Case Information
*1 . . _ Honorable Joseph II. Mims
County Attorney
Midland County Mi.dland Texas Opinion No. O-5073
Dear Sir: Re: Order of commissioners' court of Midland County quoted in your letter is invalid.
Your request for opinion has beenreceived and care- fully considered by this department. We quote from your re- quest as follows:
"Will you please furnish me with an opln- Len' on the question of the validity of the fol- lowing order of the Commissioners1 Court of Mid- land County:
"'On motion of J. L. Dillard seconded by 3. C. Roberts, all offlctals collecting fees for officials of Midland County and district offices are directed to remit all receipts for fees
earned in 1943 direct to the Treasurer of Mid- land County who shall receipt the official
thereof, and deposit same in the Officers' Sal- ary Fund of Midland County. The foregoing mo- tion was unanimously passed, all Commissioners voting and. it Is so ordered by the court.'
"Explanation and supporting brief accompany this letter."
We 'quote from your brief as follows: "EXPLANATION AND HISTORY:
"At its first regular meeting In January, 1943, the Commissioners' Court, In accordance
with Article 3912e, Sec. 2, by its order duly
made and entered of record, determined that coun- ty officers ,of Midland County shal! be compensat- ed for the fiscal year on the basis of an annual salary, to-wit: $3000 for each county official,
? Honorable Joseph H. Mlms, page 2 ’ “‘“I O-5073
Including only the following officials: county
clerk, district clerk, county judge, sheriff
tax assessor and collector, and county attorney.
Precinct officials shall remain on the fee basis
by order duly made and entered of record. Mld-
land County has a population according-to the
last Federal Census of less than 20,000.
"The Order first above mentioned was next
adopted.
"Prior to 1943, all Midland County officials
were on a fee basis for their compensation.
Under the fee system, each official, as and when
he collected fees, retained those fees which ac-
crued to his office, and turned over to other
officials the portion of collected fees accruing
to their respective offices. In this manner each
official could keep the entries in his fee book
current, and, at the end of the year, make the
sworn statement required by Article 3897. .~
"The order of the, Commissioners' Court was ln- tended to change the manner of paying out fees by
the collecting official, as outlined; and to sub-
stitute in its place the payment of fees collected directly Into the hands of the Treasurer, by who-
ever collected the fees.
"The county clerk, district clerk and justice
of the peace are the principal offlclals uho col-
lect fees, and the question has arisen whether
they can be compelled by the Order of the Commis-
sioners' Court to pay to the Treasurer the fees
accruing to other officials.
"OPINION:
"It is my opinion that the Order 1s Invalid.
'HHASCNS:
"When the ~Leglslature provided for counties
of less than 20,000 to pay county officials on an
annual salary basis In lieu of fees, It did not
attempt to change the manner in which officials
received and accounted for the,fees~ accruing to
thelr respective offices.
"Article 39129, Sec. 5, provides that fees
shall be depositedin the Officers' Salary Fund,
Honorable Joseph H. Mlms, page 3
but does not say that the collecting official
shall deposit all fees in said fund, both his
own and the fees accruing to other offices:
"'It shall be the duty of all officers to charge and collect In the manner authorized by law all fees and commissions which are permitted by law to be assessed and collected for all of- ficial service performed by them. As and when such fees are collected they.shall be deposited In the Officers' Salary Fund;.-or funds provided In this Act. In event the Commissioners' Court finds that the failure to collect any fee or
commission was due to neglect on the part of
the officer charged with the responsibility of collecting same, the amount of such fee or com- mission shall be deducted from the salary of
such officer. Before any such deduction Is
made, the Commissioners' Court shall furnish
such officer with an itemized statement of the uncollected fees with which his account is to
be charged, and shall notify such officer of
the time and place for a hearing on same, to
determine whether such officer was guilty of
negligence, which time for hearing shall be at least ten days subsequent to the date of notice.
Unless an officer is charge by law with the res- ponsibility of collecting fees, the Commlsslon- ers ' Court shall not in any event make any de- ductions from the authorized salary of such
officer . (
"Sec. 22, Article 3912e, providesthat the provisions of this Act shall be cumulative:
"'The provisions of this Act shall be cumu- lative of all laws not In conflict herewith....'
"Accordingly the Legislature evidently ln- tended that Articles 3896 and 3897 should contin- ue in force even as to those officials whose
compensation is on the basis of an annual sal- ary in lieu of fees. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for the respective officials of -the county to keep the records of their fees
and to make an annual sworn statement, as re-
quFred by Articles and 3897, unl.ess the
collecting officials from time to time turned~ over to each respective official that portion
of the collected fees accruing to his office. *4 .
Honorable Joseph II. Mlms, page 4 Article 1896 ' Eich district, county and pre-
cinct o,fflcer shall keep a correct statement of all fees earned by him and all sums comlhg into his hands as deposits for cost, together with all trust funds
placed In the registry of the court, fees-of of-
fice and commissions in a book or in books to be' . provided him for that purpose, in which the officer, at the time When such deposits are made or such
fees and commissions are earned and when any or all of such funds shall come into his hands, shall enter the same; and It shall be the duty of the county -~- auditor In izountles having a county auditor to an- nually examine the books and accounts of such of-
ficers anal to report his findings to the next suc- ceeding grand jury or district court. In counties having no c'ounty auditor, it shall be the duty of
the Commisslonerti' Court to make the examination of said books and accounts or have the same made and
to make report to the grand jury as hereinabove pro- vided.'
"Article 5897 'Each district; county and pre- cinct officer, at the close of each fiscal year
(December 31st) shall make to the district court of the county In which he resldes~a sworn statement In triplicate (on forms designed and approved by
the State Auditor) a copy of which statement shall be forwarded to the State Auditor by the clerk of
the district court of said county within thirty (30) days after the same has been filed in his office;
and one copy to be flied with the county auditor,
If any; otherwise said copy shall be filed with the Commissioners' Court. Said report shall show the
amount of all fees, commissions and compensations
whatever earned by.sald officer during the fiscal
year; and secondly, shall show the amount of fees,
commiss~lons and compensation collected by him during the fiscal year; thirdly, said report shall contain an Itemized statement of all fees, commissions and
compensations earned during the fiscal year which
were not collected, together with the name of the
party owing said fees, commissions and i2ompensatlons.
Said report shall be filed not later than February
1st following the close of the fiscal year-arid for
each day aft&r said date that said report remains liot filed, said officer shall be liable-to a penalty of Twenty Five ($25.00) Dollars, which may be re-
covered by-the county In-a suit brought for such -- purposes, and in addition said officer shall be sub- ject to removal from office.'
Honorable Joseph Ii. Mims, page 5
"In connection with the above quoted Articles, it is further noted that Article 3891, in part, requires that:
"'All fees due and not collected, as shown In the report required by Article 3897, shall be 'collected by the officer to whose office the fees accrued afid shall be disposed of by said officer In accordance with the provisions of this Act.'
"This Article also contemplates the keeping of a record of fees accruing to each office.
"The underscored portion of the following Article might conceivably be sufficient author- ity for the Order of the Commissioners' Court, but if it Is, the question naturally arises How can the officials make the~swopn statement and keep the record of fees requlred.by Articles and x897?
"Article 3899 'The fiscal year, within the meaning of this act, shall begin on January 1st of each year; and each district, county and pre- cinct officer shall file his report and make the final settlement required in this Act not later than February 1st of each Tear: provided. how- ever, that o?ficers receiving in-annual salary as compensation for their services shall. bs the close of each month, pay Into the Officers' Sal- aryFund or funds, all fee:. commissions and
compensation collected by him durlnn said month.
. . . . .
"In fairness to each member of the Commls- sioners' Court of Midland County, I wish to say that the Order referred to herein was passed in entire good faith."
We agree with you that the above quoted order Is ln- valid. We wish to express our appreciation for your excel- lent brief in this matter. Very truly yours
WJF:db:wc ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS APPRCVEC FEB 9, 1943 s/Gerald C. Mann By s/Wm. J. Fan&&
ATTCR?XY GENERAL OF TEXAS Wm. J. Fanning .Asslstant Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWB' Chairman