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Honorable O.C. Fisher District **Attorney** DlstriatNo. 51 s8n Angelo, Texas -
bar Slrr oplniorl No. O-4988 Re: vypk auditor under Artiole 1646b.

appointedby District J;&e'u& request of Gkand Jury ma: makeaudit ofcounty~a affaIrsand relatedmatters. Y&r z&elit ‘ror .oon8Memdby this depaH+ent. T!i inion ha8 been received and wreStally e quote from your request hs follower
* 'I 8m requestingan op*ou in referenoe to .'. the following 8ituatlona
;- 'h Sarah, 1941 in pursuanoe of Artlale l@&a of tk8 Revised Civil Sktute~.of %caa a grand jury **0r** m.on county pcrs6ed a resolutiono&rlng 8nd

. I dlhctlng th&t'an audit be made of t&e county fln&e~ ,.:'

of IMon Oounty. *au as follousl Tbe'lastparagreph of said resolution

"%ierefon in accordmoe with thl8 report, request 18 made and it 1s here **ordered**

. . that nuab audit be ma&e by some CexWfled Pub&

Aacountaut to be named by your Honor, duly quallfled 40 make suab audit.' "The M&riot Judge iorthwltbappointed Jake Freeze, a certlfledpublic accountantof San Angelo, to make the audit. **Hr. Freeze**  **however, poetponed**  **the** uudertakins because he nas una610 to seoure e aatisiectory8greement with the Comml8alonere'Court In reference to **the pay**  **that** he would eventuallyreceive for hla efforta. I (UD now requested **tO ’** **8eCUre** an opinion from your Department a8 to whether Hr. Freeze would be authorized to proceed at **thie tlme**  **In pursuance**  **oi** said **a&ion of**  **the &raid**  **jWy** and or the Metriot Jud@ and make the audit. I under**8taTId** that private altlzens of Irlon County have arranged to pay him, and have thereby eliminated **the** obstaale 'whichprevented him from prooeeding orWnal4. 1

"This would seea to involvea construotlon of the above quoted.artlcle**and** pertalne to the **QUkstiOn** OfIthe elapse of time since the aotion of the gMurd jurS. ilnd no decleionaby the courta that throw ang light on H-us ewh*oatHonorable O.C. Fisher, Page 2 

### o-4988

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. . . . . . . fiion County,Texas, has a populationof less than 

### 25,000 Inhabitantsticcording to the last pmcedipg Federal Census of 1940. Article 16&a, Vernon'sAnnotatedTexas Clvll Statutes,prcvldee as follous:

"Countyaudltora. The Cormnlsslonere~ Court of any **coun%y** under twenty-five**thousand** PoIn&xtlonaocor+

_ - G to t& last United-Statesaeneuaniay make an mangement or agmement with one or more other aountle8whereby all aountlea,parties **to the**  **arrangement,** may jointly employ and ovnsate a epeclalautitor or audltors for **the** purpose8 speciiledIn Articles 1645 and 

### 1646. The county commlealonersl

court of every oounty afrectedby thle articlemay have an audit made of all the books of the county, or any of them, at any time Way deelrewhether suab amw&zement8 cm? be made with other counties or not;

Construingthe ebove quoted'atatute we held In opinionNo. 0-II37 of tble departmentthat such statuteauthorizedan audit of oounty .I' effaira and finsnoes In a county under 25,COC populetion**upon** an order of district judge or @and .Wy regardlessOS whether or not such audit was dealredby tbe 6ou&aeioners1 court, 

### herewlth

**ror** 

### yoke,lnfonnation; A **copy of**  **thrs** oph&on 1s enclosed

The puree strings of the cowl;y zwe held **by** the conmhsloner: court and they ordinarilyrtould pay for the servloeeof a special auditor appointedunder,

Article16&, supra. vides that the c;:m&Motiers' Ar&tIcle 1641,V.A.C.S., also prooourt may employ a special auditorand sets out a method of contracting with and compensatingsuch auditor. .Houever, there may be r,Imes when the couunleeloners~ court may not desire the appointmentof a specialauditorbecause of either the **expense** lnvolvee or other reasons. **The** Legislaturewisely prov'lded for an adult by a specialauditorupon.theorder of either the grand jury or district jo~g:. **We** do not **here** pars on the querrtlon as to nhether emeclal auditor could; recover Judgmentagalnet the county for his **BerViCbB** on a quantummeruit basle where he brought suit on L: claim rejectedby'the commissioners1 court for malclng

an audit of the fiscal affelre of the gounty ordered by 'the grand jury OF district&dye under Article '1-a, supra, aa that question Is not asked ln your request. Nor do we pass on the legality of the specialauditorrecclvlr~pay .from private oltizens for his audit as that question

### la not aakod In your request.

It 18 our opinion that the orders of,the grand jury and district judge for the audit and'appointmentof the auditor are.not lnval: for lapse **of time**  **assuming that**  **such** orders have not beet] revoke5 and arc' still outsta:ld!ing. IICWOVCI',

as u practicalmatter, the special auditor could become fortlfledin hire posItion if he could seoure a new and fresh order from tnc district judge calling for the audit.. -

Honczable O.C. Pieher, Page 3 o-4988

**Trusting** that this matlafactorlly anmrem

Very trulyyours ATWHWEX QBNBRAL OF

- JAN 9, 1945 8/ Qerald c. Nann AlTOHNW~OFTEXAS
+pprovedOpit+onCaaaitteegt sAWCh8irman

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