Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1946 )

OFFICEOFTHEATTORNEYGENERALOFTEXAS
AUSTINI
GRO"ERSELLERS
ATTORNEY
GENERIL
Honorable John R. Cravford
County Auditor
Kaufman Cmuity
Kaufman, Terra
Gear Sir: 0pln10n lo. O-7066
Rer ,Should the rone,.$&!+lired fmm
the sale of a pox?tlofl of' the
land belongJLpg to th+ county
farm be pMcew \ thd general
fund or biwpd ia re'&lrlng
of January 26,
portion oi the.,
The question
sed Civil Statutes providea:
ch county treasurer shall
kebp &well-bound book In vhlch he shall register
all claim agillnst his county ln the order of pre-
sentotloh, and ,if more than one la presented at
the saae ti.me.&e shall rsglator them ln tha order
of their date. Ha shall pay no such claim or any
part thcmoi, nor ahall the same, or any part
thereof, be received by any officer ln payment
of anj lndcbtedneas to the county, until It has
been duly registerad in accordaacs vltb the pro-
visions of this title. All claims ln each class
shall be paid in the order in which they are reg-
istered."
Honorable John R. Crawford, page 2
Article 1626 of such Statutes provides:
“Claims classified .--Claus against a countr
shall be registered In three claasaa, as ,follovs:
“1. . , .
“2. . , .
“3. All the gsneral lndebt4dness of the coun-
ty, including f’eading and guarding prisoners, and
paupera’ claims.”
Article 1627 of such Statutes provides;
“Registering claims .--Said treasurer shall an-
ter each claim In the register, stating the class
to which it belongs, the name of the payee, the
amount, tha date of the claim, the data of regls-
tretlon, the number of such claim, by vbat author-
ity Issued, and for what servlcs the same was Issued,
and shall write on the face of the claim its regls-
tratlon numbar, the vord, treglst4red,’ tha date of
such registration, and shall sign his naa4 offlclallr
thereto.’ .
Article 1628 of ths Statutes providssr
“Classlflcatlon of county funds.--The funds ra-
wived by the county treasurer shall be alassed as
follows, and shall be appropriated, respectlvsly, to
the payment of all claims registered in the first,
second and third clas8ea:
“1. * . .
.``
“2. . . .
“3* All money recelvad, not othervise appropriated
herein or by the ccmmlsslonars court.”
With reference to the operational debt of the county
farm, the lav is vell-settled that all county expenditures lav-
fully authorizsd to be made by the county must be paid out of
Honorable John R. Crsvford, page 3
the county's General Fuud unless there is san4 law vhich makes
such expenditures a charge against a special fund. Carroll v,
Williams, 182 9. W. 291 Raxar County V. Mann, 1.57 S. W. (26) 134.
Although the county map have In existence a special
fund or fana account, ve may presume all claine for vhich the
outstanding scrip vas registered to fall within the third-class
claims a8 general indebtedness of the county and Bra properly
#gIstsFed as claims b4longlng to the third class.
The Caumlsalonerst Court la not authorized to allov or
give preference to payment of claims out OS order of their proper
re lstration. Article 1625 supra, clearly denotes the ordsr in
xh Bch varranta dravn against the County T asu
Clarke and Courts v. % SSO to County, G s/3. "$i-$j;'$&~;~
V* r'rank1l.n C&r&y, 98 9. W. "t26) 1190.
Article 11, Section,2 of the Constitution of Texas pro-
vides that the construction of jails, courthouses, brldgos and
the establishment of county poor houses, farms, and the laying
out, conatructlon, sqd repairing of county reads shall be pro-
vided for by general lav. W4 think It 16 axiomatic, as vell as
vlthln the Conatltutlonal provisions and statutes of this State,
that the acqulrq of a county poor Saxwi, b4lng in the nature of
a permanent improvement, should be paid for out of the permanent
improvement fund, for ve must presume that when the county pur-
chased this land the purchase price vas paid out of the permanent
improvemcnt fund of the county, th4 only'county fund out of which
It could .have been legally paid. Article XIII, Sac. 9 of the
Constltutlon.
It is thdrefora the oplnlon of this Department that
money from the 8818 of @ portion of the land belonging to the
county farm oannot ba uaad in retiring outstanding scrip accumu-
lated as an operational debt of th4 county farm, but such money
should be placed in the perntansnt Improvement fund of the county.
.~,
Youra very truly
WJRX/JCP