## E ORNEY GENERAI.

OF -XAS

Grover Sellere -ON ATTORNEY GENERA=.

Honorable

R. W Cal'Rrt CouutyAttorney Hill County Hlllnboro,

Texas

Dear Sir: Opinion No. 

### O-6878
R.3:Authority

of the Comnleelonera'

Court of Hill county to appointa mqnager for * county owned airport.

We have received

your letter

of recentdate In whloh you make the follovlng

Inquiry:
"HillCouuty owne certain land on which the Commleeiouere

Court of HiXCounty proposes to build au airport

under and by virtue of the authority

contained

In Artlale 

### 126911,

V. A. C 5. !Che Court doee not vleh to operateand manage the airportafter it Is built end has askedme for an opinionon the following queet1one:

"1. Hay a Comisslonere Court lease a ooun~y owned airportto an lndlrldual or lndlvlduale for a stipulated rental?

"2. May a Comiaelonere Court appointa manageror mmagera of a county owned alrport and oontract

with eachmanager or ramgem to pay him or them a pertientsge of the receipts

frcun such airportae ocppensatlon

for his or their eeniose?

"I am diepoeed

to answer qneetlon

No. 1 above 'uo'

and question

go. 2 'yes'

for the reaeone

hereinafter

atated but I should like to hare your opinion In the premlsee.

"It Is axiomatic

that a Colrrmleslonere Court la
a court of limited jurlsdlotioa and hae no power except that oonferred

by the Conetitution or leglelatire act or neoeeearlly Inferable

therefrom. Landman vs.eon. R. W. Calvert, page 2, O-6878

Stste, 97 S. W. (21 264 (Writ refused.) Howard vs. Henderson County, II6 S. W. (2) 479 (Writ refused). It followsthat e countyhas no power to establish,

meiatalnend operateeu airportexcept under authority

and in the msnnerprovided by Article 126911, V. A. C S. "Iieoessarily,

the power to establish m airport and to operete It lmpliedly authorizes

s oommlesioners court to appointsome suitable person to manage and operate It. In my opinion,It does not follow,however, that the power to lease such countyproperty would exist because theoretically, at leaet,this would result la the leasing

of countyproperty

for private

profit.

"It s*ens to me further that * proper oonstruotlon of the leglslstlve

act above referred to exoludss:.the power of the Commiseioners Court to leaseairportproperty. In this oonnection, I oall attention

to the fact that Paragraph

D of Article 126921 grants the Cwslaeioners Courts of the severs1counties paver to lease airports to 'any Incorporated city or nunicipallty within auch county or to the federal government.'The sane paregrsph confers

upon s city the right to lease en alrport to * county. Psragrsph E furtherauthorizes the governing

bodiesof cities to lease '---to any other person,firm, or corporation, to oarry out any pm-pose necessary

or incidental

to national

defenseor training Incidental

thereto'

but no such power is grantedto Cosmiseionere

Courts. Since thin power is specIfIcally grantedto governing bodies of cities and is not granted to oosmissioners

courts the statute

would be construed to deny the power to commissioners courts."
Article 126911,

Vernon's

Annotated

Civil Statutee,is In part *e follows:

"Section

1. A-That the governing body of say incorporated

city In this Statemay receivethrough gift or dedication, and IS hereby empowered to acquire,by purchase

without condemnation or by purchase throughoondemnstion proceedings,

end theresitarmaintsiaand operate es an airport,

or lesoe,
or sell, to the Federal Governneat,

tracts of lend either within or without the corporatelimitsof such city and within the county in which such city Is situated,

end the Commissioners' Court of any county nsy likewise

acauire,

maintainand overate for like purposetractsof landwithin the lirltr_ .-

Hon. R. W Calvert, page 

### 3, O-6878

of the oolauty.

"D- In addition

to the powerherein granted, the Ccamiseioners'

Court of the aeveral oonutlee

of thin State are hereby authorized to leaeeany airuort that may be acquired

by the county,as herein provided, & any 1ncorDOMted Oity or muniOiDality within ruch county,or to the FederalGovernment, for the purpose of malntalnlng

and operating

an airport;

and provided furtherthat any incorporated city having acquired land for an airport, or an airport,

under the authority of this Act, shall

have the right to lease said land or said airportto the oouuty In which said incorporated city of located.

ì* l *

ìS e c . 

### 3. Aw airportacquired under and by virtue of the terms of thin Act ehall be under the management and controlof the governing body of the city or the Comminsionere'

Court of the countyacquiring the same, which ie hereby exDresal.y authorized

and eKaDOWered

to improve,

rcriatain

and conductthe same as au alrDort, and for that Dur~oseto make and providethereinall neceesary

or fit‘improvements and~faoilities

and to fix euch reasonable chargesfor the uee thereofas such governing

body or Coxmissionere' Court shall deem fit, and to make rules and regulations governing

the uee thereof. All proceeds from such chargesshall be devotederclnsirely to the maintenance, upkeep, lmprovement

and operation

of such airportand the facll.ltiee,

l truoturee,

and improvements

therein. a ." (underscoring

ours)

In *nswer to your first question we refer you to 'our Opinionlio. 

### O-3865,

a copy~of

which Is herewithenclosed, wherein it states: "It Is our opinionthat the Cwsmlssionera ' Court' has no authority

to lease
an airportto any party except those set out in paragraph D of Section 1, Article l26ph." Thus, the Cosmlssionera' Court oan 

### on4 leasean airport to "any incorporated city or munioipallty within suoh county or the Federal Government

." It Is, therefore, the opinionof this department that the Commissioners'

Court cannot lease a county owned airportto an individual.

The Cmlssloners' Court is a court of limitedJurisdiction and has 

### on4 suoh powers as are expressly provided

for by the Conetltutloa and laws of this State or reasonably impliedtherefrom. Van Rosenberg v. Low&t, 

### 173 S. W. 

### 508, 511, writ refused;

Foster Y. City of Waco, ll.3 Tex.Ron. R W. Calvert, page 4, O-6878

352, 355, 255 5. W. 1104; Roper Y. Hall, 280 S. W. 289, 291. The CormIssloners'

Court has the implied authority

to do the thlllgs

reasonable necessary

to discharge

the express

duties or powers conferred upon It. City Rational

Rank v. Presidio

County @Iv. App.), 26 S. W. 775, Roper
v. Hall, supra,Ton Rosenberg Y. Lovett,eupra, 11Tex. Jur. 566. In the oase of Van Rosenberg v. Lovett,the oourt after statlaR the foregoing rules said ou page 5145 "It would be a vain thing to impose upoa auyone a duty, and deny hip the peaus whereby he could performsuch duty."

It will be noted that the Commieslonera' Court is given the express power and authority by Artiole l269h,snpra, "to aoqulre, maintain

and operate"*u airport. It Is common knowledge that a manager of an airport is necessary

to the maluteuance

and operation

of an airport. It is, therefore, the opinionof this department thatArtiole l26yh,eupra, confers upon the Comniasioners' Court the implied

authority

to appointa mauagsr for the county owned airport. It Is within the sound discretion of the Comissioners' Court to determine the amount of compensation of the manager for his servioee,

and whether such compensation shall be a salaryor a commission.

We wish,-to

point out, however,that Section 3 of Artiole l269h, supra, states that all proceedsfrom ohargeederivedfrm the operation of the airportshall be "devoted exolusire4 to the malutenauce, upkeep, improvement

and operation

of sash airport." This In effect makes all money derived from the operation of the airportoouuty'aoney subjectto a limited

use.
Article 1709,

V. A. C. S., providesthat *the county treasurer shall receive

allinonler

belonging

to the county from whateversource they may be derived,

and pay and apply the same as required bylaw, In such mauuer as the Comalssiouers' Court of his countymay requireand direct."

It Is, therefore,

the opinionof this departaent‘that before any mosey may be paid the manager of the airport Article I709, as well as the **budget** law (Article 689a-II),

must be complied

ilth.

We hereby expressour appreoiatiou for your discussion on the questions submitted.

V-Y -4 Yom,

J. 0. Davis, Jr. Aeslstant

BY
John Reeves

JR:IJ