Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

Grover Sellers~ Mr. C. G. Mendenhall Opinion No. O-5898 County Auditor Re: Whether the CommissionersCourt Chambers County of Chambers County has the legal au- Anahuac,Texas thority to expend county funds to construct a short wave radio station for the use of the Sheriff and to em- Dear sir: ploy operators for such station. Your letter of June 14, 1944, requesting the opinion of this departmentregarding the above stated matters is as follows: “Would you kindly advise us if in your opinion this county has authority to construct a short wave radio (Police) station for the use of the Sheriff, and also have we the authority to employ operators for such a station, expending county funds therefor.” Chambers County has a population of 7,5l.linhabitants accordingto the 1940 Federal Census. We are informedby the Comptroller’sOffice ,thatthe county officials of said county ape compensatedon a fee basis. Paragraph (a) ~of Article 3899, Vernon’s AnnotatedCivil Statutes, is applicableto counties where the county officials are compensatedon a fee basis. This statute provides, in part, as follows: “*** The commissioners’court of the county of the sheriffIs residence may upon the written and sworn applicationof the sheriff stating the necessity therefor, purchase equipment for a bureau of criminal identificationsuch as camsras, finger print cards, inks, chemicals,microscopes,radio and laboratory equipment,,filingcards, filing cabinets,tear gas and other equipment in keeping with the system in use by the Department of Public Safety of this State or the United States Department of Justice and/or Bureau of Criminal Identification. If such expenses be in- curred in connectionwith any particular case, such statement shall name such case. Such expense account shall be subject to the audit of the county auditor, if any, othervise by the Commissioners1Court; and if it appears that any item of such expense was not in- curred by such officer or such item was not a necessary Mr. C. G. Mendenhall,page 2 (O-5898) expense of office, such item shall be by such auditor or court rejected, in which case the collectionsof such Item may be adjudicated in any court of competent jurisdiction. The amount of salaries paid to assistants end deputies shall also be clearly shown by such officer, giv- ing the name, position, and amount paid each; and in no event shall any officer show any greater amount than actually paid any assistant or deputy. The amount of such expenses, together with the amount of salaries paid to assistants deputies and clerks shall be paid out of the hees earneb by such oflicer. ***I' Referring to the above mentioned provision of Article 3899 this departmentheld in Opinion No. O-1906 that the com- missIoners' court is authorized to purchase and expend county funds for a radio for the sheriff's office under the ~abovearti- cle. Specificallyanswering your question, you are respect- fully advised that it is the opinion of this departmentthat the Commissioners'Court of Chambers County is legally authorized to purchase and expend county funds for a short wave radio station for the Sheriff's Office if the Commissioners'Court determines that a necessity exists cherefor, and provided, of course, such expenditure is provided for in the county budget. It is our fur- ther opinion that the CommissionerstCourt does not have author- ity to employ operators for such short wave radio station. In the event the Sheriff has an assistant or a deputy to operate such station, the employment of such assistant or deputy would- have to be authorizedby the Commissioners'Court as provided by Article 3902, Vernon's AnnotatedCivil Statutes and such as- sistant or employee would have to be compensateA as authorized by Article 3899, supra; that is such expense would have to be paid out of the fees earned by {he Sheriff. APPROVED JUN 23, 1944 Yours very truly /s/ Geo. C. Blackburn ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TRXAS (Acting) ATT0RNF.YGENNRAL By /s/ Ardell Williams OF TEXAS Ardell Williams, Assistant APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE BY: BWR, CHAIRMAN A&EP:wb