. 130, on the ground that it is not a dut)' imposed upon the county clerk to search the records and determine the condition of the title to any lands to wliich the county desired tax deeds, and if the board may employ an out- sider to inspect taxable property and report the value thereof to the board so as to assist it in equalizing assess- ments made by the assessor, as was de- termined in the case of State ex reI. Blair v. Kuhr, 86 Mont. 377, we see no reason why the board of county com- missioners may not provide at county expense for installbg a tract index in order to save a part of the cost of ob- taining abstracts of title to property that the county owns. Under the necessity of the circum- stances that you describe, and the two decisions referred to above, it is the opinion of this offi<:e that installing a tract index is a matter that the board of county commissioners may deter- mine in its discretion.