Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1947 )

THEATTORNEYGENERAL
OFTEXAS
Hon. Ray Lackey Opinion MO. V-200
C-ouuty Auditor
Yoakumcounty Re: Construction of Sec.
Plains, Texas la of Article 2350, V.
C.S.
D4ar Sir:
Your letter requesting an opinion of this De-
partment on the above subject matter is as follows:
“I w4uld like an opinion from your
office on Article 2350,Sec. la., as to
who is entltled to receive the eompensr-
tion and would the olerk of the court be
included in this law.”
House Bill No, 84, Ch. 204, Acts 49th Legis-
lature, 1945,p* 280, provides as follows:
“section 1. That Article 2350, Title
44 of the Revised Civil Statutes of the
State of Texas, 1925, as amended by Acts
of the Thirty-uinth Legislature, Regular
Sesa$on, Chapter 135, Section 1; and as
amended by Acts of the Fortieth Legisla-
ture, page 435, Chapter WJ,,Sectlon 1;
and as amended by the Acts of the Fortieth
Le islature, First Called Session, page
138 Chapter 46 Section 1; and as amended
by Acts of the forty-thLCd Legi81ature,
Regular Session, Chapter 216;and as a-
mended by bets of the Forty-third Le islr-
ture, First Called Session, Chapter 83,
page 220; and as amaaded by Act@,Forty-
fou.rth LegWlature, Regular Set&en, Chap
ter 362; be; and the same is hereby amended
so ae to hereafter read as follows:
““Article 2350.
tr(In counties having the follewJ.ng
assessed valuatiom, rcspectivsly, as 8h4Wia
- -
Men, Ray Lackey - Page 2 v-200
b7 the total assessed valuations of all
properties certified by the county asbitts-
sor and approved by the Comaissioners
Court, for county purposes, for the pre-
vious year, from time to time, the County
Corrariasloaera of such counties shall each
receive annwl salaries not to exceed the
(uounts herein specified, said salaries
to be paid in equal monthly insthlments,
at least one-half (11, and not exceedin
three-fourths (3/4), out of the Road and
Bridge Fund, and the remainder out of the
General Fund of the county; said aseesred
valuations and salaries applicable thrre-
to being as follows:. . .
4’11~ counties having en assessed.val-
uation of less than Thr4e Million, Five
Hundred Thousand Dollars (#3,500,000) each
Comaissioner shall receive Five Dollars
(45) per day for each day served aa Com-
missioner and a like amount when acting
as u-off&A0 road superintendent in his
Cmlmwloner~8 praeinat, providing in no
event shall his total corn lnsation erceod
Twelve Hundred Dollars ($!ZOO) in any one
year. Provided further, however, that in
counties having National Forest, Preserves
and with leas than Four Million ,Five
Hundred Thousand Dollars ($4,506,000) val-
uation chat the salaries of said Commis-
sioners shall not exceed Eighteen Hundred
Dollars ($1800) per y4arsf
Vet. 2. The salary of each County
Comnlssioner and each County Judge ray be
paid wholly out of the County General Fund
or, at the option of the Commissioners
Court, may be paid out of the County Gen-
,’ .,
Hon. Ray Lackey - Page 3 v-200
erel Fumi ~$4 of the Road and Bridge
out
Fund ia t&a frA.lowSag propartiond: Ceunty
JP e not to exceed seventy-fiwt per cwt
% of such salaries may be paid out of
(75/o)
the Roerd and Bridge Fred, and the remain-
der out of the General Fund of the County,
and aach County COmmissionerle salary may,
at the discretion of the Coimzieaieners
Court, all be paid out of the Road and
Bridge Fund; prodded this section ahall
not apgky except in counties where the
constS,tuticmal limit of twenty-five cents
(25,#) on the one Hundred Pol,lar ($100)
valuation is lerged for general purposes.
T3ec. 3. The Comkasionere Court ati
its first regular meeting after the sffeo-
tite dat6 of thts Act md thereafter at
the first rd hr nweting of each year
8ha.U b or e?? &uXy made and entered up-
on thk a&%!%~ 09 s&amCourt fix the
salaries, of the County Commik.aioners for
such year within the l&Its aa pr~vi&ed
for in & Act.
“S,E. 4. That all general lam, or
parts of pnwral lam in conflict w%th
tba feregulslh;
Act, be, end the mm are
hereby, expressly rope&Led.
wee. $1 ff my action, clause,
sentence, m uth,r purt of tMs Act shall
far ax&yrclasea be de&red unco~6tituti.on-
a3. that shall not: affect in any way the
aonstitutixm%Iity of tbha remining prod-
siens heraaf .
Hon. Ray Lackey - Page 4 v-200
be in force from and after it0 passage and
it is so enacted." (Underscoring ours!
We quote the following from our Opinion No.
O-6816:
"Therefore, in answer to your seventh
question, it Is the opinion of thio Depart-
ment that e h comm issioner is entitled to
Twenty-five+ *25.00) Dollars traveling ex-
pense in the county for each month pro-
vided, of course, that such trave li ng ex-
pense is nec;;sa?y and actually e ended by
during said mont 'R while
we- c a business in the county.
Koreover,'the Commissi,oners a,re entitled to
traveling. expen~sa%~in,curred while' traveling
outside the comtp on caunty busine.ss never
to exceed Three Hundred ($300.00) Dollars
in any one year as provided by H.B. gl+,
supra." (Underscoring ours)
It was fkrther held in our Opinion NO. 0-66&r
'We believe that by the use,of the
words 'actual.expenses incurrod while
traveling outside of the county on offi-
cial business', the Legislature meant only
the actual and necessary expenses so in-
curred, Gasoline and oil, if a car is
used, or bus or train fare and meala and
lodging, would seem to come within this
category o We are enc,losing a copy of our
Opinion MO, O-5598 isn regard to certain
traveling expenses of County Commissioner8
incurred within: a county,, which defines in
general terms thetype of traveling ex-
penses allowed, The.law does not author-
ise mileage to be charged for such travel-
ing, Neither does it authorize any trav-
eling expenses of the County Commissioners
incurred on busines.s without the county,
regardless of the nature of the count
business, to be paid from any fund at Ker
than the General Fund of the county."
It will be noted from the foregoing that Sec-
tion la of Article 2350, above quoted, provided that
-, -
Bon. Ray Lackey - We, 5 9400
.
“the Comai``ionera~ Court la authorired to pay the ac-
tual, traveling expenses incurred while traveling out-
side of the county on official businzs;fnever to e;%&ed
$300.00 in 6ny one year fZ,ty$& ”
phrase “for each said o rs to t 016 offi-
cials mentioned $n the ,preceding paragraph. fhe only
officials named ia the ,preoeding paragraph are the coun-
ty commissioners and, therefore, it is the opinion of
this Department that only county coitW8aioQers are en-
t$tled to traveS$ng .,%$@ses provided for in Art. 2350,
Sec. la. It bs furthe MW opinion that the clerk of
the Comm$,ssionersr Court Is not rntltled to traveling
e~penres under Mil Act.
County Commt8eionara ati ltitled te
the actual 8nd neoeesary traveling expenses
incurred while travelingoutside the county
on offAcial count business, never to ex-
ceed $300.00 by v1rtue of the provisions of
Sec. la, Art r 2350, V.C .S., for any one year.
for said official; but the county clerk is
not enDit& ,d to traveling exp8n6es under Sec.
la, Art. 450, V.C.Si
vary truly yours
AlTORm:P GEkiZRAL
OF TEXAS
SB:dj,m:erc
APPROVED
MAY15; 1947
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