Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

Honorable Charles A. Allen Opinion Do. C-359 Criminal District Attorney Harrison County He : Whether the Marshall- Marshall, Texas Harrison County Health District may be treated as an autonomous unit to the extent that lump sum contributions may be made by the County to such district without the necessity of using au- diting process custom- arily used in connection with all other depart- ments of the county Dear Hr. Allen: governments. You have requested an opinion on whether the Marshall- Harrison County Health District may be treated as an autonomous unit to the extent that lump SLIBI contributions may be made by the County to such district without the necessity of using auditing process customarily used In connection with,all other departments of the county government. Article 1645 of Vernon's Civil Statutes makes it mandatory that Harrison County have a county auditor and the general duties of such official are governed by Article 1651 of Vernon86 Civil Statutes, which reads in part as follows: wThe Auditor shall have a generetleorrsight of all the ooks and records of a' cers ;;,;~,:~n~y, district or state,';holmayfii or required by law to rece ve or collect an mane funds, fees, or other property for the -+? use o or belonging to, the county; and he shall Bee to the strict enforcement of th 'law governimp;coaQty finances." (Ewhasls a:ded) The Marshall-Harrison County Health District was created pursuant to the provisions of Article 44+ia of Vernon's Civil Statutes, and this Act is silent as to whether the dis- trict must use the regular auditing process customarily used in connection with the other offices and departments of the county. Consequently, we must look to the general law on -1706- Ron. Charles A. Allen, Page 2 (C-359) county finances, (Article 1645 of Vernon's Civil Statutes) and in this connection we invite your attention to Attorney General's Opinion V-1100 (1950) (a copy is enclosed herewith) wherein the question was asked concerning the duties of the county auditor in connection with the operation of a county hospital and in response thereto it was held: "It is the duty of the County Auditor to install an accounting system for a county hos- pital, and his duties in regard to auditing the hospital accounts are in general the same as those in regard to any other county office." In view of the foregoing it is our opinion that the Marshall-Harrison County Wealth District may not be treated as an autonomous unit to the extent that lump sum contribu- tions may be made by the county to such district without using the auditing process customarily used in connection with other county offices and departments. Wore specifically, the county auditor's duties in regard to auditing the accounts, books and records of this district are the same as those in regard to any other county or precinct office. SUmMARY The Marshall-Harrison County Health District may not be treated as an autonomous unit to the ex- tent that lump sum contributions may be made by the county to such district without the 'necessity of using the auditing process customarily used in connection with county offices and other depart- ments. Art. 1651, V.C.S. Atty. Gen. Op. V-1100 (1950). Yours very truly, WAGGONER CARR Attorney General By&~&sm Assis&t RRJ:sj -1707- Ron. Charles A. Allen, page 3 (C-359) APPROVED: OPIIUOB CGMldITTEE W. V. Geppert, Chairman Pat Bailey W. 0. Shultz Brady Coleman John Fainter APPROVED FOR THE ATTOmY GEHERAL BY: Stanton Stone -1708-