OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN

l3arhan county .%ttornoy Wrath County* Stophellvill?,

Texas., Ibar Sirl

difficultjomlory on their pert offioialsnnlariss are due even thou&

prccisteyour -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 officerrocoiving a salary chnll hcroax'tcr

roceive*anyer 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~icicncyin 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 sectionwould not be in conflictwith the iqliea prohibitioncontaincain.Section9 of Article 0 of the Constitution.ofthe state of Teras,ngainstthe transfer by the'cczmmissionern' court of a county of money from okie constitutional

runa to another. 109 T??x.AS

155, 202 S.%* 504. CARROLLv. XILLIAK3,~

Ia no sense is the transferof monies from the Coneraltina to the Officers' Salary Fund an uncoastitutionoldiversi of taxes for en uanuthorizca-Jur,ose. There is no unln~;~"ul transfer or divarsionbecaucc 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 Countyand tho statutoryOfficers Salary Fund ore both chargedwith 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.provisioncontainca is Scctiog 6(b) of Article 59120, above quotad, for the transferof funds from the General zuna to the Ofi‘icers* Cclerp Fund, when the monies in the latter fur& ar'3 insufficientto ncet the salary claims a&ninst it is r:snilntory clna in the event of,a deficiencyin the GIPficers* SalakyEon. Clint aarhcm,pago 3

Fund the coz&ssionorcl court has no choicebut to offcot the transferfrom the General Fund subjeot, hovievor,

to one qualification. The only limitationupon such a transfer arises whore the monies in the G∋rel Lund itself are insufficient

tc meet outstandingregistered 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 againsthis county in the order of greseilfotionand 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 indebtednessto tho county,until it has been duly reSistoredin accordance.v:ith

the provisions of this title, All claims in each olass shall be -2aidIn the order in wvhich

they are rezistersd.lt h transferfrom the Wneral Fund to tho Officers' SalaryFund cenzotbe mx?de at the expensoof the registeredclaim holders. where all the Roden in the &nercl Fund are obligatedby outstandingor unpaid script, a transferprejudicialto the possessorsof script csanotbe 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&iatanthttorneyGeneral.

In such a case the result of a transferfram the *General

Lund to the'

Officers' Salary IUd would.be to create a furtier indebtednessagainst the General Fund ?ihich

would be subordinateto all prior:.re&terea claims.

As ststodby Zion.

Joe J. Usup in the above referred to opinion.

Vhe praotical effeot of this is that the GeneralFund 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 officialsdo not ccoossa,-ily

hold priority over outst:nding unj+d script of the.general fund. E3V,-

_ . . . _ _ reever, ~8 a0 not wisn to 00 unacrstooaas 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 evidentlytze 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 officialsmst 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 neaessaryfor officis13 &miinr: selerp from the Gfficers*Salary Zun& and upon the trsnsfsrbeingnade fro3 the cenernl fun& to the Officers~Salary Fund the count7 officials shouldbe 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 oblicztoG7ana namlatoryupon the cczdssioners~ court of c.county to trnnsfor zoniea fro3 t>e CkxoralFun5 to the Officers' Snlery Zimd there there are n3 c,onios in the latter Pund v;i'ith. VMCX io pny 8313ricspf comty officersprovided, however,thst v:here there me sufficientoutstsditzg regiatcrcaolaizls

a@.nat the Gcn3r31 Zml.of e couaty to create a daficicncyin 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 dubordinateto Drier outstandinSrcr,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