HOUSTON (AP) - Imagine receiving roughly $2 billion, payable personally to you, from every owner of property in your county.

It's no fantasy for Paul Bettencourt, it's his job. That's how much is due to Harris County's tax assessor-collector by Friday, the deadline across the state for property taxes to be paid without penalty.

And there's a serious reason why Texas law stipulates money be paid by name to Bettencourt and his brethren in the 253 other counties: Each is personally liable for every incoming penny.

"It comes from the earliest vestiges of the Texas Constitution that made the tax assessor personally, civilly liable for the money they took in," Bettencourt, the top tax man in the state's largest county.

"Back then, they used to get a percentage of collections and could even make loans. Over history, some forgot to separate personal money from public money, and that's where the liability comes from."

Hence, tax bills in Harris County and elsewhere in Texas ask respondents to make checks out to the county tax collector by name, partly because the bank accounts are in the names of those officials.

Bettencourt said he wasn't aware of the job's inherent liability until he took office after his election in 1998, when he received a phone call from J.R. Moore, his counterpart in neighboring Montgomery County.

Stunned, Bettencourt phoned County Judge Robert Eckels.

"I said, `Robert, why didn't you tell me about this?'" Bettencourt said. "And Robert said, `Paul, I was afraid you were going to quit.'"

While Bettencourt says he understands the purpose of the law -- to hold tax collectors to the highest level of accountability -- he also notes the requirement is a bit archaic in the nation's third-largest county.

"It puts a real focus on making sure you don't lose money," said Bettencourt, who expects to take in a total of $2.6 billion this year in property and auto taxes. "But if I blow it, only Bill Gates can cover the check."

The Legislature gave tax assessor-collectors wiggle room on the liability rule in 1987, when lawmakers allowed a district judge to absolve an officeholder of civil liability if a loss was because of something other than "negligence or misconduct of the assessor-collector."

Two years later, Attorney General Jim Mattox opined that an assessor-collector is not required to prepay any shortfall pending a judge's determination, further limiting an officeholder's liability.

Moore said the law was changed after a rural South Texas assessor-collector saw her own personal assets frozen after it was discovered one of her aides had siphoned nearly $14,000 from the coffers. The aide killed herself, Moore said, and commissioner's court was left with no recourse but to freeze the assessor-collector's assets despite her non-involvement in the scam.

"You get utility companies calling, gas companies. You can't pay your Texaco or Shell bill, and they cut your water off," Moore said.

Moore, past president of the Tax Assessor-Collectors Association of Texas, said he didn't learn the full ramifications of civil liability until he took office in 1987.

"I don't know of anybody ... that did know it (before taking office)," Moore said. "Everybody knows you've got personal liability. You don't really realize that means they can take (assets) and sell it if they need to get those funds."

The rule ensures assessor-collectors like Bettencourt and Moore bond their employees and institute double- and triple-checks of all transactions. Books of auto registrations, for instance, could cost an official $680 apiece if lost or stolen.

"I am actually your personal agent for the Texas Department of Transportation," said Bettencourt said. "If we lose those stickers, it comes out of my pocket. Believe me, we put them in a vault."

While the idea of one individual living on a county salary somehow being able to back an entire county's tax receipts is ludicrous, Moore said the current law is fair to both officeholders and taxpayers.

"The public has the right to know the person in there is responsible," said Moore, who will be personally responsible for about $400 million in tax revenue this year.