OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable I. Prodsold
County Auditor, Ualvsstoa Gounty
Oalrerton; +xas
D4ar Sirs
Your letter of April
o? this departmat whether the
tlon .0oaaty maf amend the oo 0 083 to provide the.
ahsrirf with l‘ja iL olerk (a at a ralsry of $165.00
per month. The dutisa of th e mkecrplng all reootaa,
aooouats an4 books and other and to have general
ruporTiiolon or M
have been perrormed.
by a guard tltlr4,g ry of $1~0.00 per month.
or 1~si4 otf;oe; and said oourt rbrll maks it8 order au-
thorlabg th8 ap ointment or suoh drputles, cresirtants
end olerkr and rs x the ooapenaation to be paid theni
Honorable I. Prsdeoki, page 2
within the llmitetlone herein preeorlbed and de-
termine the number to be appointed aa in the dls-
oretlon of said oourt may be proper; provided that
In no oaae shell the Commls8lonerb’ Court or any
member thereof attempt to ln~lnenoo the appointment
or any poraon ea deputy, aesI&ant or olerk in any
0fri0e.- upon the entry 0r euoh order the orrioOr0
applying for euoh eesletante, deputies or olerka
shall be euthorlzed to appoint them1 provided that
said oompeneatlon &all not exoeed the maximum amount
hereinafter #et out. The otipensetlon whioh may be
allowd to the deputies, asdetents or olerke above
named for their servloea 8hell be a reeaonable one,
not to exoeed the following amount@: l * *
l **t
“4. In oounties having a population 0r rixty
thousand and one (60,001) and not more than one h-red
thousand (100,000) lnhabltente, rirat assistant or ohier
depty not to exoeed Twenty-four Hundred (#2400.00) Dol-
lerr per annum; other asslrtants, deputies or olerkr
not to exoeed Twenty-one Hundred (#2100.00) Dollars per
annum eaoh.”
The 1940 Federal Census lists Galveston County as having a popu-
lation oi 81,173 inhabitants, and the oountythererore oomea wlth-
in the provisiona of the etatute above quoted, allowing the Com-
mleslonersf Court to authorlje the employment of olerka at a
ralery not to exoeed Twenty-one nurdred (#2100.00) Dollars per
annum.
Although we have advised that the Commlasloners~ Court
ie authorized by law to allow the sheriff a olerk for the duties
deaoribed, It remaina to be determined whether this new position
may be introduced into the 1941 budget by amendment at thle time.
Artlole 689a-11, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes,
reads, in pert, a8 follows:
“* l * When the budget hae been finally approved
by the Commissionera Court, the budget, aa approved
by the Court shall be filed with the Clerk or the County
Court, and taxes levied only in aooordanoe therewith,
ena no expenditure or the funds of the oounty shall
thereafter be made exoept In atrIot oompllanoe with
the budget ee adopted by the Court. Bxoept that emer-
genoy expenditurea, in ease of grave ubllo neoessity,
to meet unusual and unforeseen oondit Pone whloh oould
not, by reasonably dili ent thought and attention, have
been lnoluded in the or f glnal budget, may from timo to
time be authorized by the Court a8 amendmente to the
original budget. * * **
874
This 6opartaont ha8 puli $imer held that what
oonatltutaa ugar8 publib n~Oaa8lt~" a8 that tern ia uae6 in
Art1010 689~ll, dopaada upoa the ?aOts in leoh oaaa and la
a queatioa for th(l priur~ dotrrainatlon of the oeamiaaloner8~
oourt. in the lxerolaa of it8 pruaont judgment. 8aa our Opinion8
~05, o-ioaa,o-iofy ~6 o-uar.
We thwaiorb adrlao that it liar wlthla the prorinoa
of the omdaalonarat oourt te dotrrmlaa tha rarta reapootlng
the u4 f Wnae of a &rata pub110 neoeaalt~ 80 that the budget
ma~rlv?ully be aaondad to provide to? the pobltiolr of jail
.
Tour8 rety truly
ATTOBWBY -O?TBXAS
-
“‘Jib D. kl1.m
Aaalatant
JDS:lW