Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

4 ;gj (& 0..: f:: ..-:..:... OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN GROVER SELLERS ATTORNEY GENERAL Kooorrble Frank D. Quinn ~xeoutire Dlraotor Tefar State Perks Board Auctin 11, Texan Dear Sir: rubmittsd to the roller for payment. n opinion on the above r dated October 19 hr of Public Ao- oard ic regard to our ropriatfonr No. w-300 with rererenoe to 1 ts that insofar ae a specific le islative for a salaried osition is coriceme \~$j$)rtion of Section’md ale. -&&-&, the payroll in question is based on set up by tae Legislative ,udit Co.m:ttee for seasonal labor, not on 'any JOeitiOii provided for in this act.’ ‘The so-called Vappropristion* 1.0. #;-5OG is not a salaried position aat u; by the Legislature--it is merely an ‘accountw set up by the State Comptroller’r Department, based on a *budget* ret up by the Legirlatire Audit Committee. ;ioc. ~rullk 2. +inn, pace 2 “Furthermore, the Itams on the payroll in !.uea- tion are for seasonal labor, and the elaployeee who are on said payroll are employed only aa needed, baaed on the aeaiaonal variations of thruzof work involved by thlr department. In eubalttlng our budget to the Legislative Audit Committee, it was rpeolfloally underetood that raid ltene were aesaonal In nature, and to be used as and when needed and In the manner needed. For example, the 475 and +lOO item8 for olerloal work were underetood to be for part time work, and It wee understood that they oould further be broken down aa needed. viie are or the opinion that the salaries in ques- tion, whioh are payable out of Speolal I’ark Fund, and approved by the Leglelatlve Audit Committee through the ‘budget aymtem’ are not governed by the quoted bortlon of Seotlon 1Lb of the Departmental APProPria- iion Bill. To hold otherui8e wo-uld be holding eon- trary to la~lrlatlve Intant,for it le obvloue tm the Intention of the leglsfature was that such a linltatlon on aalarlea applied only to epeoiflo salary approprletions, and not to poselble variable wage payments out of epaolal funds, nor to specific salary accounts set up by Cornmitteae, Doardsor Commisei~ona out of Special Funds. “Therefore, we raapectfullg request an opinion from you, dlreotlng the State Comptroller to lee.ue warrants on aald payrol1.v The copy of letter to you from the Comptroller accofipanying your request and rererred to therein reads ae follows: Tour payroll drawn against Appropriation Lo. d-500 in the anount of .937.50 has been presented to me for gayBent. “General Zider, l!+b of tile De art.ilt;ntal -4p?ro$ri- atiori 9111 provides in part: ‘i-0 g hin& Lere in ah611 prevent any departnert heed frol;l paying less thai ttit: zaxiinua anount set forth herein for any ealaried position. * Section l&a provide8 in part: *The head of any department of State Government or any Joard or Commission of 5tate Government may use part time employees to fill any poslticn provided for in tilia ion. Zrorih 3. .&an, PaCe 3 sot at a aalary not to sroeed more than one-half the amount eppropriated for such position.@ *Please advise as to why the rate of pay of the pert time employees llated in thla payroll, whose rate Of oompenaatlon exoeeda more than one- half Of the amuht ret 88ide for that position, la not in rlolation of Seotlon ll+S, quoted above, After reoelrlng said request, we asked you for additional lnforaatlon relative to tb faota and, in reply to our recueat, you submitted to us the hollowing: "PAYROLLSAURY APPROPRIATIONS FOR STAlki PARK3 BOUD SP;;cL\L PA!! FU'KD64 &PA3I%KKT 801 FISCAL Yr;AR HDINQ AUWJST31, 1946 niGFd&iKhS: 3. B. 317 - R.S. 49th Leglr. and Legla- latlve Audit Commlttae 0 6 months Budget Approved Auguat 27,194s "APPR. ITLK La. NO. & TITIL AZUUNT liAT& i:-500 (PnYiWLL %LMI& .~GUL& BASIS) ConaultFng Arohiteot 600.00 100.00 i Beoeptlonlat - Part The 450.00 Heoeptlonlst - Part Tlae 450.00 ;:*oo: : Stenographer 125:OO File Clerk E:: 100.00 6' 3raftamn 600:oo 100.00 Typist and File Clerk 600.00 lOO.GO ii ',ieet Texas tiepreaentative 1,200.00 200.00 9 Painter 750.00 125.C~O ICTd ;;.i&&L; 6,ooc;.oo l,oOO.oO" l'he above payroll salary appropriation was a>prJved by tile Legislative auditing Cormdttee. Hon. Frank D. &inn, page 4 A copy or tile payroll in $ueation, Iteas 3 and 7 of which are in dispute, said payroll being as followe: "TiXAS STAT& PAiXS 3OARD PAYROLL&TAIL Vupplementrry Monthly Payroll r;ndlng October 31at, 1945 “Appr . Item Gross Net War. No. No. Name and Payroll Title Amt. Tax Amt. NOB. w-500 1 B. b. Glessoke Coneulting Architect 100.00 -- 100.00 2 Mary Luollle O'Brien Beoeptlonlat-Plrt'.T~. 75.00 0.70 74.30 3 w. 0. Stewart (2/3 mo.) 50.00 0.80 49.20 Fey Deglandon (l/3 no.) 25.00 4.50 20.50 Rsoaptioniat - Part Time 4 aetty Corn Stenographer 125.00 16.50 108.50 5 Elizabeth Allen File Clerk 100 .’00 3.20 96.80 6 ;Lary Burr 3raftsaan 100 00 19.90 80.10 7 L.w.lxmLer (l/4 no,) :o" 5.70 -- 69.30 25.00 3arbara Haisch (3/4 no.) 7': Typist and File Clerk 8 Sred :.:ci;lel :iest Texas Lepresenta- c.rnh t1ve ~uu.00 7.20 192.Z 9 John bay (l/2 no.) PaLiter 0;.50 937.50 66.80 870.70 Collector of Internal Revenue 66.801* 3011. 3rank 3. &i~, pabe 5 The List of Comptroller’r l;umberr containing the number of this particular item, whioh read8 aa followe: “i&T OF COIZl=TROLLR’~tilJXL,R~ ASSIGNLDTO APPROPRIATION8FOR FISCAL YL~ iND~G AUGUST31, 1946 “Dr;PAR’I%.WT:STA’E PARK BOARD No. 801 FUND : SPLCIAL i’AREl L 1’UDD No. 64 APPHOPdIAlLD: 3.B. 317 - R.S. 49th Leg. & LGISWTIVB AUDIT comm 6 ZNNTiIBUDGLTAPPROVZDAUGUST27, 1945 APPXO. I?,O. TITLL CjFACCOUNT A:P:30PDIA.LD AiCOUIJT W, 500 PAYROLLSALARIXSR&GULAaBASIS 4 6,000.oo (I* * *‘I The appropriation for the Texas State iarks Board (VernonIs Texae Session Law Servioe, pages 898-904) contains the following: “Al.1 of the previous annual balanoe in the Speoial Park Fund and all Future reoeipta deposited in the Speoial Park Fund are hereby appropriated and re-appropriated for each year of the biennium for maintenance and improvement of the State Parke. Provided, however, the State Parks Board shall not have the authority to employ any additional help out of said reoeipte except seaeonal help. All main- tenance items may be eupplemented with Federal Funds. "All the above appropriation shall be subjaot to the approval of the Jtate &Ziting Co:hmittee and none of the funds hereir;. provided shall be epent until such approval shall have been aad.” AS we understand Lie situation, the salaries Ilere under consideration xere nst provided to fill an;r position referred to in t.le Appropriatioh Uill itself. ‘,‘ilsy are part ti:!e positiocs created by t:le state Isxs joard for seasone help, i.:c; bud;;et for which was set up by the L~~lslative Audithi CcmAttee, er.d em;loyeee in question are such employees as are authorized under the above quoted provisions from the appropriation for the State Parka doard. It 18 our opinion that the state Parks Doard would Ha-i. Frank D. &no, paLe 6 not be authorized to employ any additional help other then suoh aa would be eeaeonal help. Accordingly, it ie our opinion that euoh payroll ir not in violation of Seotion 148 eet out in the Comptrollerte letter, end that ft rhould be paid se submitted by the State Parke Board. Your8 very truly, BY GA&B--= JiB : lJ 8 Jas. H, Bassett Asalstant