R-614



### THEA~TORNEYGENEFZAL

OF‘TEXAS

August 

### 19,1947

Hon. Elmer H. Parish District Attorney Wichita County Wichita Falls, Texas Opinion No, V-352 "Re: Authority of a ifffs deputies sheror a Veterans' County Service Officer to retain compensation paid by Veterans' Administration for transporting mental patients to Veterans' Hospital in a county-owned automobile. Dear Sir: de refer to your letter of June 20, 1947, in which you submit the following0

..TWewould like an opinion from your deoartment'asto whether the moneypaid brythe Veterans' Administration to deputy sheriffs and Veteran County Service office for attendant's fee and mileage in tranrporting patients to the Veteran's Hospital at Waco; Texas, is county funds and &&d be turned over to the proper county offi0 "Deputy sheriffs in Wichfta County, Texas, are paid a fixed monthly salary from the officers salary fund of the county. Theyare furnished automobiles bythe county, andall expenses of operation of the cars are paid for by the county. All necessary traveling exnenses of the deputy sheriffs are paid out of the General Fundof the county. Wichita County haa employed a Veterane County Service Officer as provided byA*. 5799, Heis paid a salary bythe county, andthe above article provides that all necessary t;.rv;ii;Etexpenses shall be paid bythe county. ' furnished an automobile.by the county.Hon. Elmer B, Parish - Page 2, V-352

“OnFebruary 4 1947, deputy sheriff Martin Doyle waspaid $18.b by the veterans admlnistration for mileage andattendant ‘9 fee in transporting Johnnie B. Fields to the Veterans Aaminlstratlon in the county car and the couatg paid all expenses. OnMarch 19, 1947, Deputy Sheriff B. 0. Whisnand uau paid $18.86 by the V, A, for mileage and attendant Is fee in traaaport LngFrank C. ltovan to the V. A, Hospital, andVeteran’s County Sarvice Officer Jack Deaton waspaid $6.50 by the V. A0as a second,attendant. wAltogether eight patiaats have been tranaported to the Veterans Administration Hospital at Waco, Texas, aa mental patient% by either one deputy sheriff and the Veterans County Service Officer or by twodeputy sheriffs. All expenses 

### of the 

### deputy aheriffa 

### are paid by the county. Whenthe Veterans County Service Officer assists in transporting apatlent, he travels in the same WJS county car aa the aeputJ sheriff, but he his ownexpeaaea. vOurquaetiona are:

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. Should deputy ,aheriff% turn into the county the moneyreceived by themfrom the Veteran%Administration as mileage and atbendaat’a fee for transporting mental patients to the Veterans Adainistratlon Hospital in a county car vhere all expenses are paid by the county?

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. Should the Veterans County Service Officer turn into the county moneyreceived byhim from the Veterans Administration as mileage and attendant’s fee for transporting mental patlenta to the Veterans Admlnlstratlon Hospital vhsre he pays his ownexpenses, but travels with a deputy sheriff in a county car operated at county axpen%e?” :

Weare assuming that the sheriff ’s deputies were acting under authority of awarrant issued ‘to the sheriff or to some other suitable person directing himto conveyt= Fan of unsoundmindto the hoapita1 designated in such warrant, which warrant shall ~.: also prescribe the numberof guards allowed, not to exceed tvo

’ aa provided in Article 5557 of Vernon‘a , :.,,

.’

.:. .

Hon. Elmer H, Parish - Page3$ V-352

Cvfl Statutes. Otherwise the acts indicated in your inquiry constitute unlawful use of a county-owned automobile andunauthorized consumption of time of officera paid for by the county. (Emphasis added)

The Constitution fixes the compensation of certain officers and authorizea the Legislature to provide by law for the compensation of all other officers and servants. Therule of decision in Texas is that "an officer maynot claim or reach anymoneywithout a lawauthorizing himto do so, and clearly fixing the amountto which he is entitled." Binford vsORobinson 244 S.~W,807; McLennanCountyvs. Boggess 137 S,W. 346; Crosby County Cattle Co. vs, McDermott, 281 S.W. 293. Duclos vss Harris County, 291 S,W, 611, affirmed, 298 sow. 417. Article 31% V. C, S, provides for compensation for conveying patients to asylums, the pertinent part of which is:

Yl'heexpenseo of conveying all public patients to the asylum shall be borne by the counties respectively, from which they are sent; and said counties shall paythe sameuponthe swornaccount of the officer or person performing such service, showing in detail the actual expenses incurred in the transportation. In case any public patient is possessed of property sufficient for the purpose or any person legally liable for his support is EO possessed of property, the county paying the expenses of such transportation shall be entitled to reimbursement out of the estate of the lunatic. o o ." Article 3188 of said Statutes authorizes such transportation to the United States Veterans' Administration Hospitals, Whena county furnishessuch services, it mayseek reimburaement from the veteran's estate. The rules of the Veterans Administration provfde for paymentby it of expenses of such transportation to protect the veteran andhis estate, Hencethe money should be turned over to the county sothat such estate will be protected; i.e., the county's claim will be satisfied. Both of the deputies were full time employees of Wichita County, on a salary basis, engaged in the performance of the duties for which they were employed,Hon. ElmerH, Parish - Page 4, V-352

and used a county-owned automobile, Zack of themwas authorized to receive actual expenses from the County, in addition to his aslary, as provided by $a%!,andno mace. Therefore, In view of the foregoing, it is the opinion of this Department that anyexpense moneyPOceived by the deputies from the Veterans" Adminlstration should be paid Into the CountyTreasury by them.

Opinion No. O-3198, by a former Attorney @enera1 pertains to the compensation of sheriffs for conveying lunacy patients to State Hospitals,. Weenclose a copy of the opinion for your information,

Veterans County Service Office Is created by Article 5798a-2, Section 1, of Vernon's Civil Statutes, which provides, in part:

"Whenthe Commissioners8 Court of a county shall determlne that such anoffice is a public necessity a00it shall bga majority, vote of the full membership thereof, maintain andoperate such an office and shall appoint aVeteran"s County Service Officer b D

. Such Veterans County Service Officer

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. shall receive a salary fixed by the County Commlssioners' Court s (j0andtravel expense of such Veterans County Service Officer o +q andall salaries of the personnel of such office andother expenses of such office shall be pai! on order of the Commissioners' Court

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.Theduties of a Veterans CountyService Officer are prescribed in Section 3of said Article as follows:

"Theduty of the Veterans County Service Officer and/or the Assistant Veterans County Service Officer shall be to aid all resldeuts of the county and/or counties providing for such officers whoserved In the military, neval or other armedforces or nurses corps of the United States during anywar or peacetime enlistment, and/or veterans and/or OPphans and/or dependents in preparing, submitting and presenting any claim against the United States or any state, for oompensatFoa, hospltalizatlon, insurance or other Item or benefits to which they maybe entitled under the existing laws of the United States, or of&a. Elmer B. Parish - Page 5, V-352

any state, or such laws as mayhereafter be enacted, pertinent thereto. It shall also be their duty to defeat all unjust claims that maycometo their attention. Rofees, either directly or Indirectly, for any service rendered by such Veterans County Service Officer and/or Assistant Veterans County Service Officer shall be charged of applicant, nor shall they permit the payment of any fee by applicant to anythird person for services that might be rendered by them, nor seek to influence the execution of a power of an attorney to one national service organization over that of another. ” Weare of the opinion that the language “presenting any claim against the United States or any State, for compensation, hospitalization, insurance or other items OPbenefits to which they ma$be entitled under existing laws of the Unlted States does not include accompanying a veteraa to a Veterans Hospital by a Veterans County Service Officer. Therefore, Article 5798a-2 imposes noduty uponaVeterans County Service Officer to accompany an insane veteran to a hospital.

If the Veterans County Service Officer went as a guard or attendant pursuant to Article 5557,,then the county is liable for actual expense iacurred by such guard or attendant in conveying such person to a Veterans tHospital. In the latter event, the expense moneyreceived from the Veterans Administration by the guard should be paid into the CountyTreasury. SUMMARY Moneyreceived from Veterans Administraiion by deputies in the office of Sheriff of Wichita Countyfor services rendered by them in transferring amentally unsound person to a Veterans Hospital in anautomobile ownedby Wichita County, while their deputies are engaged in full-time employment byWichita County ona salary basis, should be paid over to the County. 2. If a Veterans County Service Officer accompanied amentally unsound person to a Veterans’ Hospital as a guard, pursuant to Article 5557 V. C. S., Wichita County Is liableEon. Elmer H. Parish - Page 6, V-352

to s&h officer for actual expenses paid by him, and the moneypaid to himby the Veterans* Administration for such service belongs to said county. Very truly yours, ATTORNEY

WHERALOFTXXAS

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