Judges: GREG ABBOTT, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 2/7/2011
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
The Honorable D. Matt Bingham Smith County Criminal District Attorney 100 North Broadway, 4th Floor Tyler, Texas 75702
Re: Authority of a county judge to unilaterally grant access to county financial records to a volunteer financial consultant (RQ-0908-GA)
Dear Mr. Bingham:
You ask whether a county judge is authorized to unilaterally grant access to county financial records to a volunteer financial consultant.1 You inform us that the county judge, in his capacity as the county budget officer, has accepted the offer of a professional financial consultant "to assist with assessment of financial information and budget recommendations." Request Letter at 2. Although you do not specify what tasks the judge has asked the consultant to perform, you enclose the judge's letter to county officials asking them to assist the volunteer consultant "to understand the operation and financial requirements of each department" in preparing for the county's upcoming budget. Request Letter at Exhibit A. The consultant has asked county officers for information such as job descriptions and salary amounts, and has indicated that any confidential information should be redacted. Request Letter at 2. On behalf of one of the members of the commissioners court, you first ask whether a county judge, as the county's budget officer, may unilaterally grant access to the county's financial records to a volunteer financial consultant without obtaining permission from the full commissioners court.Id.
The powers of a public officer, such as a county budget officer, are limited to those "expressly authorized by law or implied from the law." In re J.P.,
You indicate that Smith County operates under chapter 111, subchapter A, with the county judge as budget officer. Request Letter at 3.2 Subchapter A expressly requires the judge to prepare and file a proposed budget, and specifies the categories of financial information the judge must include in the proposed budget. TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE ANN. §§
Subchapter A's allocation of authority to the judge to require information from county officers and to request the commissioners court to issue an order requiring such information strongly suggests that the county judge need not seek the commissioners court's permission before exercising authority under section 111.005(a).Id. § 111.005(a). Your concern, however, is not with the county judge's authority to require information under section 111.005(a), but with the means the county judge has chosen to exercise that authority through the volunteer consultant.
An elected officer who has been charged with a statutory duty has a degree of discretion in the means of discharging that duty.See Hooten v. Enriquez,
You also inform us that the consultant has filed Public Information Act ("PIA") requests with the county officers seeking the same information, and you ask whether it was necessary to file such requests to obtain access to the pertinent budget records. Request Letter at 2,4. As discussed above, the consultant may receive budget information to the extent authorized by the county judge's authority under section 111.005(a). Chapter 111, subchapter A neither expressly nor implicitly invokes the provisions of the PIA. Rather, the only enforcement mechanism under the subchapter, should a county officer fail to provide information as required by the county judge, is the county judge's authority to seek an order from the commissioners court directing the officer to produce the information. TEX. Loc.Gov'T CODE ANN. § 111.005(b) (West 2008). Consequently, a consultant is not required to submit PIA requests in order to seek information on behalf of the county judge under section
A county judge is not required to seek approval before delegating nondiscretionary and administrative tasks to accomplish a county judge's statutory duties as county budget officer. Should a county officer fail to provide budget information requested by the county judge, the county judge's remedy is to seek an order from the commissioners court.
Very truly yours,
GREG ABBOTT Attorney General of Texas
DANIEL T. HODGE First Assistant Attorney General
DAVID J. SCHENCK Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel
NANCY S. FULLER Chair, Opinion Committee
William A. Hill Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee