Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1957 )

THE A``IR~‘EY GENEHAL OF TEXAS WILL WILSON AlTORNEY OlENEHAL October 2, 1957 Honorable Joe Resweber Opinion NO. ~-267 County Attorney, Harris County Harris County Courthouse Re: May County Funds legally Houston 2, Texas be disbursed if any part thereof be used to pay expense items incurred in connection with a con- tract entered into be- tween the Trustees of Baylor University and the Board of Managers of Jefferson Eavis Hos- Dear Mr. Resweber: pital? You have requested an opinion of this office concern- ing disbursement of County Funds under the provisions of a certain contract. In your request, you posed the following question: "Are County funds legally disbursed if any part thereof be used to pay expense items incurred in connection with the attached con- tract between the Trustees of Baylor University and the Board of Managers of Jefferson Davis Hospital?" Article &494i, Vernon's Civil Statutes, reads in part as follows: "Section 1. Any county of the State and any incorporated city or town within such county, acting through the Commissioners Court of such county and the governing body of such city or town, may jointly establish, erect, equip, main- tain and operate a hospital or hospitals for the care and treatment of the sick, infirm, and/or injured; and for the purposes of establishing, erecting, equipping, maintaining and operating such a hospital or hospitals, the Commissioners Court of any county and the governing body of any city or town within such county may, by re- solution or other appropriate action, confer upon, delegate to and grant to a Board of Managers Honorable Joe Resweber, page 2 (w-267) as hereinafter P?ovlded, full and complete auth- ority to establish, erect, equlp, maintain and operate such hospital or hospitals. . . . ,I . . . "Sec. 4. Such Board of Managers shall have full and complete authority to enter into any contract connected with or incident to the establishment, erection, equipping, maintaining or operating such hospital or hospitals, and in this connection shall have authority to disburse and pay out all funds set aside by such county and such city or town for purposes connected with such hospital or hospitals, and such action by such city or town as though such action had been taken by the Commissioners Court of such county or governing body of such city or town. 11 . . . "Sec. 7. In connection with the erection and equipping of such hospital or hospitals said Board of Managers shall have the authority to determine the manner of expending any f,undsthat may have been provided by such county and such city or town for such purpose, whether by the issuance of bonds or other obligations, or by appropriations from other funds of such county and city or town, it being the intention by this Act to grant to such Boards the complete author- ity to manage and control all matters affecting such hospitals, reserving to such county and city or town the right only to appoint members to such Board of Managers and to zpprove the annual budget hereinabove provided for. The above quoted provisions clearly grant to the Com- missioners Court of any county and t: ,:hegoverning body of any city or town the power to erect, equip and operate a joint city-county hospital. They further provide that the operation of the hospital shall be under the control of a Board of Managers who shall have "full and complete author- ity to enter Into any contract connected with or incident to the establishment,,erection, equipping, maintaining or operat- ing such hospital,. Pursuant to the provisions of Article 44941, Vernon's Civil Statutes, Harris County and the City of Houston entered into the joint operation of Jefferson Davis Hospital. In Honorable Joe Resweber, page 3 (W-267) accordance with the above quoted provisions, the Board of Managers of Jefferson Davis Hospital entered Into a contract with the Board of Trustees of Baylor University, whereby the University, through its Medical School located in Houston, agreed to furnish certain personnel and services to Jefferson Davis Hospital in return for the performance of other sertlces on the part of the Board of Managers. It is our opinion that inasmuch as the contract in question provides for an Increase in the professional staff and the medical facilities of Jefferson Davis Hospital, it is a contract which clearly falls within the discretion of the Board of Managers of the hospital, inasmuch as it is incident to the operatlon of the hospital. This being so, we see no reason why county funds which have been allocated to the hos- pital by the Commissioners Court of Harris County, should not be spent to pay expenses incurred in connection with the pro- visions of the contract In question. For this reason, we answer your question in the affirmative. SUMMARY County funds may legally be disbursed even though a part thereof be used to pay expense items incurred in connec- tion with a contract between the Trustees of Baylor University and the Board of Man- agers of Jefferson Davis Hospital. Very truly yours, WILL WILSON ~o~F;,T&``. WCR:zt Way1 d C. Rivers, Jr. APPROVED: Assistant OPINION COMMITTEE Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman Wayland C. Rivers, Jr. John H. Mlnton, Jr. W. V. Geppert J. C. Davis, Jr. PEVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: James N. Ludlum