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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

GREG ABBOTT 

May 27,2014 

The Honorable Richard N. Countiss 

San Jacinto County District Attorney 

1 State Highway 150, Room #21 

Coldspring, Texas 77331-0403 

Opinion No. GA-1062 

Re: Salary increases for assistant auditors 

and administrative assistants after passage of 

the county budget (RQ-1170-GA) 

Dear Mr. Countiss: 

You ask two questions concerning assistant county auditor salaries and amendments to 

the county budget to increase those salaries. 1 You expJain a situation where the county auditor's 

proposed annual budget designated an admini trative assjstant as an assistant auditor and 

increased the salary of that position by $1,664.00. Request Letter at 2. Before passing the 

annual county budget, the commissioners court "changed the title of the position back to 

'Administrative Assistant' and reduced the salary to the original amount." !d. The district 

judges in the county then "signed an order approving the Auditor's [proposed] budget" with the 

redesignation and increased salary. !d. In your first question you ask: 

!d. at 1. 

Is the commissioners court under a duty to adopt a budget 

amendment to reflect an increase in the salary of an Assistant 

Auditor granted by the District Court Judges after the county's 

budget has been adopted and where the adopted budget designated 

the employee as an "Administrative Assistant" rather than an 

"Assistant Auditor"? 

Chapter 84 of the Local Government Code governs the appointment and compensation of 

county auditors and assistant auditors. See TEX. Loc. Gov'T CODE ANN. §§ 84.001-.902 (West 

2008 & Supp. 2013). Although a commissioners court generally manages the business of the 

county, the county auditor is "an independent officer appointed and removed by the district 

1

See Letter from Honorable Richard N. Countiss, San Jacinto Cnty. Dist. Att'y, to Honorable Greg Abbott, 

Tex. Att'y Gen. at 1 (Nov. 19, 2013), http://www.texasattomeygeneral.gov/opin ("Request Letter"). 
The Honorable Richard N. Countiss - Page 2 (GA-1062) 

judges" as "part of the 'delicate · system of checks and balances' designed to protect county 

funds." Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. GA-0618 (2008) at 2 (quoting Smith v. McCoy, 533 S.W.2d 

457, 459 (Tex. Civ. App.-Dallas 1976, writ dism'd)); see TEx. Loc. Gov'T CODE ANN. 

§ 84.003 (West 2008) (providing for appointment of county auditor by district judges). Section 

84.021 authorizes the county auditor to request assistant auditors and establishes a procedure for 

the district judges to appoint them. TEX. Loc. Gov'T CoDE ANN. § 84.021(a) (West 2008). 

Upon consideration of the application for appointment of assistants and inquiry into the 

information included therein, the district judges "shall prepare a list of the appointees ... and the 

salary to be paid each." Id. "The judges shall certify this list to the commissioners court, which 

shall order the salaries to be paid on the performance of services." I d. (emphasis added). 

"The power to make the appointments [of assistant auditors] and set the salaries . . . is 

given solely to the district judges." Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0361 (200 1) at 3 (citing Duncan 

v. Pogue, 759 S.W.2d 435 (Tex. 1988)). The fact that the increase in the salary ofthe assistant 

auditor has occurred after the county's budget adoption does not change the analysis. "[T]he 

district judge may, during the course of the budget year, direct a change in the county budget [to 

increase] the salaries ofthe assistants in the county auditor's office." Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. 

JM-49 (1983) at 2 (citing article 1650 of the Revised Civil Statutes, the predecessor statute to 

section 84.021 ). "Such change may be made: (1) upon a proper application made by the auditor 

to the district court; (2) only if such action does not require county expenditures in excess of 

anticipated revenue of the county for that year; and (3) only if amendment of the county budget 

is made in compliance with the law." Id. Accordingly, provided that the auditor and district 

judges have followed the appropriate statutory procedures, "the commissioners court is under a 

ministerial duty" to pay the assistant auditor salaries designated by the district judges. Tex. Att'y 

Gen. Op. No. JC-0361 at 3 (citing Mays v. Fifth Court of Appeals, 755 S.W.2d 78, 79 (Tex. 

1988)). 

In your second question, you ask: 

Whether the Order signed by the District Court Judges that 

changed the employee's designation to "Assistant Auditor" and 

increased the salary for that position complied with section 84.021 

of the Texas Local Government Code, and if said Order did not 

comply with section 84.021, is the Order invalidated such that the 

commissioners court does not have to pay the salary increase? 

Request Letter at 1. You explain that the commissioners court believes that the district judges 

did not comply with the requirements of section 84.02 1 because they "did not list the names of 

'the appointees', but rather just their titles." Id. at 2. Whil the county auditor must include the 

name" of an assistant auditor in its proposed list of appointees to the district judges, the express 

language of section 84.021 does not similarly require the district judges to include the names of 

appointees in the list they certify to the commissioners court. TEX. Loc. Gov T Coo ' Al\lN. 

§ 84.021(a) (West 2008). Thus, an order from the district judges to the county commissioners 

certifying the appointment of assistant auditors is not invalid merely because it does not include 

the specific names of appointees. 
The Honorable Richard N. Countiss - Page 3 (GA-1062) 

SUMMARY 

Section 84.021 of the Local Government Code requires a 

commissioners court to order the salaries of assistant county 

auditors, as properly certified by the district judges of the county, 

to be paid on the performance of services. 

Section 84.021 does not require district judges to include 

the names of assistant auditors in the list of appointees they certify 

to the county commissioners court under that provision. 

DANIEL T. HODGE 

First Assistant Attorney General 

JAMES D. BLACKLOCK 

Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel 

VIRGINIA K. HOELSCHER 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Virginia K. Hoelscher 

EG ABBOTT 

Attorney General of Texas 

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee