Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENRRAL OF TEXAS . c OPY O-C.- li-- Honorable R. h. ycyche county Auditor Gregg Coilnty .Longview, Texas .. : ., Your reoent request for an oplnlcn of this~de- partment on the question otated herein hasbeen~reoelved. We quote from your letter as follows: eR~?ior~tothe Pederal Census 0+.X940 Gregg Oounty ,&a&a p,oghl~ti~i~ of 16,778 and ~ao~oordikg: tO.the 1946.osnauti~takenthe oounty ha8.a poptia- tion of,~S8~027,.L Aooording to the last',.-approved.., tax rolLthe oountp has a tar ovalnationof ~~ : $196,600.00. ThCoouuty Is-on a salarg~~baal.8 by order Or the OonaaissionerovOonH. What is the law govemlng the number ~of deputlee of the sherift and what is the:mfniipum and maxlmum salary of his deputies? (There fs a spealel~&: allowS.ng14 deputies iOr the sheritf 0r.this aountyi) That is the salary~~ofthe Gauntg Commis- eioners for this oounty and what expense for oar and'othor expense may be legally al.lomedthe Commieeloners? (There is,a special law on ex- penses whioh ~110~s them $X50.00per month.) "What is the salary of the oountg auditor of this oounty? (There is a lam providing #4,200.00 . XonorableR. S. Wyoha, Pep f2 L. ,I<,. with oertain population and valuation braotit.) ;. That is the salary of the Tudee of this county? T&hat is the salary of the Sourty Superin- tendent of Zohools and expenses allowable? "There have been pendinp iAl'lsrelating to some of theso otlloers azd sxpsnses In the press& le&ilaturu but I do not knairif any of '.:- ,them:have &en ~pasaed~..": _. '. ,...'...:. .. :.. .... ,. . .. h.1,. .:: ..- .',_ .'i .,., " Artlole BBBQb, Vernon’s Annotated Girl1 8tatute8, La not applloabloto Gre@ Got&q ra~fhir atat\itO :applimb only ,tothoue oowxtl%3 harrQo:i$opllotiQn. of leM'th3& trrntf thowand ~dnh@biW&a ~8o4a6rding-Wthe last'prowi% 22% Fkdaral Con&a and havlna.a pro&r m&iation~Fa~ar- awn of 0x10hundred million dollars, aaoordingto the ap- proved State and,odunty tax roll8 for the preoedlngyear. Tha numbar ot deputfea to Whlah the sheriff 1s antItXod~ Is fully disoussed in our Oplnlon No. O-l& whlohhw~~'are elloloalrig ~ror your infor5l%tloa.'TheilrinLwmand nrariwua oalaries'of auoh deputies ia .goromad by.Seafion9, ei .A&- tlolo 39O~;Perzion~a~Anmtatml Civil ?W&titM, whiahpro- vlda3 in sfieot that lx-oount%oahar%ng 6 populationOz~.~ SV;SOl and nbt zuxe than~60,OOC~&&abltantsthe salary et the.fizst deputy,6hP11.not,~xo~8~&ilGG,GO:F annum-and _. the aalex+ bf othurdeputiom :&all not.oxaoed $l8W.oO.pu ah&moaah. : Tt 13 apparent thut thu above mantbino6:reotion bf &tIola,'39GlS #&Id&a a nmx&mumsalary for the deputlau a8 above statad but it does not fix ay .tilmum ~lary. There&ore, the aaxImum 8alary ol th6 deputies.ortha ahorlff 1s tha ma&m& aS~~$.SlOG&O~r uinivafor the tfrut deputy and i$l80&00 par annum for tha bofherdapPtles. The a&&mm salsly oreall suah deputies -Lonot riurd by law but may be dotwml.wd bg ths Gmmiaslwea?a~ Court. Izireply to youraeooad pwstlon,iyour attent%o& is dire&ad t6 Artiole 2380, Vmmon*s AnnotcltodCIvIl StstuWe, whloh provides, among other th%ngrr,that the oalarler of the oounty oommIssioners In oounties hevine assessed value- tlons OS more than asventy-aIfht mllllon and one dollars and less then one hundred end thirty mUllon dollars as shown by the total assessed valuations of all property oertlfied by the oounty assessor and approved:by the oom- mlasioners~ oourt for oounty purpoess, for the pnvious HonorableR. S. Wyohe, Page 3 year, the oouuty oosmlseloneraof suah oounty e&all eaah reaaive annual 8alariea not to exceed thirty-fourhundrad , dollars per annum eaahi Your attention Is oalled to A+ tiale 23500. Veron*s Annotated Olvll Statutes, whlah pro- vides in part that all oounties having an assessed valua- ticn of all taxable property of one huudred'mllllon ,dollars or xore, based on the approved tax roils of the year 1923, the county aoxisaioners rreyeach reoclve a sslery of 63000 per annum eaah. bocordlng to the last approved tax roll Grec:gCounty had a total assessed valuation of one hundred six million rive hundred thousand dollars. V!edo not think Article 2350a, supra, has any application to the question under considerat~Loni It Is our opinion that the salaries .._ .: oF:.the-.oc@ty.aq@ssidne~s. of Gregg k+uty a.re..coatrel.led: . IT..... : hi 'Art$cls X%O;.supra_ ;'y&&j',f;he _:'. ~.iakarfe&, o'f.bc-&o&g$a;-:..~'~,~' ':( : :;:... 1 kimem oauuot exceed $3400 per aunumeaah. After.iiareN searoh of the statuteswe have bean unable to ~&XI any speolal or general law authorizing oo,untyoommiarlonan 1 In oountleahavb,a poptiatlon and t'he~arrserwd ratugtlen I OS property as Gregg Uounty, allowing a~'expenaa wha%u* ?:. ever for anoh oommlssionersin.the aonduot of th@e Mffv. Tlth referenae to your third question you are advised that the salary of the aounty auditor of Greg& County la governed by.Artiale 1645, Vernon(o h.wfeted Civil Statutes,whiah provides in effect that:t$eaounty auditor shall reoelva as aozapenaatlon ror his ~atigvloes flB5.00 for eaoh million doliarei~4r major portion %hbroot, on.the ati- seesed valuation,3ihe annual salary to be oomputed~rremtha laet approved ta,xrolls~ said anuual salary from oount&Tga~ shall not exceed ~three~thousand8ix handrid dollars. oonneatlon, 'it is to be noted that Artlola 1645e-l~prorldee in partr That in every aounty in thla. ttak having a popula- tion of less than thirty-threethousand aooordlngto the la8t preaedingFederal Census, and having assessedproperty ralua- " tion of more than elghty mllllon dollarsi aaoordlne to the last approred~taxrolls, the aompeaaationof eaoh oounty auditor shall not exeaad $4200.00. "Thle statute la not applioable te’oreg Oounty as the population of suoh oaunty Is rime thanth fity-three thousand inhabitants aooording to the 1940 Federal Census. In anewer to your fourth question, you are adviwd that the aalary of the oounty judge is fixed by the pro- visions of Artiole 3912e, Seotion 13, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, which provides in affeot that eaoh of eaid ofricers named In the statutes w,hloh inoludes the aounty .~ . . ‘. ?;‘:,, : ,,, # Honorable R. ,S.Wyohe, Page 4 judge, shall be paid in money an annual salary in twelve equal Installments o? not less than the total awe earned as oompensatlon by him In his o??lalal aapaolty tar then ptysicel year 1935 ana not mom than the ;naximm amount al- lowed such offioer under laws existing on AuFuat 24, 1935. 'The ~lntiwn and maxlwm salary o? the oounty judpe is fixed by the above mentioned provision 6? Artlole 39126 and it is %ithln the disoretlon o? the oommlaaloners* oourt to do- termtne the salary of the aounty judge, provided, the min- i-.urn ?LSnot less then~the total aug earned as tior?pensa.tlon : '. 'by hirn~ &I ,+i,+.-arg+$sl., giepaeiQz:for:. She,-.phygloal :&ceear. 3SG35:.~~.::,L;. .:: " in& t&it:the ~arinwd salae.':ia'~iiik'ti6re thdin thb’&a6unt’~&i- lo%?d such ofiioer under laws existing on August 24, 1935. He now eonald*r your ?lfth ueatlon..~,,There am numerous atatutea regard1 the •ala~rea and offioe expenaee %l the variow 0r oounty auperl.ntendenba p oagntleic Wo.fa%l to ?lnd any statute providing tha salary and ~o??%oo *xpenaea o? a county superintetidentof a oounty having the populetion of Gregg County. Them&ore, It la our opinlon'that the salary and ofilae expenses a? the Gaunty 8aperlntendent a? Gregg County are provided by Artlale 2700, VePnonls.AmatatM Civil statutes. As we do not hare the aaholastiopopulation Or euoh county we aannot detemlne the exaot amount a? aslaky that the Qounty Superlnten6entla~entltledto under moh statute. However, after the,aoholaetiopopulation has mn detemalned the amouut o? the lelary o? the county superintend- ent oan eaally be~'aeeertalne&Mdar the above mentloned~8tatuta. The amount or the traveling lxpenaea and espendltureaior the 0rri08 shall not lxoeea &500.00 par annum Trusting that the ioregolng fully answers your inquiry we aro Yours very truly AWJitii ATTNG-OFT- Ey ~~ArdeZl Wllllama,Aasiatant AEROV&TDMAY 14, 1941 BY S/GRGVER SELLERS FIRST &%3ISTA??l' ATTORNEY GEKZXAL LIT