C 

0 

P 

Y 

Gerald C. Mann 

Attorney General 

The State o? Texas 

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. OF TEXA!l 

Austin 

Honorable H. B. Virgil Crawford 

County Attorney 

Terry County 

BrovJnfleld, Texas 

Dear Sir: Cpinion No. O-3616 

Re: When will the County CommIssloners of Terry County be 

entitled to start receiving 

oompensation at the inoreased 

rate? 

Your recent request for an opinion of this Department on 

the above stated question has been received. 

We quote from your letter as follows: 

"1 sm writing this letter for an opinion as 

to when our Commissioners wIl1 be entitled to reoelve 

additional oompensatlon. I am sure that Article 2350 

will be the statute whloh will oontrol. Terry County 

has a total pupulatlon of 11,1&j aooordlng to the 

oensus count last year. Our raluatlon for 19&l Is 

well over 6 million dollars, and aCOOrdhtg to the law 

as I see It the oommlssloners are entitled to reoelre 

$l,&OO.OO per year, The question in my mind Is when 

will the commissioners be entitled to start receiving 

oompensation at the Increased rate? The statute 

states that when the assessed vsluatlon for the previous year, iron time to time, shall be a certain 

amount then the compensation shall be suoh etc. 

._-. "Also I should like to know If the period of In- 

-orea‘s%d compensation vi111 beGIn with the fiscal year 

or 'the current year? I think that our fiscal year 

starts In October ot each year. I will greatly appreciate your ,advice In this matter." 
Hon. H. 8. Virgil Crawford, page 2 

Article 2350, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, reads 

in part as roiiows: 

"In counties having the following assessed 

valuations, respectively, as shown by the total 

assessed valuations of all properties certified 

by the county assessor and approved by the Commissioners Court, for oounty purposes, ror the 

previous year, from time to time, the County Commissioners of such oountles shall each reoelve 

annual salaries not to exoeed the amounts herein 

specified, said salaries to be paid In equal monthly 

Installments, at least one-half, and not exceed1nC three-fourths, out of the Road and Bridge Fund 

and the remainder out of the General Fund of the 

county; said assessed 

llcable thereto being 

valuations and salaries appas follows: 

Salaries to be paid 

"Assessed Valuations each Commissioner 

6,000,OOl and less than 

not to-exceed . . . . . . $lLOO.OO 

. . . 

"In counties having assessed valuation of more 

than Four MIllion Five Hundred Thousand and One 

Dollars ($&,500,001) and less than Six Million Dollars ($6,000,000) each commissioner shell receive 

Five Dollars ($5) pel, day for eaoh day served ias 

commissioner, and a like amount vhen acting as exofficio road superintendent In his CommIssloner~s 

Precinct, provided In no event shalPhIs total oompensatlon exceed Twelve Hundred Dollars ($1200) in 

any one year. . ." 

Article 2350 (1) and Article 2350 (2) read as follows: 

--,"The salary of each County Commissioner and 

each County Judge may be paid wholly out of' the 

County General Fund or, at the option of the Conmissioners Court, may be paid out of the County 

General Fund.and out of the Road and Bridge Fund in 

the following prcportlons: County Judge not to 
Hon. H. B. Virgil Crawford, page 3 

exoeed seventy-tire per oent (755) of suoh salaries 

may be paid out of the Road end Bridge Fund, and 

the remainder out OS the General Fund of the County, 

and eaoh County CommIssloner's salary may, at the 

dlsoretlon of the Commissioners Court, all be paid 

out OS the Road and Bridge Fund1 provided this Seotlon shall not apply except in counties where the 

constitutional limit or twenty-five cents (256) 

on the @ne Hundred Dollars ($100) 1s levied for 

general purpOses.W 

"Art. 2350 (2). The Commissioners Court at 

its first regular meeting each year shall, by order 

duly made and entered upon the Minutes of same Court, 

fix the salaries of the County Commissioners for 

such year, within the limits as provided for In this 

Act.- 

It will be noted that Article 2350 (21, supra, requires the 

commissioners' court to fix the salaries ol' the county oommIssloners for the year, wlthln the limits as provided for In 

Article 2350, supra, at its first regular meetlnc each year. 

Article 235C, supra, provides In efreot that the county commissioners shall each receive annual salaries not to exoeed 

the amounts specified therein tobe paid in equally lhonthly 

Installments based on the total assessed valuations of all 

property certified by the county assessor and approved by the 

oommlssloners~ oourt ror county purposes for the previous year. 

For the year 194Og Terry County had a total assessed valuation or all properties of $5,807,775.00. The ealarles of the 

member0 of the oommlssloners' oourt of Terry County must be 

based on the 1940 assessed valuations and the salary to which 

each la entitled to is as provided In the last paragraph of 

Artlole 2350, supra, whloh Is quoted above, provided In no 

eeent shall the total oompensation of each commissioner exceed 

:51200.00 for the year 1941. 

._- 

9ou u$ate in your letter that the total assessed valuation 

for 1943. Is well over $6,000,000.00. This being true and provided the assessed valuations do not exceed !j10,000,000.00 ror 

the year 1911, the oommlssloners~ court may at its first regular 

. 
Honorable H. B. Virgil Crawford, page 4 

meeting In January, 1942, fix the salary of each county oommissioner ror wuoh year at a sum not exoeedlng $1400.00. 

The oounty oommlssloners oennot increase their ealary for the 

year 1941 based on the assessed valuation for said year, but ' 

as above stated the salary for the year 1942 must be based on 

the 1941 assessed valuation. 

Trusting that the foregoing fully answers your Inquiry, 

we are 

Yours Very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

BY /s/ 

Ardell Wllllams 

Asalstent 

AW:N 

APPROVED J-UN 7, 194l 

/s/ Grover Sellers 

FIRST ASSISTAIJT 

ATTOFNEY GEXERAL 

APPROVED OPINION CObMITTZE 

By BWB Chairman