E ORNEY GENERAI. 

OF -XAS 

Grover Sellere 

-ON 

ATTORNEY GENERA=. 

Honorable R. W Cal'Rrt 

Couuty Attorney 

Hill County 

Hlllnboro, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-6878 

R.3: Authority of the Comnleelonera' Court of Hill 

county to appoint a 

mqnager for * county owned 

airport. 

We have received your letter of recent date In whloh you make 

the follovlng Inquiry: 

"Hill Couuty 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 operate and manage the 

airport after it Is built end has asked me for an 

opinion on the following queet1one: 

"1. Hay a Comisslonere Court lease a ooun~y 

owned airport to an lndlrldual or lndlvlduale for a stipulated rental? 

"2. May a Comiaelonere Court appoint a 

manager or mmagera of a county owned alrport and oontract with each manager or 

ramgem to pay him or them a pertientsge 

of the receipts frcun such airport ae 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 follows that e county has no power to 

establish, meiataln end operate eu airport except 

under authority and in the msnner provided by Article 

126911, V. A. C S. 

"Iieoessarily, the power to establish m airport 

and to operete It lmpliedly authorizes s oommlesioners 

court to appoint some suitable person to manage and 

operate It. In my opinion, It does not follow, however, 

that the power to lease such county property would exist 

because theoretically, at leaet, this would result la 

the leasing of county property 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 lease airport property. 

In this oonnection, I oall attention to the fact that 

Paragraph D of Article 126921 grants the Cwslaeioners 

Courts of the severs1 counties 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 further authorizes the 

governing bodies of cities to lease '---to any other 

person, firm, or corporation, to oarry out any pm-pose 

necessary or incidental to national defense or training 

Incidental thereto' but no such power is granted to 

Cosmiseionere Courts. Since thin power is specIfIcally 

granted to 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 State may receive through 

gift or dedication, and IS hereby empowered to acquire, by purchase without condemnation or by purchase through oondemnstion proceedings, end theresitar maintsia and operate es an airport, or lesoe, 

or sell, to the Federal Governneat, tracts of lend 

either within or without the corporate limits of 

such city and within the county in which such city 

Is situated, end the Commissioners' Court of any 

county nsy likewise acauire, maintain and overate 

for like purpose tracts of land within the lirltr 
_ .- 

Hon. R. W Calvert, page 3, O-6878 

of the oolauty. 

"D- In addition to the power herein granted, the 

Ccamiseioners' Court of the aeveral oonutlee of thin 

State are hereby authorized to leaee any airuort that 

may be acquired by the county, as herein provided, & 

any 1ncorDOMted Oity or muniOiDality within ruch 

county, or to the Federal Government, for the purpose 

of malntalnlng and operating an airport; and provided 

further that 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 airport to the oouuty In which said incorporated 

city of located. 

ì* l * 

ìSec . 3. Aw airport acquired under and by virtue 

of the terms of thin Act ehall be under the management 

and control of the governing body of the city or the 

Comminsionere' Court of the county acquiring the same, 

which ie hereby exDresal.y authorized and eKaDOWered to 

improve, rcriatain and conduct the same as au alrDort, 

and for that Dur~ose to make and provide therein all 

neceesary or fit‘improvements and~faoilities and to 

fix euch reasonable charges for the uee thereof as such 

governing body or Coxmissionere' Court shall deem fit, 

and to make rules and regulations governing the uee 

thereof. All proceeds from such charges shall be 

devoted erclnsirely to the maintenance, upkeep, lmprovement and operation of such airport and the 

facll.ltiee, l truoturee, and improvements therein. a ." 

(underscoring ours) 

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

O-3865, a copy~of which Is herewith enclosed, wherein it states: 

"It Is our opinion that the Cwsmlssionera ' Court' has no authority to lease 

an airport to any party except those set out in paragraph D of Section 1, 

Article l26ph." Thus, the Cosmlssionera' Court oan on4 lease an airport 

to "any incorporated city or munioipallty within suoh county or the Federal 

Government ." It Is, therefore, the opinion of this department that the 

Commissioners' Court cannot lease a county owned airport to an individual. 

The Cmlssloners' Court is a court of limited Jurisdiction and has 

on4 suoh powers as are expressly provided for by the Conetltutloa and 

laws of this State or reasonably implied therefrom. 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 perform such 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 opinion of this department that Artiole l26yh, eupra, confers 

upon the Comniasioners' Court the implied authority to appoint a 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 salary or a 

commission. 

We wish,-to point out, however, that Section 3 of Artiole l269h, 

supra, states that all proceeds from ohargee derived frm the operation 

of the airport shall 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 airport oouuty'aoney subject to a 

limited use. 

Article 1709, V. A. C. S., provides that *the county treasurer shall 

receive allinonler belonging to the county from whatever source they may 

be derived, and pay and apply the same as required bylaw, In such mauuer 

as the Comalssiouers' Court of his county may require and direct." 

It Is, therefore, the opinion of 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 express our appreoiatiou for your discussion on the questions submitted. 

V-Y -4 Yom, 

J. 0. Davis, Jr. 

Aeslstant 

BY 

John Reeves 

JR:IJ