Case Information
*1 .
Honorable Toti A, Craven
.County Auditor
McLennan County
Waco, Texas
Dear Sir: n Opinion No. O-5184 ( ..
7 :.R.q:, Amendment of the’county budget.
Your letter’ of April 3, 1943, requesting the opinton of this dep.art- ment on certain questions stated therein with reference to an amendment ., :~~ of the county budget reads as follows: ,: :
“Article 689a-9 provides, among other things, that a, county budget shall cover all proposed expenditures of the county government for the year being budgeted and shall also contain a complete financial statement of the county and shall include a statement of the fun~ds available from all sources during the year budgeted. In compiling any budget covering a future period of time, it is. of course, necessary to make es- timates both as to probable expenditures and revenues. Using past expertences as a guide, usually a county budget can be rea- sonably, accurately compiled. The amount of tax collections is not difficult to estimate correctly but fees of office charged for services rendered the publiccan not always be as accurately The demands for expenditures out of the Officers estimated.
Salary Fund of a county are contingent, to a degree, .on the vol- ume of services rendered the public as reflected in the fee reve- nues, Article 689a-11 outlines the conditions under which a county budget may be amended. Would the collection of fees for the benefit of the Officers Salary Fund in excess of the amount estimated under the budget, become available for expenditures beyond those’antic.ipated in the budget but necessary in connec- tion with the efficient operation of the departments in the Offi- cers Salary Fund Group ?
Honorable Tom A~. Craven, Page 2, O-5184
?.War conditions have brought about a number of changes in our business economy-- some of which might have been anti- cipated several months ago and others which reasonably diligent thought might have not revealed. Necessary living costs in some areas have ad,vanced more than might have been expected. This is particularly in counties such as McLennan County having true large increases in population due to war activities, Competition affects labor and salary schedules. This does not necessarily mean direct competition with governmental and defense agencies but as the surplus man-power has been cons.umed ~by industry or otherwise, operations outside those defined as essential to the war effort must compete for the services of those yet available for such operations. Because of these conditions, the depart- mental officials of McLennan County contend they will be unable to efficiently carry out the duties and functions of their respec- tive departments during the remainder of 194.3 without an increase in salary allotments above those set out in the 1943 county budget.
,. “Would the contention of these departmental officials, if sub- ‘. .. .- _.., stantiated by them, justify an emergency amendment to the county budget under the provisions for making such amendments as out- lined in article 689a- 117 *
On April 13, 1943~. we wrote you requesting certain additional in- formation relative to your request and in compliance with our request for addi- tional information on April 21, 1943, you wrote us as follows:
“In reply. to your letter of April 13th asking for additional information relative to opinion request o-51.84, I shall make a few general observations followed by more specific information.
“Supplement.ing the information given in paragraph 1 of my letter of. April 3rd, I wish to add that not only this year but frequently we have situations arise under which conditions have changed sfnce’ budget making time which require an expansion of operations in a given office beyond what was anticipated, or could have been antici- pated, at the time the budget was made, and, in many instances, the expansion of ope,rations brings in additional revenues. In most of these instances, the regular working personnel as anticipated under the budget is unable to efficiently handle the work under the expanded *3 Honorable Tom A. Craven, Page 3, O-5184
operation~.,;As.anexa.mple, .of,~one of these situations, reference might be made to the .fact that some twelve ,months ago the demand for birth certificates from the County Clerk multipliedseveral times,: In McLennan County this, additional work required two extra ,. . . dep~uties, to handle,tbe situation efficiently. The increased ,work pro-
duced revenues not anticipated under the budget.. Another situation .would ,be a large: increase in the number of poll taxes collected., : The fees received by a county for collecting poll-taxesdo not _ amount to enough to cover the expense of such collections and sub- sequent handling. of the poll lists. These examples are, submitted mshow that we.are sometimes .confronted with a propos~ition of, spending Morse fork deputy~ hire than was anticipated under the budget but in spending that additional,amount, .increased revenues. inthe, same-,,off~ice are produced. While on the other hand, we frequently have an expanded operation which does-not produce sufficie~nt addi- tional revenues to, cover the ,additional. co& of the expansion. Again, we might have a: s.urplus of increased~ re~venues in one. offices of the _.. Officers’.Salary Group and a-deficit caused by a necessary e.xp.anded
program in another. office ~of’the same-group.’ When application is ,made’.by ‘a:department head for additional deputies to <meet some unexpected operation,. the commissioners’ cour.t, almot invariably, calls attention to the fact that the expenditure would overdraw the ~budget., :. ::.:i-. ~.:? :: : ~.
“Although under the application we wish to make at’the present ~. ..time,,.the.two questions asked in my letter of April 3rd are closely r.elated,. fundamentally,...they are separate questions.. .: ~.. ~.
~.;. ,.
“AS in most defense areas, war,. conditions Ihave,;brought about I.,: conditions which I think are well known to you and which exist now in McLennan County under which it .is.difficult, if not .almost imposs- ible; to retain clerical personnel at the salary schedules of,budget .~. :.. making time, July 1942. I am not so sure but what the commissionersi court could have, by diligent effort, .foreseen this condition, but the fact remains that provision was not made bind the budget,for 1,943 to .-meet such increased requirements: This question is whether ornot
a. commissioners*; court could legally~ amend. a budget under such con- ditions to meet.,increas.ed deputy hire and justify such amendment under the emergency provision as outlined in article 689A-ll ?
Honorable Tom A. Craven, Page 4. O-5184
“The present salaries paid county officials ar~e set at the maximum allowed by law and we, of course, wish $0 make no application of any theory that might be set out in your opip ion to the compensation of the,se officials. We are familiar with the maximum compensation that can.be paid deputies of county officials and know that under n,o circumstances could ‘salaries to such deputies be raised legally beyond such maxi- the salaries of deputies of ,Incidentally, however, mums., McLennan County officials, at present, are substantially below the maximums allowe,d under the statutes..
~-one question is, would increased revenues beyond that anticipated in the budge~t justify the use of dlscretlon by a corn.- miss.ioners*.cotirt ln allowing increased expenditures beyond that anticipated in. the budget to pay deputy hire, within the maxi: mums allowed under the statutes necessary to efficiently operate .a county department, ?,ssuming the official head of the county office 1s able to convince the court that his department cannot operate efficiently without ‘such increased ~expenditures ? The . . other ,question 1.8 whethe.r or not when a county is unable to .“~ retain experienced personnel at the salary schedule set up in
a bu.dget. would an emergency amendment to the budget be justi- fied under the provisions of article 689A-1~1 7”
Article 689a-9, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, provides for the preparation of the county budget.
A.rticle 689a-10, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, prov1de.s that when the budg.et f,or the county has been prepared and completed a copy of the same shall be filed,with.the clerk of the county court, avail- able for the inspec,tion of any taxpayer.
Article 689a.T11. Ve,rnon’s Annotated Civtl Statutes, reads in part as follows:
YThe comm~issioners’ court in each county shall each year provide for a public hearing on the county budget. . . which hear- ing shall take place on some date t,o be named by the.commission- ers*,court subsequent to August 15 and prior to the levy of taxes by said commissioners~” court. Public notice shall be given that 2..
‘; J. .’ “,
Honorable Tom A,. Craven, Page 5, O-5184
on &id date of hearing the budget as prepared by the county judge will be considered by the commissioners’ court. Said notice shall name the hour, the date and the place where the hearing shall be conducted, any taxpayer of such county shall have the right to be present and participate in said hearing, At the conclusion of the hearing, the budget as prepared by the county judge shall be acted upon by the commissioners’ court. The court shall have authority to m~ake such changes in the budget as in their judgment the law warrants and the interest of the taxpayers demand. When the bud- get has been finally approved by the commissioners’ court the bud’ get as approved by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the county court, ,ar+d taxes levied, only in accordance therewith, and no expenditure of the funds of the county shall thereafter be made except in strirt compliance with the budget as adopted by the court. Ex- cept that emergency expenditures, and cas,es of gr.ave public neces- sity, to meet unusual and unforese,en conditions which could not, by reasonable diligent?.ho.Fght and attention have been included in the original budget, may from time to tjme be authorized by the court ;: as amendment to the original,budget. In all cases where such amend- _ .-.
ment to the original budget is made, a copy of the order of the court .I amending the budget s,hall be filed with the clerk of the county court and attached to the budget originally adopted.”
,Article 689a-20, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, provides as- follows:
.: YNothing contained in this Act shall be construed as preclud- i
ing the Legislature from making changes in the budget for State purposes or prevent the County Commissioners’ Court from making changes in the budget for county purposes or prevent the governing body from making changes in th& budget for school purposes; and the duties required by virtue of this Act bf State, County, City and Schbol Office.rs or Representatives shall be performed f~or the com- pensation now provided by law to be paid said officers, rkspectively.”
In construing the foregoing provision (Article 689a-20) this de?;. - partme& has repeatedly held ‘we are of the opinion, upon considering the act ’ as a whole, that Section 20, quoted above, does not authorize the commission- ers* court to make changes so as to increase the amount of the budget after *6 Honorable Tom 4. Craven, Page 6, O-5184 ,’
its final adoption except in cases of emergency. . .~. We do not think it authorizes the commissionerss court to ~increase the budget after its adoption. To so hold, would destroy the very purpose of the Act..” (See our opinion No. O-,1053 and an opinion written by Honorable Joe J. Alsup, Assistant Attorney General dated October 3, 1935.) :.
c ,.~ “. It ins ,stated in our opin& Nb.. O-3146: ,, ,:..; . . .~
‘The only way the county budget may ,be amended’after its adoption is in strict com~pliance; with the above statutory provis.ion. This department has consistently ruled that whether a .situation. is one which ,can be cla.ssified as an emergency under the, budget laws so as to perm,it the commissioners’ cqurt to amend the, budget, is a question of fact primarily to be passed :.
upon~by,the~commissioners’ court. See Opinion O-07, o-1022, an~d O-1728, Annual Opinion Reports of the Attorney General for 1939, pages 2; 274 and 455, respectively. . ..~“Y’
,,.?Tl-+e Quoted statutory~ provision provides that no expendi- . ,1’ ture of the funds of the county shall be made after the budget is
finally apprqyed and filed withlthe clerks except in strict compli- ante w.,ith,the,adopted budget. An exception to the foregoing is made, however. as to ‘emergency expenditures.“”
As we understand your letters, as,quoted above, you,desire our opinion on the questions presented in the last paragraph of your second let- ter.
Under the facts stated and in view of the foregoing authorities, you are advised that it is the opinion of this department that the c~ommission- ers’ court of the county is unauthorized to make any expenditures, of the funds of the county, except in strict~ compliance with the budget, except emergency expenditures in case of grave public necessity, to meet unusual and unforeseen conditions which could not, by reasonable diligent thought and attention, have been included in the original budget. Suc.h emergency expenditures must be made in compliance with the proper amendment to the budget by the commis- sioners’ court. Whether or not the situations presente,d in your inquiry are such as can be classified as a grave public necessity requiring emergency expenditures under the budget law, so,a,s to permit the commissioners’ court *7 Honorable Tom A. Craven, Page 7, O-5184
to amend the budget, is a question of faci primarily to be passed upon by the commisstoners” court.
Yours very truly ATTORNEYGENERALOFTEXAS Ardell Williams Assistant AW:db
ATTORNEYGENERALdFTEXAS
_.
-- -