Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1944 )

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
mnorable iknton Coopwood
DlstriCt Attorney, Travle Cotloty
kuetin, Texas
Dear Sir:
era Court or Travf8
dependent audit of
the reasons stated
CiVll statutea OS
uthorltg given in the statute for
order au’oh audit, but would llk6 to
on on the same. I am famlllar with
640, inclusive, but do not feel that
these ;rrtlclaa oontemplate a oonplete audit.”
Tte popultltlon of Travis County auoording to the 1940
Federal Cclnsue is 111,053.
Therefore, Article 1646k, Vernon*8 Annotated Civil
Statutes, providing for the empLoy.nent of a special auditor
Or auditors by one or more counties under the population of
25,000, either jointly or sepamtely, by the Oo&as10nera*
court of said county or 00unt1es, and rurther providing the
i)istrLct Judge or Crund Jury may order said audit if either
so desires, does not apply to Travis County.
nrticle 16k%, Vernon's iinnotatad Clvll Statutes, 1925,
provides in regard to all oountler the folloringr
"at each term 02 the dletrlct oourt, the
distriot judge, upon request 02 the grand jury,
uay appoint a cownlttee consisting of three oltl-
neris of tha oounty, men or good moral oharaoter
and intelllgenoe, and exparlenoed aoaountantu, to
examine into the condition of the finances OS tha
oounty. Said committee shall examine all the books,
aooounts, reporta, vouahers and orders OS the aom-
mieeionera oourt relating tc the flnanoer OS the
county that have not been examined and reported
upon by a proilow ooolaitka) Ooant all the money
in the oifics Of tha @OuMiJ treanurer belonging to
the county, and make suoh other examination ab it
deems neaeosary and proper in order to araertain
the true oonditlon 02 the 2lnanaes at the eoanty.
The oourt 8hal1, ii neoenaary, upon the appllaatlon
0r sata 00mrPttt40, send r0r persons and evidanae to
aid la suoh lnvestlgatlon.w
Arti.ole 1641, 'Vernonlm nnriotated Civil Btatutee 1925,
provides au follows:
"Any oommloeloners aotwt, when In It.6 judgment
an imperative pub110 neoeoslty exists therefor, shell
have authority to employ a disinterested, competent
and expert publio accountant to audit all or any ?3rt
of the boo&s, records or accounts of the oouaty; or
of any dlatriot, oounty or proolnct officers, agents
or employee, inoludlng auditore of the counties, and
all governmental units of tho oounty, hoepi~tal, f3rma,
and other lnetltutfons of the county kept and reelntain-
ed st public expense, as wall as for all nattars reieit-
ing to or affeotlng the fiaoal affairs of the aounty.
The resolution providing for such audit shall recite
the reasons and neoeasity existing therefor such us
t&t in the judginent of said court there exists offl-
cisl misconduct, willful omlsaion or negligence in
rooords and re’ports, miaapplicotion, conversion or re-
tention of~publfc funds, failure In keeping accounts,
making repokta a:d aooountlng for public funds by any
offloer, cogent or eaploye of the district, oounty, or
precinct, including depositories, hospitals and other
public lnstltutlona aalntained for the pub110 benefit,
and st publio.‘cxpanse; or that in the judgment of the
court, it 18 neoeeanry that’ It have the inforlution
sou@t to enable It to determine and fix proper appro-
priation and expenditure 02 pub110 zaonoya, and to aa-
oertain and fix a just and proper tax levy. The said
resolution may be presented in writing at any regular
or oalled eesslon of tho oommiasionera oourt, but shall
lie over to the next regular tera of said oourt, and
shall be published In one issue of a newspaper of
general olroulatlon publlahed in the county; provided
if there bs no auoh newspaper published in the county,
thoen notioe thereof shall be posted in three publio
places in said oouuty. one of whioh shall be at the
court house door, for at least ten daya prior to Its
adoption. At auoh noxt regular term said resolution
8hal.l be adopted by 6 lnajor$ty vote ot the four oonds-
atoners of the aourt and approved by the oounty judge.
Any oontrcrat entered into by said oommlaalonera crourt
ior the audit provided herefn shall be made In aooord-
ante with the statute8 applloable to the letting of aon-
tracts by said oourt, payment for whloh may be made out
of the publio Sunda of the aounty In aoaordanoe with said
etatutaa. The authority conferred on county auditors oon-
tslned in this title aa well as other provisIons of statu-
tea relating to district, oounty and preoinct fin&noes
and aooounts thereor ehall be held aubordlnste to the
powers given herein to the aommlealonere* oourt .*
Article 1641 6aa made necessary by the holding In the,
case of Navvrro County v.. Tulloe, (Div. ~pp.) 237 S.W. 982, that
the Commissioners* Court did not possess the right to disregard
the duly appointed auditor and omploy other auditora at the
gonorabie Uanton Cooprood, ~ALJ~4
oounty'e expenee for the putpoee of obtaining Information whloh
lt iivthe duty of the,audltor to supply. 11 Tex. Jur., p. 5813,
(footnotea) .
"The authority or the oommlasloneret oourt
88 the eovemlng body oi a county to make oontraots
in it8 behalf 18 etrlctly llmlted to that oontrrred
either expressly or by fair or ncoeesary lmplloation
by the Conetltutlon and lawn of the atate." 11 Tex.
J-w., 632. Childrees Co. v. State, (Sup. Ct.) QZ
S. H. (Zd) 1011.
Therefore, in regard to your question No. 1, we agree
with your ilndlnge that there is no rtatute authorizing an audit
to ba ordered by the Orand Jury of T'ravlr Connty, and we hold
that ouoh,Orand Jury ln thle reepeot would hare only the power
to request an examlnatlon Sor the purpose8 and in the manner
epeoiiled in Artlale 1658, supra.
In resard to your quertlon No. E, it eppeere that
Artlole 1641 ie.the eraluslre authority under whioh an lndepen-
dent audit oould be ordered bl your Commlrelonere* Court.
Trusting thle fully anewore your queetlone, we are
Yours very truly
ATltUNEYG'S.X%JRAL
GF TE:SM
aL+?Y. zIxzzzu&.
BY
Robert L. Lattlmore. Jr.
,isaletatlt