OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
BOJL J. 3. Altied
County Auditor
m91or county
sle City National mlldlng
Hahita falls, mxcs
war Sir:
Your requert for 0
oarefully oonaldered by thl
your request as followa:
the alaim after
a8 above number-
he individual cormis-
ng out warrants, eta.
ally bound to do but does do for
the public and the pub114 of-
urt i8 of the opinion that this also
is not a legal liability of the county, and there-
fore has asked me to submit the oounty olerkc8
bill to you and ask that you give an opinion
thereon."
We hare a340 oarefully eramined the Olaim you
tanol0redin your lstter. The alalm is for postage lxpenae
Hon. J. 8. Allred, page 2.
at the rate of 21.50 per month for the past 8 years for a
t0td or w4.00. The olalm Is not Itemized, The rtats-
ment is ztade in the alalm that the postage was “used for
mailing warrants for oounty in R & B Fund, I: & J Fund and
Hospital Fund”.
Opinion NO. O-1891 of this department passed upon
this claim based upon the faot situation yreeented in the
r4quest. The raot situation passed upon in opinion NO.
O-1891, was a8 follows, quoting from the letter of request:
“The OODrmiesloners~ Court of Baylor County
has asked me, as their County Auditor, to get a
ruling from you relative to payment or expenses
or their oounty olerk over a period running
baok as far as nine years for extra help and
poe tageb It Is my understanding that this orri-
oer’s tee8 are supposed to oover any extra help
he uses in hi8 offloe, as ~411 as the expense
for po8 tage. Euring the time I have been county
auditor in Enylor county, which la only part
time work, slnoe the Oounty Is not large enough
to require full time, the county has paid this
offloer 4x-orfiofo fn an amunt for county and
district clerk avaraging around $1400.00 per
year, and It ~483~9that th4se expenses should
have been taken oar4 of by the offioer from theas
payments, &so, in view or the faot that the or-
fleer is expeoted to make an expense statement
nonthly to the oourt, whlah he has done and In .
which he has not alatied th4s4 expsnses, it is
my belief that hs is not entitled to olalz them
at this late date.
“1 would like to have your opinion on this
matter for the full period or any part of the
nine year perlod.~
Opinion NO. O-1891, held that the county via6 not
liable ror the expenses olaimed. W4 quote from the opinion
as r0110vv0:
“The oounty has paid the county olsrk ex-
officio oompsnsatlon in the approximate sum of
~~1400.00 per year during the above mentioned nine
year period. The Conmlesioners~ Court Is debarred
from allowing compensation for ex orricio servloes
to oounty orrlolals when the conpensatlon and ex-
cess fees which they are allowed to retain shall
rsaoh the maximum provided by law. .\a above stat-
ed, oounty orrlolals who are oompensated on a fee
basis must pay their expenses out of feea earned
Eon. J. R. Allred, Iage 3
by their respective offices, and t:?o oon?mIssIon-
em* oourt Is without authority to allow payzent
of the sane by the oounty.
“You are respeotfully advised that It la
the opinion at this departzent that the above
rentloned expenses of the oounty clerk should
have bean paid by him iron fees of office and
the oounty hes no authority to pap such expenses.”
?fe think Opinion no. O-1891 or this departzzent Is
oorreot under tte faots stated and we adbtrs to that rUling. we
also oall. your attention to the recent oa8e of Pierson vs. Gal-
veston Cc,Inty, 131 3. W, (2nd) Page 27, which supports our oon-
olu8ion reaahad In Opinion z&O-1891.
In your request ror opinion Upon the o1al.m as now
pmzeented you stat., among other things, as follows:
W ..,. the aountp olerk now OCE~S baak with
another olaim which he does not c1aiE is expenses
or orrioe, but that it is ror acoomodations to the
court and the individual oomiesioners, ets., 1n n.alc-
Tng Out warrants, etc., which he is not legally bound
to do but doer SO ior the oonveniencs of the pub110
and the pub110 orrioiais.~
You are therefore respectfully advised It Is the opin-
Ion of this departmnt, under the taats stated In your letter,
that Raylor County, Texas Is not legally liable for the claim
described in your letter, and that same should not be approved.
Very truly yours
CTTCiSEY cE?XRAL OF “CTiiS
$$iy&zL+
a9
Phn. J. Fanning
Asri stant
WJF:jm
End1 ,