Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1939 )

OFFICE OF THE AlTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Honmablr liarry 8ohults CMtuity Attorney, Dallam County Dalhart, Texar Deer Sir: your opinion request bsariq date of Ootabe you propound thr following queetionr lff would not be entitled to any allowenoe automobile, unlerre he heb first omplfed with f the statute a8 to the making and sworn appli- aionerel Court, stating the neoeaalty therefore, with a suboequent eat on the part of the Canuulssioneri9~ Court aoknowledging thee neoaselty for euah :expenditure to be made. Hon. Harry Sohulta, Pegs e Inesmuoh a8 the rtatute mekee no provfaionwor None euto- mobile exOhange*, we do not feel as though the law oontempletee mm aa en approved expenditure. Thie offioe does not have auffi- oient feats before It to aroertain whether or not the item none automobile exohengew is a depreoletlon item or not. We oennot say that the dffferenoe,in prioe between the old automobile owned by the Sheriff and the.new eutomobile traded for is the eo~tuel de- preoietlon of the Sherlff*g automobile oeueed by the uee of eeid automobile b&the Sherlff~ln the aleoherge of his ofi’lolel duties. The amount oi deprealetlon to be allowed ea a %eoeseary expenee’ ie e figure which suet neoesrarily be peased upon by the fJommj.e- aloneref Court 0r your County. If in lieu of the Item Wolle eutomobile.exohange~ an item for depreoietion upon e pereonallly owned eut6moblle ehould be sub- mitted by the Shertif upon ~hlcl *neoeaeary expen&e* aooount, ahowing de$reolatlon of a personally owned eutomoblle by ruoh Sheriff in the dieoharge of hi8 offlolel dutlse, end striot oompllenoc with the provlelons of Artlole 3S99 of the Revised Civil Statutes of Teree, es amended, fo otherwise had, then and in that event suah en allow- enoe for depreoietion oould be properly made. However, in arriving at e dealsion es to whether auoh expenditures should. be allowed, under Artiole 9891 of the Revleed Civil Statutes of Texas, ae emended, we find that e fee offioer ie not allowed to deduot any amount of money a8 expense8 of offioe until after he ahell have earned the maximuinamount of money allowed him by etetute, ea,auoh fee officer. Then and in that event, he ehall be allowed in aooordanoe with the provisions of Article 3S99, above refarrbd to, to deduot rrom earned fees, over end above the maximum amount allowed him by statutee, the approved expenses herein lnqulre’d about. Trueting that the above eetlsfeotori~l~ answers your quee- tion, we remain Yours very truly ATTORNEYGENERALOF TEXAS Edger Oale ECrN Aaeiatent Approved Nov. 10, 1939 Gerald 0. Mann ATTORNEY GENERALOF TEXAS