Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1945 )

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
LWs, Peyton Burke
County Auditor
Falls County
Earlin., Texan
Dear Us. Burker Opinion NO. O-6831
r'8 court or Falls
he Road and Bridge
sic and the re-
he budget of
8 or ~n0m.0r0r
or those OP the other precincts issued on the eam
date. scrip warranta oi Preoinot #2 will be paid
before thoae of' Precinot #I+ and those drawn against
Preoinot #4 will be paid bsfor$ thoae drawn agebet
Preoinot 83.
Mrs. Feytou Burke, page 2
*The queetion on whioh I would like an opinion
Is this: Is it legal for a oounty to pay the scrip
warrants outstanding of one preoinot ahead of the
aorip warrants outstanding of another preoinot in
the case of Falls County; I.e., when the Road and
Bridge inoome is allooated to the Pour preoinote on
a percentage basis?"
Article 1625, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, providea:
Qaoh oounty treasurer shall keep a well-bound
book in whloh he shall register all olaims against
his oounty in the order of presentation, and ii more
than one Is presented at the same time he ahall
register them in the order of their date, He shall
pay no suoh claim or any part thereoi, nor shall the
same) or any part thereof, be reoelved by any oifioer
in payment or any indebtedness to the oounty, until
it has been duly registered In aooordanos with the
provlelone OP this title. All claims in eaoh olass
shall be paid in the order In whloh they are regls-
tered.*
Art. 1626, R. C. s., provides:
"Claims againeta oounty ehall be registered in
three olaases, as Pollowe;
All jury scrip and sorip ieeued for feeding
juroriFi*
All aorlp ieaued under the provieiona oP
the roai law or for work done on roads and bridgea.
"3. All the general indebtedness of the oounty,
including reedlng and guarding prlaonere, and paupers*
claima,. ”
Art. 1627, R. c. s., providers:
Y3ai.d treasurer shall enter eaah claim in the
register, stating the class to which it belongs, the
name of the payee, the amount, the date of the claim,
the date of registration, the number of such claim,
by what authority ieaued, and for what service the
same waa lasued, and shall write on the face of the
claim its registration number, the word 'registered,'
the date OP euoh registration, and shall sign his
name officially thereto."
Mrs. Peyton Burke, page 3
Art. 6740, R. c. s., provides:
"The oommiealonera oourt shall see that the road
and bridge fund of their oounty Is judio1ocaly and
equitably expanded on the roads and bridges of their
oounty, and, aa nearly aa the oondition and neosaaity
of the roada will permit, it shall be expended in eaoh
county oommissionere preoinot in proportion to the
amount oolleoted in suoh preoinot; Money used in
building permanent roads ahall riret be used only on
rirat or second-olass roada, and on those whioh shall
have the right of way Purniahed free oP coat to make
as etraight a road aa ia praotioable anb having the
greatest bonus oliered by the oitizene or money,
labor or other property."
Article 6675a-10, Vernon’s Annotated civil stqtutee, in
part, providers:
” None of 'the monies (motor vehiole regis-
tratio: ;eis) 80 plaaed to the oredit of the Road and
Bridge Fund oP a oouuty shall be used to pay the salary
or OOmpen%atf.On Of shy COUdy Judge or County .COIS&.S-
sioner, but all eaid monies shall be ueed for the
oonetruotion and maintenance of lateral road8 in such
county under the supervision oP the County Bngineer,
if there be one, and it there is no such engineer, then
the County Commisaionerst Court shall have authority to
oommand the servioes of the Division Engineer or the
State Highway Department for the purpose or eupervi+ng
the oonatruotion and surveying oP lateral roads in
their reapeotive oountiea. All fund8 allooated to the
countlea by the provisions of this Aot (Arta. 6675a-1
to 6675a-14; P.C. Art. 807%) may be used by the
oountiea in the payment or obligations, iP any, issued
and incurre4i.n the construotion or the improvement
or all roada,'inoluding State Bighways o; 'such oountiea
and districts therein; or the improvement oP the roada
comprising the County Road system." (Parenthetical
matter ours)
The commiaaionere~ oourt la authorized _ to ellooate the
.
road and bridge fund among the varloue aommlssionersl preoinots,
eubjeot to the provisions of Article 674.0 and 6675a-10, su ra,
(Shivers v. Stooall, 75 S. N. (26) 276; arrirned 129 T. 25%,
103 S. Vii'.(26) 363), and we presume that the allooationa and
Mrs. Peyton Burke, ‘page 4
expenditure8 oP the road and bridge fund, mentioned in your
letter, were made Prom time to time in oomplianoe with the
provisions of aaid artioles. We understand Prom your inquiry
that, on the bee18 of the aforementioned allooation of the
road and bridge fund on said peroentage basis to the various
preoinots, the oommiaaioners* court authorized the isauanoe of
sorip warrants for claFms incurred against the reepeotive pre-
oinct Funds. We understand further that the sorip warrants
issued against eaoh preoinot fund were registered in numerical
order, and, aa funds beoome available in a partioular preoinot
fund, under the above mentioned allooation, the sorip .warrants
against that partfouler preoinot fund are paid in the order of
their registration.
With reiarenoe to the matter of the proper order in whioh
warrants drawn against oounty funds are to be paid, in the oase
of Wilkinson v. Franklin County, 94 S. W.. (26).1190, the Court
eaidr
(I
a, . .Artiole 1625, R. s., clearly denotes the
order in which warranta drawn against the oounty
treasurer are to be paid, and amounts to an appro-
priation of the funds in the oounty treasury to
the payment of all warrants legally drawn against
the several olaeaea of funds in the order ot their
registration. . .v
In Opinion No. O-4552, this department paesed upon a
question involving the authority of a oommiasionere~ oourt to
transfer fund8 of certain preoinota to another preoinot fund,
when there were registered scrip warrants outstanding against
the partloular preoinot funds Prom whloh said transfer was to
be nede. We quote rrrm said Opinion a8 roiiow8,t
“The holder8 of the outstanding aorip again&
Preoincte Noe.~ 1, 2 and 3 have vested interests in
the funds of said preoinots to the Pull extent of
olaiae as evidenoed by auoh aorip, and the Commis-
sionera’ Court of Limeatone County haa no authority
to decree a prsierence, thereby impairing suoh
vested rights of oreditors of Preoinota Nos. 1, 2
and 3 by paying out the funds of said preolnota to
Precinot No.. 4.”
tire, Peyton Burke, page 5
Ih view of the foregoing and in view of the faots submitted,
it is our opinion that the holder of a registered rorip warrant
against a partioular preoinot has a vested interest in the runas
legally allocated to that particular preoinot to the full extent
of olaixus as evidenced by auoh scrip warrant. It is our further
opinion that the vested rfghta of the creditors of 5 partfouler
precinct nay not be impaired, and that the registered aorip
warrants agaihst a partioular preoinot fund should be paid in
the order of the registration of warrants issued against that
partioular preolnot fund, even though warrants issued on a given
date against ens partfouler preoinot fund may be paid before
warrants drawn on the same date against a different preoinot
fund beoome eligible for payment.
We trust that the foregoing satiaraotorily answers your in-
qulry .
Your8 very truly,
ATTORNXY
Q~RAL OF T&XM
BY
JAE:IJ