Case Information
*1 Dear Sir: Opinion No. Q-5319
Re: .Amendment of County budget. Your letter of January 12, 1944, requesting the opinion of th2s department on the questions stated therein reads so fO11owS:
"In Literti: Co&t;, whose offiders are pzld on a sala.ry basis, the following conditions prevail:
"1. The budgeted epuropriation for the Tax Collecttir's office has been ‘round to be insufficient to meet the expense which~will'necessarlly be In- curred in 1944. At the same time, hokever, the ap- propriation or budget of the office of County Clerk for 194 is in excess of the amount that will be
needed -- and to approximately the same extent tha.t there ,ls a shortage in the Tax C?llectior's office.
%ey Commissioners' Court amend the budget, for Officers Salary Fund, by deducting $1,000 from
the budget of Count:? Clerk's Office, and add a like amount to the budget for Tax Collector's office?
"2. The Road & Brid Fund of Precinct No. 4 spent in approximately 4,000 less than the
amount of the budget for ,that year. In preparation of the 1944 budget it was not a.nticipated that this precinct fund wjuld have any balance of cash on hand Janu.ary 1, 1944; but because of ina'ility to obtain delivery of certain road materiel.3.n December 1943
the total of the budget was unspent in thee above amount, and lile?wise this caused 2. cash ba.lance of $4,000.03 on January 1, 1344.
"P&y the Rotid 8~ Bridge Fund budget for 1944 now be amended, '01. increasing the sa.me b:- a sum of $4 300.00; or will it be necessa,ry to Hait until August, 1944 a.nd .edd. the $4 000 January 1 1344 ba.latice to the probable receipts of 1945, when preparing the county'budget for 1945; thu.s in effect making a.larger budget by $4,000 in 1945 ra.ther th~an 19447
“3. In connection with the above, I am'cognizant of the fa.ct tha.t the Road and Bridge Fund of the Precincts are in reality a part of th% county road bridge fund, and .with the provision of the law which- states that balances et *2 tiginorable hrph:; Cole, Fage 2 (Copy) o-5819 ~
:, i, the end of tine Year shall be placed back 1
and bridge fund, for re-distribution on January 1st. Ther&
fore, the $4,903 above mentioned would ha,ve the same effect whetner we consider 2. county-wide road & bridge fund or a precinct reed & bridge fund, for the fact is that there,ls ., total of $4,000 more in road & Bridge fund on January 1st thn had been antic:pated.
“3 . The county hospital because of a grea~tl'-in- creased number of patients admitted, collected in 19 3, i double the a?!ount of money that it was anticipated in the 1943 budget that it would collect. At the same time Its expenses increased slightly (about 20s). Thereis every reason to believe that in 1944 them revenues of the hospital will agal-n be far in excess of the amount anticipated to be collected, when said 1944 budget was prepared by the Board of Managers in July, 1943.
%ay the 1944 budget for the hospital, which 1s but a subdivision of the budget of the County General Fund, be increased by a.n amount equalling the amount of income over and above the amount estimated in the budget?,
"The collections df the hospital are placed in the County General Fclnd; and in turn, the bills and accounts, and salaries of the hospital are paid out on claims.against the county We same as any other county claim.
"There is no place in General Fund for a reduction In any appropriation in 1944 which would be as great as the revised anticipated amount of expenditure that will be necessary in 1944; therefore, a budget amendment In the expenditure section of' General F'und fo'r the hospital would increase the grand total of General Fund; however, as stated above, the revenues will be increased more than ~the pro- posed increased expenditure, and therefore expenditees under the 1944 budget for General Fund, if revised, would actually be less than the revenues.
Way Commissioners' Court increase the total expend-
iture of the budget of General Fund, and at the same time provide for such increase by showing cause for, and increas- ing the 'receipts' section of the fund at the sa~me time?"
Article 6898-9, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, provides for ti% preparation of the county budget.
Article 68ga-lJ, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, provrdes, fn p2rt:
'* + * * When the budget has been finally approved by the commissioners' court, the budget, as approved by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the County court, 24 ta,*s levied ofily in accordance therewith, and no expenditure of the-funds of the county shall there- *3 'Hpnorable Murphy Cole, Page 3 o-5819
after be made except In sttiict compliance with the budget as adopted by the court. Except that emergency expendi- tures, in case of grave public necessity, to meet unusual and unforeseen conditions which could not, by reasonable diligence, thought and attention have been included in the original budget, may from time to time be authori;e; ",x the court as amendments to the original budget.
. _ Article 68ga-9, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, provides in part:
'* * * The budget shall also contain a complete _.. financial-statement of the county, showing all outstand-
ing obligations of the county, thee cash on hand to the credit of each and every fund of the county government, the funds received from all sources during the previous war, the funds available from all sources during the ensuing year, the estima~ted revenues available to cover the proposed budget and estimated rate of tax which will be required."
This department has repeatedly held that the commissioners' court of a county is without authority to make any expenditure of county funds except in strict compliance with the budget, except the emergency expenditures in case of grave public necessity, ads outlined by Section 11 of Article 68ga, supra. This department has also repeatedly held that Section 20 of Article 68ga~, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, does not authorize the commissioners' court to increase the budget after its adoption and to hold otherwise would destroy the very purpose of the Act.
This department has consistently h~eld that the question of "Grave public necessity' is a fact question to be deterinined primarily 'by the commissioners' court. In opinion No. O-2315 it was held by this department tlat the discretion of the commissioners' court is not absolute authority to expend county funds in the case of an emergency and is final, only when the question is debatable or where the existence of.an emergency is unquestionable, However, the commissioners' court has no authority to determine and declare that an emergency exists, and expend county funds therefor, where the facts clearly show the contrary. Stated a~nother way, the commissioners' court has no legal authority to declare an emergency and evade the law, where in fact, no emergency exists.
The only way the county budget may be amended after its adopti is in strictcompliance with the above statutory provisions. Where the existence of "~grave public necessityn is debatable, the acts of ~;~~i",o;;r missioners' court are controlling. Therefore : as above stated, opinion that wh.ether or not the commissioners court of Liberty County has the authority to amend the county budget under the facts submitted is a fact question to be determined primarily by the commissioners' court. .~
H$nor?ble Murphy Cole, page 4
Yours very truly
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS By s/Ardell Williams Ardell Williams Assistant ,
AW:EP:wc
APPROVED JAN 26, 1944
s/ Grover Sellers
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
Approved Opinion Committee By s/DM Chairman