Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1945 )

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OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
GROVER SELLERS
AIIOIIN‘YGCNERM.
Honorable L. W. Vance
county Attorney
Tltua County
Box 207
Mt. Pleasant, Texas
near sir: 'opinion No. O-6730
Be: Whether ooapense
We harr reoeired JO
the above oaptioned matter,
a8 rou0w8t
r0r YOU 0plni
armor opiniona in
e opinlon8 hare
are three matters
in theae opfnians.
n paid to me by the COD
;Idling special matters
7, would that aean that count7
efiected thereb7 would be allowed to re-
fees up to ;jOOO.OO and l/3 of the excess,
to erased ,i3750.007 In other words, would it
amount allowed under Artiale 38837
-Third, would such a raise for 1945 ordered by
the Court on July 1st mean that 8 total maximum of
;j?50.00 could be retaked this year or only a total
naxi.auz of ..jj7j.rJO? Or ,tiouldeach &if ;resr’s
fees kve to SC: totaled cz: fi,urod sepratcl;?"
iionoreble i.. Yi. Vanoe, page 2
Xc enawer to your first quertion, we q.zote from an
opinion rendered by Honorable Soott Gaines, First Aseiatant
Attorney General of Texas, on January 2, 1935:
*Unless statute provldea for the county ettor-
ney to represent the oountg in a olvil aotion, It
18 not the duty of the oounty attorney to do 00.
In oaaee where the oounty attorney In required to
represent the county and no ice lq preeoribed, then
the oompenaatlon of the oounty attorney is the 8x
oifioio oompenretlon that will be allowed under
Article 3895, eroept 5.n oaaea where a oertaln amount
of money is reoovered, then his compensation Is
thgt authorized by Artiole 335.
“In. oases where the law does not requlre
oounty httorney to represent the oounty, the oom-
penration is thet whioh I8 agreed upon between
the oounty attorney and the oomalssionerr* oourt
just In the same manner as If some other attorney
had been~ employed by the oountyIm
The Attorneya .Generel of Texas have oonslatently held
that the’oounty attorney is entitled to reeeoneble oompeneation
for aervioem performed for the county v other than those ser-
vices required by law, and said uoompeneetion Ie a&reed upon
between the oounty attorney and the ooinmls.a16nere1 oourt just
In the 8ame manner a8 if come other attorney had been employed
by the oounty.” We al80 oall your a ttehtion to Attorneya
General Opinions NOD. O-45, O-225, O-1040, 0-1796 O-3599,
O-3656, O-4955, O-5263, 0-5306, O-5905, end O-6376, ooplea
of whioh have already been mailed to you.
ln oonneotion with your seoond question;, we call your
attention to our Opinion ?;o. o-6592, w hioh provid.eer, In part
68 roii0w8:
*The maximum ex-officio compensation which mey
be allowed seld Sheriff is any sum which, when added
to other compensation and excess fees allowed to be
retained by him under said Xrtlcles 3883 and 3891,
does not cause such officer to reoeive a tote1 oom-
penration in exoess of Three Thousand Sevsn Eundred
zoonorableL. W. Vanoe, peg6 4
oS oompensetion from eny 8ouroe which 6 oounty officer OS Titus
County ia allowed to retain cannot exoeed Three Thousend Seven
nunarea end Fifty Dollar8 ($3.750.00) per year.
In oonneotion with your third question we 0611 your et-
tention to our Opinion No. O-6576, which reed8 in part 88 followrr
R . Any inorea8e of fmlery for the year 1945
must ;e*in the proportion a8 the balance of the year
relate8 to the total annual lnorea86 that may be made
under raid Act. In other word@, IS . . . the increase
In oompensetlon f8 allOWed a8 Of June let, then the
lnorease for 1945 would be 7/12ths. . . . The oom-
pen8etlon for the month8 pessed oannot be inoreesed.
"In oonneotion with the foregoing We dlreot your
attention to Art,689a-11, V. A. C. S,, whioh is In
part a8 roiiowr:
evWhen the budget ha8 been finally approved
by the Comml88ioner8* Court, the budget, a8
approved by tha court 8hall ba riba withthe
Clerk of the county court, and taxe8~levled
only in aooordenoe therewith, and no expendi-
ture8 of the Sun48 OS the oounty ~8hell there-
after be made etoept in, 8,tri0t oompllenoe pith
the budget ~a8 adopted by~the court, zxoept that "
emergency expendlturer, in oeee of grave,pub-
110 neoersity, to meet unueual and unforeseen
00nditi0n8 whioh 00ula not, by naaonably aili-
gent thought end attention, have been inoluded
in the origin61 budget, may from time to time
'be 6UthOrlz6d by the Court a8 amsndmenta to the
origin61 budget, In all oases where such amend-
ments to the original budget 18 made, e cop7 of
the order OS the Court emending the budget. shell
be filed with the Clerk of the County Court, end
etteched to the budget originally edopted.("
Appl7inC the above quotation :o your s~ciSi0 in