Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

C
The State o? Texas
0
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.OF TEXA!l
P
Austin
Y
Gerald C. Mann
Attorney General
Honorable H. B. Virgil Crawford
County Attorney
Terry County
BrovJnfleld,Texas
Dear Sir: Cpinion No. O-3616
Re: When will the County CommIs-
sloners of Terry County be
entitled to start receiving
oompensationat the inoreased
rate?
Your recent request for an opinion of this Department on
the above stated question has been received.
We quote from your letter as follows:
"1 sm writing this letter for an opinion as
to when our CommissionerswIl1 be entitled to reoelve
additional oompensatlon. I am sure that Article 2350
will be the statute whloh will oontrol. Terry County
has a total pupulatlon of 11,1&j aooordlng to the
oensus count last year. Our raluatlon for 19&l Is
well over 6 million dollars, and aCOOrdhtg to the law
as I see It the oommlsslonersare entitled to reoelre
$l,&OO.OO per year, The question in my mind Is when
will the commissionersbe entitled to start receiving
oompensationat the Increased rate? The statute
states that when the assessed vsluatlon for the pre-
vious year, iron time to time, shall be a certain
amount then the compensation shall be suoh etc.
._-.
"Also I should like to know If the period of In-
-orea‘s%d compensationvi111beGIn with the fiscal year
or 'the current year? I think that our fiscal year
starts In October ot each year. I will greatly appre-
ciate your ,adviceIn this matter."
Hon. H. 8. Virgil Crawford, page 2
Article 2350, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, reads
in part as roiiows:
"In counties having the following assessed
valuations,respectively,as shown by the total
assessed valuations of all properties certified
by the county assessor and approved by the Com-
missioners Court, for oounty purposes, ror the
previous year, from time to time, the County Com-
missioners of such oountles shall each reoelve
annual salaries not to exoeed the amounts herein
specified,said salaries to be paid In equal monthly
Installments,at least one-half, and not exceed-
1nC three-fourths,out of the Road and Bridge Fund
and the remainder out of the General Fund of the
county; said assessed valuations and salaries app-
llcable thereto being as follows:
Salaries to be paid
"AssessedValuations each Commissioner
6,000,OOl and less than
not to-exceed . . . . . . $lLOO.OO
. . .
"In countieshaving assessed valuation of more
than Four MIllion Five Hundred Thousand and One
Dollars ($&,500,001)and less than Six Million Dol-
lars ($6,000,000)each commissioner shell receive
Five Dollars ($5) pel,day for eaoh day served ias
commissioner,and a like amount vhen acting as ex-
officio road superintendentIn his CommIssloner~s
Precinct, provided In no event shalPhIs total oom-
pensatlon exceed Twelve Hundred Dollars ($1200) in
any one year. . ."
Article 2350 (1) and Article 2350 (2) read as follows:
--,"Thesalary of each County Commissionerand
each County Judge may be paid wholly out of'the
County General Fund or, at the option of the Con-
missioners Court, may be paid out of the County
General Fund.and out of the Road and Bridge Fund in
the following prcportlons: County Judge not to
Hon. H. B. Virgil Crawford, page 3
end
exoeed seventy-tireper oent (755) of suoh salaries
may be paid out of the Road Bridge Fund, and
the remainder out OS the General Fund of the County,
and eaoh County CommIssloner'ssalary may, at the
dlsoretlon of the CommissionersCourt, all be paid
out OS the Road and Bridge Fund1 provided this Seo-
tlon shall not apply except in counties where the
constitutionallimit or twenty-five cents (256)
on the @ne Hundred Dollars ($100) 1s levied for
general purpOses.W
"Art. 2350 (2). The CommissionersCourt at
its first regular meeting each year shall, by order
duly made and entered upon the Minutes of same Court,
fix the salaries of the County Commissionersfor
such year, within the limits as provided for In this
Act.-
It will be noted that Article 2350 (21, supra, requires the
commissioners'court to fix the salaries ol'the county oommIs-
sloners for the year, wlthln the limits as provided for In
Article 2350, supra, at its first regular meetlnc each year.
Article 235C, supra, provides In efreot that the county com-
missioners shall each receive annual salaries not to exoeed
the amounts specified therein tobe paid in equally lhonthly
Installments based on the total assessed valuations of all
property certified by the county assessor and approved by the
oommlssloners~oourt ror county purposes for the previous year.
For the year 194Og Terry County had a total assessed valua-
tion or all properties of $5,807,775.00. The ealarles of the
member0 of the oommlssloners'oourt of Terry County must be
based on the 1940 assessed valuations and the salary to which
each la entitled to is as provided In the last paragraph of
Artlole 2350, supra, whloh Is quoted above, provided In no
eeent shall the total oompensationof each commissionerexceed
:51200.00for the year 1941.
._-
9ou u$ate in your letter that the total assessed valuation
for 1943.Is well over $6,000,000.00. This being true and pro-
vided the assessed valuations do not exceed !j10,000,000.00ror
the year 1911, the oommlssloners~court may at its first regular
.
Honorable H. B. Virgil Crawford, page 4
meeting In January, 1942, fix the salary of each county oom-
missioner ror wuoh year at a sum not exoeedlng$1400.00.
The oounty oommlsslonersoennot increase their ealary for the
year 1941 based on the assessed valuation for said year, but '
as above stated the salary for the year 1942 must be based on
the 1941 assessed valuation.
Trusting that the foregoing fully answers your Inquiry,
we are
Yours Very truly
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
BY /s/ Ardell Wllllams
Asalstent
AW:N
APPROVED J-UN7, 194l
/s/ Grover Sellers
FIRST ASSISTAIJT
ATTOFNEY GEXERAL
APPROVED OPINION CObMITTZE
By BWB Chairman