- Honorable O.C. Fisher

District Attorney Dlstriat No. 51

s8n Angelo, Texas

bar Slrr oplniorl No. O-4988

Re: vypk auditor under Artiole 1646b. appointed by District J;&e'u& request of Gkand Jury ma: makeaudit ofcounty~a affaIrsand related matters.

Y&r z&elit ‘ror inion ha8 been received and wreStally .oon8Memdby this depaH+ent. T!i e quote from your request hs follower 'I 8m requesting an op*ou in referenoe to .'. the following 8ituatlona ;- 'h Sarah, 1941 in pursuanoe of Artlale l@&a

of tk8 Revised Civil Sktute~.of %caa a grand jury 0r m.on county pcrs6ed a resolution o&rlng 8nd I dlhctlng th&t'an audit be made of t&e county fln&e~ ,.:' Tbe'last paragreph of said resolution

of IMon Oounty. *au as follousl

"%ierefon in accordmoe with thl8 re- port, request 18 made and it 1s here ordered . . that nuab audit be ma&e by some CexWfled Pub&

Aacountaut to be named by your Honor, duly quallfled 40 make suab audit.'

"The M&riot Judge iorthwltb appointed Jake Freeze, a certlfled public accountant of San Angelo, to make the audit. Hr. Freeze however, poetponed the uudertakins because he nas una610 to seoure e aatisiectory 8greement with the Comml8alonere' Court In reference to the pay that he would eventually receive for hla efforta. I (UD now requested tO’8eCUre an opinion from your Department a8 to whether Hr. Freeze would be authorized to proceed at thie tlme In pursuance oi said a&ion of the &raid jWy and or the Metriot Jud@ and make the audit. I under- 8taTId that private altlzens of Irlon County have arranged to pay him, and have thereby eliminated the obstaale 'which prevented him from prooeeding orWnal4.

"This would seea to involve a construotlon of the above quoted.artlcle and pertalne to the QUkstiOn OfIthe elapse of time since the aotion of the gMurd jurS. ilnd no decleiona by the courta that throw ang light on H-us ewh *oat

Honorable O.C. Fisher, Page 2 . . . . . II

fiion County, Texas, has a population of less than 25,000 Inhabitants ticcording to the last pmcedipg Federal Census of 1940.

Article 16&a, Vernon's Annotated Texas Clvll Statutes, prc- vldee as follous:

"County audltora. The Cormnlsslonere~ Court of any coun%y under twenty-five thousand PoIn&xtlon aocor+ _ - G to t& last United-States aeneua niay make an mange- ment or agmement with one or more other aountle8 whereby all aountlea, parties to the arrangement, may jointly employ and ovnsate a epeclal autitor or audltors for the purpose8 speciiled In Articles 1645 and 1646. The county commlealonersl court of every oounty afrected by thle article may have an audit made of all the books of the county, or any of them, at any time Way deelre whether suab amw&zement8 cm? be made with other counties or not; Construing the ebove quoted'atatute we held In opinion No.

0-II37 of tble department that such statute authorized an audit of oounty .I' effaira and finsnoes In a county under 25,COC populetion upon an order of

district judge or @and .Wy regardless OS whether or not such audit was A copy of thrs oph&on 1s enclosed dealred by tbe 6ou&aeioners1 court, herewlth ror yoke ,lnfonnation; The puree strings of the cowl;y zwe held by the conmhsloner: court and they ordinarily rtould pay for the servloee of a special auditor Ar&tIcle 1641, V.A.C.S., also pro- appointed under, Article 16&, supra. oourt may employ a special auditor and sets vides that the c;:m&Motiers' out a method of contracting with and compensating such auditor. .Houever, there may be r,Imes when the couunleeloners~ court may not desire the appointment of a special auditor because of either the expense lnvolvee or other reasons. The Legislature wisely prov'lded for an adult by a special auditor upon.the order of either the grand jury or district jo~g:. We do not here pars on the querrtlon as to nhether emeclal auditor could; recover Judgment agalnet the county for his BerViCbB on a quantum meruit basle where he brought suit on L: claim rejected by'the commissioners1 court for malclng an audit of the fiscal affelre of the gounty ordered by 'the grand jury OF district &dye under Article '1-a, supra, aa that

question Is not asked ln your request. Nor do we pass on the legality of the special auditor recclvlr~ pay .from private oltizens for his audit as that question la not aakod In your request.