Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
l3arhan
county .%ttornoy
Wrath County*
Stophellvill?, Texas.,
Ibar Sirl
difficultj oml- ory on their pert offioials nnlariss are due even thou& prcciste your -mdvln~ the roqulremnt.
that a brief bo prepared on this anh yoilr ;-iving u3 an answer on this nattier imcdiate- 13.’
.Article 39128, Section 6(b), roads'as follows: *2 Eon. Clint Barham, page 2
Vo officer rocoiving a salary chnll hcroax'tcr roceive*any er officio coqensation: Ye note the use of the yjoras "other funds" in this ghrose in your latter. "Glut thot they mutt trcne- for f;-ox gther~ $unas~ (uUersoorinn ours) a sufficient amount of money to m! sl;o up the de~icicncy in the Offi- cers' Salary ?&a with whi,ch to pay the county official."
By the terms of'the above quoted article and section, the comnisoioners * court is only authorized to make transfers 03x3 the General Fund of the coudy to the Officers1 Salary i?und.
3mh R trnnsfer ES is provided for in tile above Quoted section would not be in conflict with the iqliea prohibition containca in.Section 9 of Article 0 of the Constitution .of the state of Teras,ngainst the transfer by the'cczmmissionern' court of a county of money from okie constitutional runa to another. CARROLL v. XILLIAK3,~ 109 T??x.AS 155, 202 S.%* 504.
Ia no sense is the transfer of monies from the Coneral tina to the Officers' Salary Fund an uncoasti- tutionol diversi of taxes for en uanuthorizca -Jur,ose. There is no unln~;~"ul transfer or divarsion becaucc the peyment af the salaries of county.officers is one of t!ie pur?osss of the County General Fund. Thcoreticdly the co!x3tituti.onal Gen'cral Fund of the County and tho statutory Officers Salary Fund ore both charged with the garment of the sal,grios of county officers, avtilnble funds ir, the for;ler sugglomentinG zanies in the letter in the event of a deficiency.
The.provision containca is Scctiog 6(b) of Article 59120, above quotad, for the transfer of funds from the General zuna to the Ofi‘icers* Cclerp Fund, when the monies in the latter fur& ar'3 insufficient to ncet the salary claims a&ninst it is r:snilntory clna in the event of,a deficiency in the GIPficers* Salaky *3 Eon. Clint aarhcm, pago 3
Fund the coz&ssionorcl court has no choice but to offcot the transfer from the General Fund subjeot, hovievor, to one qualification.
The only limitation upon such a transfer arises whore the monies in the G∋rel Lund itself are insufficient tc meet outstanding registered claims al;ainst the county.
Article 1625,.l?evised Civil Statutes, 1923, providos:
Tach county treasurer .sb.cll kccg a well- boilnd book in which he shall re&scor 011 claims against his county in the order of gre- seilfotion and if more tnnn one is nressnted at the s&e ti.me he shall register them in the ordor of their date. Ee shali 3ay no such . claim or any part thereof, nor shall the sa.me, or any part thereof, be received by any offi- cer in payment of any indebtedness to tho county, until it has been duly reSistored in accordance.v:ith the provisions of this title, All claims in each olass shall be -2aid In the order in wvhich they are rezistersd.lt h transfer from the Wneral Fund to tho Offi- cers' Salary Fund cenzot be mx?de at the expenso of the registered claim holders. where all the Roden in the &nercl Fund are obligated by outstanding or unpaid script, a transfer prejudicial to the possessors of script csanot be effected. See opinion of thi3 Dopart- meet, dated cay 8, 1936, to Hon. Xosea L. sa3aras, County P.ttorcey, Xaco$doches County, by Eon. Joe J. Alsup, &a&iatant httorney General.
In such a case the result of a transfer fram the *General Lund to the' Officers' Salary IUd would.be to create a furtier indebtedness against the General Fund ?ihich would be subordinate to all prior:.re&ter- ea claims.
As ststod by Zion. Joe J. Usup in the above referred to opinion.
Vhe praotical effeot of this is that the General Fund merely goes further in the 'red*".
Eon. Clint Bnrhm, pa@ 4
i%cro tho doficiem7 cxiats in the Czxral %nd under Article 39120, Sectim (b) above qx~tod, there can bc EO actual transf6r Prom the of msl? Cmernl Fund. There cm only be crontcd a mm claim sminst tha Cci-zrol Ti.md which rr,ust be paid in the or&r of its priorit7.
:!'e cuoto further frcmthe opinion above re-
ferrcd to by Iton. Joe J'. J.lsup:
n * * * a11 claim against tho Count7 rxxt be _=a:d in the order in %hich they v:cre roCiotercd. Thus vinrrcnts of officials do not ccoossa,-ily hold priority over outst:nd- ing unj+d script of the. general fund. E3V,- _ . . . _ _ ever, ~8 a0 not wisn to 00 unacrstooa as ruling that the Cfficcrsr Sslary Fund is sub- ject to tt;e Kenore provi3ions of the Inn, J?rtich 1625, b.vi%.?d civil st2tUt6S, 2iid evidently tze Lo&slature intemled that p&y- rsmtn fron such funa shoulC be x&e Ian cash as Lectioa 19 of Senate 2111 X0. 5, speclfic- ally ~rovlCcs~t!mt all officials mst be paid iz soney, The ~cnerol fund of the Count7, hoxvcr, is still subject to the term of Article lC25. As ststed above, no re,-,istre- tian is neaessary for officis13 &miinr: selerp from the Gfficers* Salary Zun& and upon the trsnsfsr being nade fro3 the cenernl fun& to the Officers~ Salary Fund the count7 officials should be paid in so far as possible in cash out of said fund rqardleas of the status of tha gen&al Z'und.n
hit is our'odnion t&t under the terYs of Arti- 6 tb) Vernon’s Annotated Civil Cl6 39126, EaOtiOn Statutes, it is oblicztoG7 ana namlatory upon the cczdssioners~ court of c. county to trnnsfor zoniea fro3 t>e Ckxoral Fun5 to the Officers' Snlery Zimd there there are n3 c,onios in the latter Pund v;i'ith.
VMCX io pny 8313rics pf comty officers provided, however, thst v:here there me sufficient outstsditzg regiatcrca olaizls a@.nat the Gcn3r31 Zml.of e coua- ty to create a daficicncy in that fund, then tI%re ;my be no trarisfcr of actual cnsh fro% the Cansral Fund, but only the creatiop of c new claim o(;einct~ *5 Eon. Clint 3arhnm, paga [6]
the C+cr,eral ?md which is dubordinate to Drier out- standinS rcr,istored olalac ay,nir.st the G&oral wd and is psycbla in odor of its ~riorit7.
Trustin:: that the above fully answers your inquiry, v:e are
r=t< sauk Dick Stout Assistaat APiiOVED Opinion oomittee B7 Bm -ciia%n