A~JSTIN 11.Tmas
PRICEDANIEL
ATTORNEY
GENERAL
Fdu’um’y 21, 1952
Hon. S, Taylor Brlt8 Opinion Ro. V-1412
County Attorney
Atascoea Couatf Ret Authority of the Commle-
Jourdanton, 'has slonera o Court to buy
improved real estate
from Jourdantan Indepenci-
ent School Dlstrlct to
provide adclltlonal pub-
Dear Sir: lit office epace,
Your reqwrt fa* an opinion of this of-
fice reads in part as follows:
"The Ccaualsslon8~a* Court of Atasco-
sa County, Te%ati,vhlch sits at Jourtlan-
ton, Texas, th8 County Seat, has entered
Into an agreement and contract vith the
Jourdanton I&ds@endent School Mstrict
Wh8r8bg the said school district agrees
to sell and the CommisslonersP Court agrees
to buyz:certaln real estate and Improvements
situated at Jourdanton, Texas, for a con-
sideration of $70,000,00, (For full de-
tails under contract dated January 14,
1952, se8 true cop attached hereto and
marked 8Exhlblt A 4.
*The purpoee for which these bulld-
lngs are to be used Is set out In the mln-
Utes of' th8 said CO~lsslOn8rS' COUPt Under
date of May 14, 1951,.to wltl
*Wherpeas th8 Ataecosa County Cot&-
house has becam lnadeqllate and addition-
al space la needed for public offices; and
aWhev8a8, the Commlssioner8 8 Court
ha8 mt8f-e determined th8 advlaabllity
and aamkj of providing additional pub-
lic? OfiiC8B; Q m o'
nTh8 conslderatlon Of $70,000*00 to
be paid by the Commissioners1 Court for
Eon. 3. Taylor Brits, page 2 (V-1412)
said rekl.48kts ~1s to be paid Zn cr8h
aims the unlncumbe~d~balaaca, in the
County POrmRneatImprowwnt Funds as :
or Januwy~l, 1952,~~U$76,368,41* ZIG
1951 btulget of Atascosa Ccnmty hem a pee
vieionfor pamt 41 $15 025.00, v0*
C4IlEtFUCtiOS Of buildIngsi 6na the 1952
budget trreltute8a proper provIsion f0r
paymn6 of $55,000*00for c4Mtrutt1on
of bu%m, a January14; 1952, tha-
CaumlmlayIII*Co-t oi AtascosaCounty,
Toxao, 8nm4a the PoUovlag order an
ths m%autrtIof the Courti
lP QDP Qs, th e
Cwmi8sb a 8r ce’o ur t
OiSta ;r saCounty
4 w l,a c o a t~Ia ti4
onf
6b4 COWtIWCtiOn OP pUrCh484 Of buiiaing8
to be used ior county 0filcee;proviaed
in the CountyBudget of August, 1951,
rm th4 gp4mitm8 oi 415 025.00f~00i
the PernanentIqrovmment &uU, In 1951.
"'A#!3
-S, 6wh~~pdWitwe wa$
net am4 in 1951 a0 ~4dnwat4a, it sow
b4c’m4s an
aergoaay, by reama of rrausual
aad unmremoa a%swImetanrmwbtch aould
loti by reasonablycUlLgentthoughthave
*'cm, tba 1952 bu@!t of
Atascoea County Is hmeby aaiuled to aq-
thorloo tihsoxpontUture'of)15,025.00
from the Ps-nt XqwotemW Fund for
the coaot~tlon d purah484 ai btildin&ts
in the ycrarof 1952 la additionto the
~55r000*oosot uy f0.F that pUPpOE in
o~Qina1budg.t.
*wtsb the above emracDsatto the
I952 bwlget,a total of 470,025.00la au-
thorind fos l&e aon8tructlm OF pt~chatlo
of bullW#ao"
/, @mm46 upon th6 abowe cit4a n44a4
and psp#es for which t0 be U84d Sad fh4
timuteaIS fbsruiag aamo~ 18 such a u.g-
chase by the +aaarissicmreGOWt 14ga'i) f
Hon. J. Taylor Brlte., pago 3 (V-1412)
Thi3 records in the office of the Central
Education Agency refleot that the Stat8 Board of
Education ha8 approved th8 e,ahool dlstrlct's appll-
Cation for th8 sale of.thd land ln question, a8 re*
qufred by Article 2773, Y.C.S. t
Subclhviston 7 of ArkLcle 2351 V.G.S., :
authorlses th4 cI)OBPLIaslorwra'~court to 8prorlQ4 ana
keep In r8palr copt hOuses, jai18 and,a11 necessary
public build,+!, Ua’lor krticle2370, V.$.S., the
COparifJS1On@I'8aourt may, *n aeceasary, PrOVia
buildings, rooms, or apartpvlste at the county seat,
other than tbs courthowe ior holding the eeesiona
of the 64wity Court8,'Msdrl~t Courts, and for car-
On such other public bwlneas~~a may be au-
BOa'bp th8 CardeElon8rE'COIJrt.
Jg; I.83 S,W,2d 1s (Toxr Clv. Ap
WaB h8ia that t&4 te$m 'pub11
a8 used in ArtlC18 2351 means a building used
primarily for public or govsrmwata1 purposee8 t$t
18, to house public 4l'ge*SrolaOntal ag8Wi88.
was further held that "tb paver to provide includes
the poWOr to pUlrChlllOs* xt i6 Cldar, th8r8tO2'8,
that the C'XQQi8Si4&4X'8 ' court ha8 the authority to
purchase addltiom41 iwcrsaary public buildinga, Al-
though you do n& state lB your Cequ88t vhlch pub-
lic OffiCO8 vi.11 be hOW8a in the building, the
resolution8 0r the co~.a810nerss court recite that
the additiona spat8 IS {to be acquired for "public
offlceu," and for "county offla48.4 Ye assume that
the buGUl,ng Is to be WSa Only for authorlaed pur-
pOee81, Since the cawiaeratbn for the contemplated
p~??~h&s~ i8 to b4 paid In cash from funds now on
hand Zn th4 Permanent frpprovement Pund, the author-
ity of the commis81onelre court to finance the pur-
ChaE8thl' h the laeuSn48 of'bond8 or tlm8 Warrants
'Y V8a. Accordingly, the holdings inAtt'g
is not lnvo
Sen. Op. v-1278' (1951) and O-7036 (1946) p mentioned
in your brief, are not relevant here.
Under Article VIII, Section 9; Constltu-
tlon of T8xa8, andArticle 2352, V&&5,,, taxes
levlsd for the Permanent Improvement Fund mi%y be
- used for the "erection" of public buildings. In
keeping r&h the holdlags In Dancy V* Davidson, su ra
and Brown ?*-Graham, 58 Tex. 254 (lW5) -+-
the opinion that the term 'er8CtlOn" in~1"u~8P~~-
C&W8and that the c,ost of the building is prOp8Ply
payable out of the Permanent Improvement Fund.
i!
Boa, Jr Taylor Brlte, pagrr 4 (V-l&X2)
The $kncy case held that the cmniss~~n-
ers ’ COU??t order there InvelVad ~8s iwairlofent to
drwt an $menChnsnt 0r the countg budget tumtp the
provisions of Artlc,le w-11, V,,G.S+, reading:
* * meJo #w budget has been
rimi; &va'ovrd by the colmJ3sloneT~'
Cawt, the but&et, an approved by tha
Court sWL.3 be riUQ tith the Qlsrk af
,the Cow&y &xwrt, and Uxes levkad &may
ia acsurdtise therewith, a&d no expend&-
twe ef the fund8 of the coutrty shall
tlmwafter be wide, exeepd in btd.ct
eem#Uancs ~5th the bwl&# a8 adopted
by the Court; Bxcepe that emmgeimy
expanditures, in 088,s or grave publia
I)*Cbs8ity, to meet umuw~l and anfolre-
seem conditions .vNch oould not, by
reasonably tIYlt@nt %Wmght aad atten-
tion, have bee11 inclkn%eQ in t&&s arigina?.
budget, may Fmm t’lnm to time be au-
thorbmd by ths GtW’t ,a8 aaue&‘Wents to
the o~lginal budget. In abl cases where
such amendst6mt.sto the origkaal budget
are made, a capy ai the ardsr oi the
Court iaiwW&q the bu et shall be. filed
with the CZsrk of the 24 ounty Court, and
atWok to the budget originally adopted. ”
The apinion pointed out that the order d&d not con-
:;~~a rinding that emergency conditions did in fact
. @t In its holdlarg the cot@t mcognlzed the
power of the eomail,bs$mm?s~ court to amend the bud-
get so as to prortds for Qba purchase of additional
baild&ngs if emergemcp ~efflditions do In ract exist
and if woper procedure is followed.
While the ordbp ruleptea by the bommleslon-
ersv court of Atescosa Oounty FM January IBM, 1952,
doss SW% follow the sua* statutory language. or aet
out in detail t& facts ciaatinga grave public neeea-
sity fop ameadabn~ of th@ budget, we are of them opin-
i~ that tbs WUOT
i8 f3tiri~iwt to meet the 0 ec-
tia+ne a8 to form z.n the ctse i However, .Y
d ,,the
PdcessaPy iW$s justify% amezment or the budget
existed at She tiaM the expenditme waa tmmrred, the
C~S~%ORW~ 8 murt may later ammd the order so a8
to raileM &Ir aemlttiam which misted at that time.
Hon. J. Taylor Brlte, page 5 (V-3412)
Morr,lson Y, K&ler, 207 s,WLWg51 '(Tex, Clvp App*
7 error ref. n.r.e,). What constitutes grave
public necessity” depends upon the ~raats In each~~
case and is a question fbr the primary detemlna-
tlon of the cosW.ssloue~‘s~ court in~the exercise
Att’J’C+ehr bps. O-1022’.
It is not within ths province
of tbli office to pass on fact questions and we are
not expressing an opinion as to the sxls~encs of
facts warraa,$&ng an amendment of the budget In thls
case.
SaeaAKp
Where the county courthouse has be-
cae inadequate and additional space is
needed to house county officers or agents,
the commlssioneraf court is authorized to
purchase buildings for this purposer The
court may amend the county budget so as to
provide for the purchase of such buildings
if the conditions Andy requirements of Arti-
cle 68qa-11 V.C.S., are met.’
Davidson, 183 S.Y.28 195 (Texr
1944, error rer.).
Yours very truly,
APPROVRDs PRICR DARIRL
Attorney General
J. C, Davis; Jr.
County *Affairs Dlvislon
Mary IL rrall
Reviewing Assistant
.Asslstant
Charles D, lkathews
First Assistant
BAtmh