Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1944 )

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Honorable I. Prodsold County Auditor, Ualvsstoa Gounty Oalrerton; +xas D4ar Sirs Your letter of April o? this departmat whether the tlon .0oaaty maf amend the oo 0 083 to provide the. ahsrirf with l‘ja iL olerk (a at a ralsry of $165.00 per month. The dutisa of th e mkecrplng all reootaa, aooouats an4 books and other and to have general ruporTiiolon or M have been perrormed. by a guard tltlr4,g ry of $1~0.00 per month. or 1~si4 otf;oe; and said oourt rbrll maks it8 order au- thorlabg th8 ap ointment or suoh drputles, cresirtants end olerkr and rs x the ooapenaation to be paid theni Honorable I. Prsdeoki, page 2 within the llmitetlone herein preeorlbed and de- termine the number to be appointed aa in the dls- oretlon of said oourt may be proper; provided that In no oaae shell the Commls8lonerb’ Court or any member thereof attempt to ln~lnenoo the appointment or any poraon ea deputy, aesI&ant or olerk in any 0fri0e.- upon the entry 0r euoh order the orrioOr0 applying for euoh eesletante, deputies or olerka shall be euthorlzed to appoint them1 provided that said oompeneatlon &all not exoeed the maximum amount hereinafter #et out. The otipensetlon whioh may be allowd to the deputies, asdetents or olerke above named for their servloea 8hell be a reeaonable one, not to exoeed the following amount@: l * * l **t “4. In oounties having a population 0r rixty thousand and one (60,001) and not more than one h-red thousand (100,000) lnhabltente, rirat assistant or ohier depty not to exoeed Twenty-four Hundred (#2400.00) Dol- lerr per annum; other asslrtants, deputies or olerkr not to exoeed Twenty-one Hundred (#2100.00) Dollars per annum eaoh.” The 1940 Federal Census lists Galveston County as having a popu- lation oi 81,173 inhabitants, and the oountythererore oomea wlth- in the provisiona of the etatute above quoted, allowing the Com- mleslonersf Court to authorlje the employment of olerka at a ralery not to exoeed Twenty-one nurdred (#2100.00) Dollars per annum. Although we have advised that the Commlasloners~ Court ie authorized by law to allow the sheriff a olerk for the duties deaoribed, It remaina to be determined whether this new position may be introduced into the 1941 budget by amendment at thle time. Artlole 689a-11, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, reads, in pert, a8 follows: “* l * When the budget hae been finally approved by the Commissionera Court, the budget, aa approved by the Court shall be filed with the Clerk or the County Court, and taxes levied only in aooordanoe therewith, ena no expenditure or the funds of the oounty shall thereafter be made exoept In atrIot oompllanoe with the budget ee adopted by the Court. Bxoept that emer- genoy expenditurea, in ease of grave ubllo neoessity, to meet unusual and unforeseen oondit Pone whloh oould not, by reasonably dili ent thought and attention, have been lnoluded in the or f glnal budget, may from timo to time be authorized by the Court a8 amendmente to the original budget. * * ** 874 This 6opartaont ha8 puli $imer held that what oonatltutaa ugar8 publib n~Oaa8lt~" a8 that tern ia uae6 in Art1010 689~ll, dopaada upoa the ?aOts in leoh oaaa and la a queatioa for th(l priur~ dotrrainatlon of the oeamiaaloner8~ oourt. in the lxerolaa of it8 pruaont judgment. 8aa our Opinion8 ~05, o-ioaa,o-iofy ~6 o-uar. We thwaiorb adrlao that it liar wlthla the prorinoa of the omdaalonarat oourt te dotrrmlaa tha rarta reapootlng the u4 f Wnae of a &rata pub110 neoeaalt~ 80 that the budget ma~rlv?ully be aaondad to provide to? the pobltiolr of jail . Tour8 rety truly ATTOBWBY -O?TBXAS - “‘Jib D. kl1.m Aaalatant JDS:lW