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Honorable Albert S, Wright Special County Auditor San Augustine County San Augustine,Texas
Dear Sir: OpinionNo. O-2478 Re: Should a county auditorwork on a calendar or fiscal year basis in calculating revenue and expenditure8for current and prior years in arriving at the county scrip that has been issued in excess of current revenue for each year?
Your recent request for an opinion of this Department upon the above statedquestion has been received.

We quote from your letter a8 follows: "Kindlyadviseme if I shouldwork on a calendar year basis or a fiscal year basis in calculating revenue and expenditures,for current and prior years, in arriving at the county scrip that has been issued in excess of current revenue for eachyear. The point with me is: whether to compile current revenue and scrip issued for each calendaryear or for each fiscal year beginning October 1st and ending September 30th, in arriving at the scrip issued in excess of the current revenue for the respectiveyears." Article 68ga-9,Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, reads as follows:

"The county judge shall serve as budget officer for the commissIonerat court in each county, and during themonthtiofJuly of eachyear, he, assisted by the county auditor or by the county clerk, shall prepare a budget to cover all proposed expenditures of the county government for the succeeding year. Such budget shallbe carefully itemized so as to make as clear a comparison as practioable between expenditures inoluded in the proposed budget and actual expendituresfor the same or similarpurposes for theHonorable Albert S. Wright, Page 2 (WW-O-2478)

precedingyear. The budgetmust also be soprepared as to show as definitely as possible each of the variousprojects for which appropriationsare setup in the budget, and the estimated amount of money carried in the budget for each of suchprojeats. The budget shall also contain a complete financial statementof the county, showing all outstanding obligationsof the county, the cash on hand to the credit of each and every fund of the county government, the funds received from all sourcesduring the previousyear, the funds available from all sourcesduring the ensuingyear, the estimatedrevenues available to cover the proposed budget and the estimatedrate of tax which will be required."
In countieshaving a population of 350,000 inhabitants or more, as shownby the last preceding or any future Federal census, itsis provided by House Bill 958, page 144, Acts of the 46th Legislature, 1939, that:

II The county auditor in all countieshaving a popuiatlon in excess of (350,000)three hundred and fifty thousand as shownby the lastpreceding or any future United States census shall serve aa the budget officer for the commissioners'courts in each county, and on or immediatelyafter January 1st of eachyear he shallprepare a budget all proposed expenditures of the county governmznt for the current fiscal and calendaryear. . . . This statutehas no application to San Augustine County.
It will be noted that Article 68ga-g, supra,proviaes that the county judge shall serve as the budget officer for the commissioners'court, and that in July &f eachyear, with the assistance of the county auditor or the county clerk,he shall prepare a budget to cover all proposed expenditures 'ofthe county government for the succeedingyear. Other articles of the same Act provide that saidbudget,when completed, shall be filed with the county clerk and be available for public inspection; also that the commisslonerstcourt shallprovide for a public hearing on the county budget, the hearing to take place subsequentto August 15th and prior to the levy of taxes by said commissioners'court.

We quote from an opinion renderedby this Department February 10, 1933, addressed to Honorable Ii.P. EasterXng, County Attorney,Mentone, Texas, as follows:r

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Honorable Albert S. Wright, Page 3 (WW-O-2478)

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. . . Itwill be noted that the budget to be prepared is for 'the succeedingyear', that is, as I understand it, the year beginning January lst, following. The levywhiah the commissioners1court is tomake this year is for the purpose of raisingmoney on which to operate the county government during the coming or succeedingyear. Hence, it Is clear to me that the levy, which is to raisemoney to operate the county government for the nextyear was not intended to be made, until, by the preparation of the budget, it could be known or estimatedhowmuch money would be required. The requirements of the budget would necessarily fix or influence the rate of the levy.

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In our OpinionNo. O-2324 It was held that the commissioners' court does not have the power tomake a budget year other than the calendaryear.

Inview of the foregoing,you are respectfullyadvised that it is the opinion of this Department that the county judge, assisted by the county auditor or county clerk, shouldwork on a calendaryear basis in calculating revenue and expenditures for current and prior years in arriving at the county scrip that has been issued In excess of current revenues for eachyear. In this connection,we want to point out that a special county auditor does not occupy the ssmeposition as a regular county auditor and does not have the same authority or duties. We have been unable to find any authority authorizing or requiring a special county auditor to assist the county judge in thematters abovementioned.

Trusting that the foregoing fully answersyour inquiry, we are Your5 very truly
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

Ardell Willisms Assistant
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