I
:
507
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
iloaoraile'6eoo
u. moppard
comptrollc OS Publio Aoeouatm
_*-
&u8tiD, tartar
letter
four requs ni?n from this dapart-
ment upontbo a ompanied by a letter
prcprrrotl by hit-r r, is before UIB. Mr.
stallingd 1crtt
10 endarrrored to ob-
ommheld in the De-
0 al8sdfloation
ied by the l3epart-Ji
a g l 8o h a iu ls 8o t-
orrribd by the department
Otispenae balance af We
ta rariouo membarsof the
alked
b oadght h a ve lme idea as te the
a of theaa item cmntl
whr they rare
dapoaited to this 1~1spen8saaaount.
*The flrnt item, saoording to We J. U.
Byrne, was in payment o? &oto* Puel Tax tf7 the
Auto apply Cmpaay of Laredo, Texas, in the
rrouot or #2a.sa. Aaoording Co the informa-
tion gathered tbfa was a rtiundrble it-, but
Sor lme reason tbe mot of refkmdlng this to
rho tax-payer was norer exe6utedr The 1adgOr
mbeet carried by. tbs Canhiar mbeve~ thad this
Ysaorabls Ueo. U, Sheppard - page 2
lteu sas deposited te Suspenss April 26, 1931,
Vhhe second itap is listed under the nsmo
OS Bas &ssdy in the assunt of $6.00, and raoord-
ing to &he CmNer's muspcnselsdgor this item
sss depomitod ts Csmptrolle~s Suspense 4ooouat
8eptrarbc 3fbg 1931. This item, 4ooordlng to
information turnishsd By Hr. C. D. Uatts wsd
w.Jao+ Uslstoa, wss aa saonpous prymnt re-
oelrrd by the gmerxmr~s oftiae at the time tlm
Uoaoc8bls Dan Yeodl, wss QWernor of Tams. 7he
@..oo was deposftsd sitb ths Csmptrollsr Co?
disburssmnt to funds, and the Cwptreller bad
no way at detsrmiaing the fund ts whiob this
mmount should be Qopodted.
s-?ho third itsm in this aoommt, ssmunting
to *82.2ar is listed l s Qmk no ~n.~ T h e r eo o r ds
In t&o Cashierqs DiTlnioe ohoe that this aovers
tour deposits to the muspenseooaount as sham
on the lttaobed sebsdule. The lnfohcatioa gathor-
al from rasiberm ot ths depmrtment who sere employ-
ed before and at t&e time Yr. Simppard took ofeloe
is thst these are fse lbsms oolleoted under the
aousttts 7srrell adsiDi?trationI
Vhe tetal of the80 item amounts to @la.11
and is oarrltkl thusly on the oasNs~*s oantrol
sheets ss bary kclrmbra Suspens0.Q Mr. Irtt8
tells us that in 1937 the ASSiStSat 8tSte AUdilOP
in ukiug the annual audit oi the Cashier’s of-
Sioe rworprpcaded a oredit adjustment to tbls ao-
count of @,74, sNob recluosd the lsoount balanae
.24 aad slnos tbat tire it baa bean oorried as
& ia .a7.
s&P. Uatts informs ss that the itsm oompss-
lng tbir woouat were smrisd in s make-6bbiFt
musp c no laooount before w law ~8s psssml by
tbs legislsture governing Suspense itsme. It
nas depoeitecl uador tbe ola8siPluatian of *Youstan
Twrell Spssial’ upon thlr agprora$ of br. fwrell,
end kr. 6heppard inherited It in that Taabfoa when
be took otlLae*
aLlthin the past CM years the State Auditor
has reoosan4mdcd tbat this soaount be oleared to
Monorsbls Uss. U. gbeppard - p4e 3
the Baoaa=alTundr gpboial sfifort sas ssde
07 the Assistant Wats Auditors in their
rooentl~ oomplsted investigation OP tNs
departmeM to here this wcouat clsarsd to
tho Cenral Fund. On Pebruary 19th of this
par b Oonf~OnoO ~88 hold bstreos wr Oar-
land &araos, Assistant gtats Audlt4w, Yr.
Yob Calrut, Dqwrtacwt Itatistloisa, and
4MlI, and it sas lgresd th0 #013,l47 sssld
be t&e prepsr 6motmt to olsar.*
sn 0 inlon no. o-948, a6dressed to Xmorable
r0r c. llj4, 8ests AuditOr, this department, oea8truleg
rrtiols 49~l, Vemsa*s Annotated Civil Statutss, said~
@rho rw5ing of the &o~s quoted Arti-
o&s 6lssrlf IWostes
that the prooedoro
ior final payment lot0 the Stats fre8mus7
is by the 1muwwJ of a dep6dt rarraat.
Sush deposit warrant is issued to the p-
tloular fund ts sbiab tbs aon- goes* I$
1s true, them, that utntil the iursl to sbiob
the aonsy sbsuld go lo dotsrminsd tbo de-
podb warrant to that fund oannot be ls-
mued?or suob aonq. For this rma$ou, it
is our epinion that la s aase where aonq
is pald to one ol the dspartrants et the
8tat8, and there is 8 question as to wbiob
partioulrr fund said ronq skoald go# the
saa# ~4 properly be pnid into the Suspe~w
Fund bcsause said msney orrmot bs plaid in-
to the prop6r runa until 8 klepomitmrrmt
tor auol mooq 1s drawn * On17 then is tho
moae~ pai lDt0 tho Trsssu~~ UNle tbs
particular etestination o? the fund is in
questioD, 8~~0 though them is no qnestioa
as to tbs Stats~s right to the msnq, so
tee1 that Lb8 BODq somOs rltNa the oata-
gory o? 'moonq which is iwaiting the ttms
sben it 0011flaally be taken into tbo
Treasury' 48 sst out la Artlels 4-S. Xou
are, thsreforo, sdtisod that in eases
shers therm is an aotual doubt as to the
partiwlar fund to shioh a Donay sbwld go
$ionorabls Gas, II. Sheppard - page 4
aaid ronq may properly be pluvxI in tbe
khspansa Fund by the head of’ a Aeprrteeat;*
Ybat we uid there ruler your owe*
nr, ukllingd mnslysi8 0e the nary Yensmrm sun-
penra Auoount does not oboe that CbO Fund la tbmt oaouunt
belongs to the 6tate, &UC 00 tba soatrmry, tmle to dum
that it belongs to @ther8* la OQdOiOlt%O. Q--44, addrQ88-
ed to uonar8bls Jo880 Jue8, Iltate Tremurr, we rde the
same quotation me thst mbovr, MA eddrdc
*la rieu oe the rule there muoounaed,
it %8 the Op%UiOa Ot t&k8 D6putmm9 tie
it-8 mentiOa@d by you WhObC) SOU~OO MA
8iaoe it ha8 not been Aetermiaed tbat the Mary tic-
%mmra &~&36lI8#3 Aa,oeaUnt belong8 to the St8t0, Lt. CMnot be
covered into tbe State Treasury. Yorsover, even though it
8ere uadi8puted tbrt the tund doe8 belong to the .State,
unlers it bo8 been Aetaralnsd further a8 te rbiob tund the
8-0 8bould b0 Wbditdd, it my Inet be depodtti ia the
State Treasawy upon the Cooiytroller’o *orrant.
tru8ting that what 8e hove #mid ruefioiently
mn8wers your inquiry, we mre