OFFICE OF THE AYTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
11
G@LD c. MANN
*w”**r amEmIL LF1
:‘c
,;‘,,
?
;: 1:!I I-1
xon. John R. shook
lxstrict nttorney
StinAntonio, Texas
3ear Sir:
sic.ners' 20urt of sear County
.,uto~~tic Trotlnp,
xashine car
of some 300 voting machines.
OU%hS Of $26,340,00Within
rental fcr the mohinec, w:
county to purohese the t the rsntal pay-
ment would he crfditsd
apJ.st 22, 1556,
by the Comissfon 0 rol.l.owic~
it003
or $16,000.00,to
8t0,oo
and Clerk6 ew. 00
t?-*
the ~omissioners~ Court m&y Ermendor ohays Its budCat SO
as to use ths ;;‘16,000.00
thus alloted to eleotlon expenses
in m&king payment of ssid rental on the rotine:mahines.
Eon. John R. shook, page 8.
You explain that no order mak- scch change in the budget
was entered at the time the oontractwas made, so that the
entry of the order ohanging the budget neoeasarllymust be
subsequentto the rcakingof the aontraot.
In your opinion request you have also submitted
the question as to whether the contzaat lnvolvse the oreat-
ing of a debt and Is void on that account. ~8 answer that
question in the regatfve in trim of the oplnlon of the Dallas
Court of Cfvll Appeals in the oase of gayden ~8. Dallas
County, deoided on August 9, 1940, but not yet reported,
sustaining a @lmllcr contract between Dallas County and the
AutomatiaVoting %aohine Company.
nrtlole 6SQa-11, Vernon’6 Statutos, red8
Civil.1
in partr
m%e Commissioners~Court In eaoh county
shall saeh par provide for a publla hearing
on the county budget--whlohhearing shall take
plaoe on same date to be named b the Cognleslon-
em Court subsequentto AU@lSt 1 6th ana prior
of taxes by said Comtnieeionere~
~uz" le Fu
T 110 tiotlceshall be given that on
said iate of hearing the budget as prepared bye
the County Judge will be ooneidered bg the Com-
missioners* Court. ~Bcaldnotloe shall me the
hour, the date and the place where the hearing
shall be aonducted, Any taxpayer oi.eueh eoun-
ty shall have the right to be present and partl-
cipate In said hearing; ;Ltthe ooncluelonof
the hearing, the budget as prepared by the
County Judge shall be aoted upon by the Commls-
sionsrs1 Oourt. The Court shall have authority
to make suah ahangae in the budget as In their
judgment the law warrants and the interest of
the taxpayers demand. fihenthe budget has been
U.nally approved by the Comnlsalanere~Court,
the budget, as approved by the Court shall be
tiled with the Clerk oi the County Court, and
taxes levied only in aeaordanoetherewith, and RO
expendituresOS the funds of the oounty shall
therenftar be made except In strict compliance
with the budget as adopted by the Court. IX-
cept that e.mergencyexpenditures,in aase of
grave public necessity, to meet unusual and
unforeseen conditionswhich could not, by rea-
sonably diligent thought and attention,have
been included In ths original budget, may rrom
time to time ,beauthorizedby the Court as
amendments to the orIgIna budget. Tn all
case6 where such ezmndment to the orIgI.nalbud-
get is made, a co?; of the order of the Court
amendine the budget shall be filed with the
Clerk of the County Court, and attached to the
budget orfginally adopted."
Artlole 689a-20, Vernon*8 Civil Statutes, prpvldes:
"Nothing contained in this ;iotshall be
construed as precluding the Legislaturefrom
ma?tInCohanges In the budget for State pur-
poses or prevent the County CommIssIoners*
Courts from making changes In the budget for
county purposes or prevent the gowrniag body
of any Incorporatedcity or town from naking
changes In the budget Sor Olty puqoses, or
revent tb.etrusteas or other sohool govern-
ng body from zmkin& OhU?gb, In th6 bud&s
!i iOr
sohoal purposess and the duties ref@red by Yir-
tue or this dietof state, county, tiltyand 8ahool
Gtiioere or Representativesehall be prformd
for the aompensatlonnow provided by law to be
paid said ofrioe~s, respsotively.w
4~~'--\ Tn our opinion, the InhIbItIonscontained In SeO.
11 against the Inelusion of additional Items In the budget
after It has been approved do not hare any appliaationt0
the problem at hand. The une of th8 motleywill be ohanged
from the payment of eleOtiOU judg8S and Olerka, etO., t0
applying on the rental 01 the machlna8, butthe general pUr-
pose of the expenditure, is the same, the holding Of the
election. The switoh or the $lLg,OOO,GO desired to be done
would not in itself be an additional expenditure,but we
thI.nkwould be a ohange in the budget such as is authorized
by Sea. 20 of said ArtIole 689a. rrom the opinion of the
Eon, John W. Shook, pwe 4
Fifth Cirouit al @peals in Southlacd Ice Co. vs. City of
TEqle, 100 Fed. (2) 825, involvi~ this bu&et law, we
quote:
*Counsel r0r ap;?elleeaall attention to
subdivision13 of the SudiqethlW (quoted above)
and say that, as to Is'one
Rule Cities, tho only
provlsfons in their charters es to budgets, not
abrogated by the Budget Law, are those relating
to the preparationot the budGet and hearings
thereon, and that, therefore, the part or the
charter as to transrers mm one aepami3m.i to
enother must yield to the provisions or the
general statute, under the constitutionprohi-
biting &me 510 Charters to oontain anything
inconsistentwith the constitutionor the general
laws. 'rihetherthat view be aorreat, it is not
neoessary to deoide. Even ii that charter pro-
vision is still in errsat, it only authorizes
transrer tram one departmentor appropriations
to be applied to another department to som object
covered by the bu&et. That aeems logical beoause
subdivision15 provide8 how and when new matters
can be added to the budget, Thererore,appro-
prlatfons, if transrerrsa,would be applicable
only to 801~~purpose nanma in the budget, end
could not be ussd to pay for property not iaentlon-
ea in the budget. Likewise, subaivtiion 20 of
the Budget Lnw, authoriaii@ohtinGesIn the budget,
must rerer to charges within.the obd6Ots coverea
by the budget, because ii new mattsrs 00uia be
added to the budgst, then the @Z~ergenOy provision
would serve no purpose.*
fn our opinion the above question should be answer-
ed in the arfiratatiVe.The fact that the oontxaot has been
previouslymade would not destroy the powW of the COmmis-
si.oners(Court to amend the budget in suoh partlQul6S. We
nota that the rental payment Is to be $26,3-40.00,and we are
not advised as to the source from WblcO payment of the $lO,W*
mn. John H. ahook, peg. 8.