OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

l3arhan 

county .%ttornoy 

Wrath County* 

Stophellvill?, Texas., 

Ibar Sirl 

difficultj omlory on their pert 

offioials nnlariss 

are due even thou& 

prcciste your -mdvln~ the roqulremnt. 

that a brief bo prepared on this anh yoilr 

;-iving u3 an answer on this nattier imcdiate13.’ 

.Article 39128, Section 6(b), roads'as follows: 
Eon. Clint Barham, page 2 

Vo officer rocoiving a salary chnll 

hcroax'tcr roceive*any er officio coqensation: 

Ye note the use of the yjoras "other funds" in 

this ghrose in your latter. "Glut thot they mutt trcnefor f;-ox gther~ $unas~ (uUersoorinn ours) a sufficient 

amount of money to m! sl;o up the de~icicncy in the Officers' Salary ?&a with whi,ch to pay the county official." 

By the terms of'the above quoted article and 

section, the comnisoioners * court is only authorized 

to make transfers 03x3 the General Fund of the coudy 

to the Officers1 Salary i?und. 

3mh R trnnsfer ES is provided for in tile above 

Quoted section would not be in conflict with the iqliea 

prohibition containca in.Section 9 of Article 0 of the 

Constitution .of the state of Teras,ngainst the transfer 

by the'cczmmissionern' court of a county of money from 

okie constitutional runa to another. 

109 T??x.AS 155, 202 S.%* 504. 

CARROLL v. XILLIAK3,~ 

Ia no sense is the transfer of monies from the 

Coneral tina to the Officers' Salary Fund an uncoastitutionol diversi of taxes for en uanuthorizca -Jur,ose. 

There is no unln~;~"ul transfer or divarsion becaucc the 

peyment af the salaries of county.officers is one of 

t!ie pur?osss of the County General Fund. Thcoreticdly 

the co!x3tituti.onal Gen'cral Fund of the County and tho 

statutory Officers Salary Fund ore both charged with 

the garment 

funds ir, the 

of the sal,grios of county officers, avtilnble 

for;ler sugglomentinG zanies in the letter 

in the event of a deficiency. 

The.provision containca is Scctiog 6(b) of 

Article 59120, above quotad, for the transfer of funds 

from the General zuna to the Ofi‘icers* Cclerp Fund, 

when the monies in the latter fur& ar'3 insufficient to 

ncet the salary claims a&ninst it is r:snilntory clna 

in the event of,a deficiency in the GIPficers* Salaky 
Eon. Clint aarhcm, pago 3 

Fund the coz&ssionorcl court has no choice but to 

offcot the transfer from the General Fund subjeot, 

hovievor, to one qualification. 

The only limitation upon such a transfer 

arises whore the monies in the G∋rel Lund itself 

are insufficient tc meet outstanding registered 

claims al;ainst the county. 

providos: 

Article 1625,.l?evised Civil Statutes, 1923, 

Tach county treasurer .sb.cll kccg a wellboilnd book in which he shall re&scor 011 

claims against his county in the order of greseilfotion and if more tnnn one is nressnted 

at the s&e ti.me he shall register them in the 

ordor of their date. Ee shali 3ay no such . 

claim or any part thereof, nor shall the sa.me, 

or any part thereof, be received by any officer in payment of any indebtedness to tho 

county, until it has been duly reSistored in 

accordance.v:ith the provisions of this title, 

All claims in each olass shall be -2aid In the 

order in wvhich they are rezistersd.lt 

h transfer from the Wneral Fund to tho Officers' Salary Fund cenzot be mx?de at the expenso of the 

registered claim holders. where all the Roden in the 

&nercl Fund are obligated by outstanding or unpaid 

script, a transfer prejudicial to the possessors of 

script csanot be effected. See opinion of thi3 Dopartmeet, dated cay 8, 1936, to Hon. Xosea L. sa3aras, County 

P.ttorcey, Xaco$doches County, by Eon. Joe J. Alsup, 

&a&iatant httorney General. 

In such a case the result of a transfer fram 

the *General Lund to the' Officers' Salary IUd would.be 

to create a furtier indebtedness against the General 

Fund ?ihich would be subordinate to all prior:.re&terea claims. 

As ststod by Zion. Joe J. Usup in the above 

referred to opinion. 

Vhe praotical effeot of this is that the 

General Fund merely goes further in the 'red*". 
Eon. Clint Bnrhm, pa@ 4 

i%cro tho doficiem7 cxiats in the Czxral 

%nd under Article 39120, Sectim (b) above qx~tod, 

there can bc EO actual transf6r of msl? Prom the 

Cmernl Fund. There cm only be crontcd a mm claim 

sminst tha Cci-zrol Ti.md which rr,ust be paid in the 

or&r of its priorit7. 

:!'e cuoto further frcmthe opinion above 

ferrcd to by Iton. Joe J'. J.lsup: 

n * * * a11 claim against tho Count7 

rxxt be _=a:d in the order in %hich they v:cre 

roCiotercd. Thus vinrrcnts of officials do 

not ccoossa,-ily hold priority over outst:nding unj+d script of the. general fund. E3V,- 

_ . . . _ _ 

reever, ~8 a0 not wisn to 00 unacrstooa as 

ruling that the Cfficcrsr Sslary Fund is subject to tt;e Kenore provi3ions of the Inn, 

J?rtich 1625, b.vi%.?d civil st2tUt6S, 2iid 

evidently tze Lo&slature intemled that p&yrsmtn fron such funa shoulC be x&e Ian cash 

as Lectioa 19 of Senate 2111 X0. 5, speclfically ~rovlCcs~t!mt all officials mst be paid 

iz soney, The ~cnerol fund of the Count7, 

hoxvcr, is still subject to the term of 

Article lC25. As ststed above, no re,-,istretian is neaessary for officis13 &miinr: selerp 

from the Gfficers* Salary Zun& and upon the 

trsnsfsr being nade fro3 the cenernl fun& to 

the Officers~ Salary Fund the count7 officials 

should be paid in so far as possible in cash 

out of said fund rqardleas of the status of 

tha gen&al Z'und.n 

hit is our'odnion t&t under the terYs of ArtiCl6 39126, EaOtiOn 6 tb) Vernon’s Annotated Civil 

Statutes, it is oblicztoG7 ana namlatory upon the 

cczdssioners~ court of c. county to trnnsfor zoniea 

fro3 t>e Ckxoral Fun5 to the Officers' Snlery Zimd 

there there are n3 c,onios in the latter Pund v;i'ith. 

VMCX io pny 8313rics pf comty officers provided, 

however, thst v:here there me sufficient outstsditzg 

regiatcrca olaizls a@.nat the Gcn3r31 Zml.of e couaty to create a daficicncy in that fund, then tI%re 

;my be no trarisfcr of actual cnsh fro% the Cansral 

Fund, but only the creatiop of c new claim o(;einct~ 
Eon. Clint 3arhnm, paga 6 

the C+cr,eral ?md which is dubordinate to Drier outstandinS rcr,istored olalac ay,nir.st the G&oral wd 

and is psycbla in odor of its ~riorit7. 

Trustin:: that the above fully answers your 

inquiry, v:e are 

r=t< sauk 

Dick Stout 

Assistaat 

APiiOVED 

Opinion oomittee 

B7 Bm 

-ciia%n