October 14, 1968
Honorable Harry B. Kelton Opinion No. M-289
Director, Texas National Guard
Armory Board Re: Merit increases for Armory
West Austin Station Board employees and cons-
Austin, Texas 78703 truction of House Bill No.
5, Acts of 60th Legislature,
Article V,~Section 1, and
Dear Mr. Kelton: Article 6252, V.C.S.
Your request for an opinion poses the following ques-
tion:
"Should one or more of the employees on
a local fund payroll be given a one step merit
increase effective September lst, 1968 and
later in the year the payroll is transferred
for payment from our General Revenue appropria-
tion for classified salary positions, can the
State Comptroller legally approve the salaries
for payment at the step two rate of the Classi-
fication Salary Schedule provided such merit
increases conform to the provisions Article V,
Section 1, paragraph a, sub-paragraph (2) of
House Bill No. 5, Acts of the 60th Legislature,
First Called Session, 1968 and Article 6252
Revised Civil Statutes of Texas?"
Subdivision (2) of Section 1 of Article V of the current
Appropriation Act relating to merit salary increases provides:
"(2) MERIT SALARY INCREASES. During the
fiscal year beginning September 1, 1968, in ad-
dition to other salary increases authorized in
this Section, agency administrators may,grant
merit salary increases to selected employees
whose performance or productivity is consistent-
ly above that normally expected or required.
Such merit increases shall be subject to the
following restrictions:
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Ron. Harry B. Kelton, Page 2 (M-289)
"(a) The source of funds shall be only
the items of appropriations in this Act for
'Merit Salary Increases', except as otherwise
authorized below. The maximum monthly expendi-
ture for merit salary increases shall be one-
twelfth of the total appropriation for that
item.
"(b) No employee may receive more than
two one-step increases from funds appropriated
for merit salary increases during the fiscal
year beginning September 1, 1968.
"(c) For agencies financed from more than
one fund, the oost of merit increases shall be
allocated to each fund in the same proportion
as regular payrolls bear to such funds.
"(d) Where a specific line item appro-
priation Is not provided for merit salary in-
creases, agencies are authorized to allocate
not more than 1.7s of the fiscal 1969 budget
for classified positions, provided however that
any merit salary increases so granted shall
be subject to the provisions of thzs section
related to merit salary increases.
Regular full-time salaried employees of the Texas
National Guard Armory Board hold classified positions under the
provisions of Article 6252-11, Vernon's Civil Statutes, unless
the employees have been excluded from such Position Classification
Plan by executive order of the Governor or by direction of the
Legislature. Article 6252-11, Section ~2. Thus it was held in
Attorney General Opinion WW-1095 (1961) that the Position Classi-
fication Plan did not apply to the Finance Commissionand the
Banking and Savings and Loan Departments for the reason that
their employees were excluded by direction of the Legislature
: by virtue of the provisions of Article 342-112, Vernon's Civil
Statutes. Likewise it was held in Attorney General Opinion
WW-1222 (1961) that the employees of the Texas State Board of
Plumbing Examiners were excluded from the Position Classification
Plan by direction of the Legislature by virtue of the provisions
of Article 6243-101, Sets. 5 and 7, Vernon's Civil Statutes.
In view of the provisions of Article 6252-11, whether
a regular full-time salaried employee is in a classified or un-
classified position is not made dependent upon the source from
which his salary is paid, but rather is made dependent upon
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Hon. Harry B. Kelton, page 3 (M-289)
whether such employee has been excluded from the Position Classi-
fication Plan by executive order of the Governor or by direction
of the Legislature. The fact that an employee is paid from funds
outside the Treasury during part of a fiscal year and paid from
funds in the State Treasury during another part of the fiscal
year will not affect the salary rate to be paid such employee
if such employee during such period of time remains in a classi-
fied position.
In answer to your question you are advised that when
such employees are later transferred on the payroll for the pur-
poses of their salary being paid from funds in the State Treasury,
they are to receive salaries at the rate provided for in the
Position Classification Schedule; and the Comptroller may legally
approve merit salary increases which oonform to the provisions
of Subdivision (2) of Section 1 of Article V of the current
General Appropriation Act relating to merit salary increases.
SUMMARY
The fact that an employee is paid ,from~funds
outside the Treasury during part of a fiscal year
and paid from funds in the State Treasury during
another part of the fiscal year will not affect
the salary rate to be paid such employee if such
employee during such period of time remains in a
classified position.
Vfitruly yours,
Prepared by John Reeves
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Hawthorne Phillips, Chairman
Kerns Taylor, Co-Chairman
Steve Hollahan
Robert Darden
Malcom Smith
Z. T. Fortescue
A. J. CARUBBI, JR.
Executive Assistant
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Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion