OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

LWs, Peyton Burke 

County Auditor 

Falls County 

Earlin., Texan 

Dear Us. Burker Opinion NO. O-6831 

r'8 court or Falls 

he Road and Bridge 

sic and the rehe budget of 

8 or ~n0m.0 r0r 

or those OP the other precincts issued on the eam 

date. scrip warranta oi Preoinot #2 will be paid 

before thoae of' Precinot #I+ and those drawn against 

Preoinot #4 will be paid bsfor$ thoae drawn agebet 

Preoinot 83. 
Mrs. Feytou Burke, page 2 

*The queetion on whioh I would like an opinion 

Is this: Is it legal for a oounty to pay the scrip 

warrants outstanding of one preoinot ahead of the 

aorip warrants outstanding of another preoinot in 

the case of Falls County; I.e., when the Road and 

Bridge inoome is allooated to the Pour preoinote on 

a percentage basis?" 

Article 1625, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, providea: 

Qaoh oounty treasurer shall keep a well-bound 

book in whloh he shall register all olaims against 

his oounty in the order of presentation, and ii more 

than one Is presented at the same time he ahall 

register them in the order of their date, He shall 

pay no suoh claim or any part thereoi, nor shall the 

same ) or any part thereof, be reoelved by any oifioer 

in payment or any indebtedness to the oounty, until 

it has been duly registered In aooordanos with the 

provlelone OP this title. All claims in eaoh olass 

shall be paid in the order In whloh they are reglstered.* 

Art. 1626, R. C. s., provides: 

"Claims againeta oounty ehall be registered in 

three olaases, as Pollowe; 

juroriFi* 

All jury scrip and sorip ieeued for feeding 

All aorlp ieaued under the provieiona oP 

the roai law or for work done on roads and bridgea. 

"3. All the general indebtedness of the oounty, 

including reedlng and guarding prlaonere, and paupers* 

claima,. ” 

Art. 1627, R. c. s., providers: 

Y3ai.d treasurer shall enter eaah claim in the 

register, stating the class to which it belongs, the 

name of the payee, the amount, the date of the claim, 

the date of registration, the number of such claim, 

by what authority ieaued, and for what service the 

same waa lasued, and shall write on the face of the 

claim its registration number, the word 'registered,' 

the date OP euoh registration, and shall sign his 

name officially thereto." 
Mrs. Peyton Burke, page 3 

Article 6675a-10, Vernon’s Annotated civil stqtutee, in 

part, providers: 

Art. 6740, R. c. s., provides: 

"The oommiealonera oourt shall see that the road 

and bridge fund of their oounty Is judio1ocaly and 

equitably expanded on the roads and bridges of their 

oounty, and, aa nearly aa the oondition and neosaaity 

of the roada will permit, it shall be expended in eaoh 

county oommissionere preoinot in proportion to the 

amount oolleoted in suoh preoinot; Money used in 

building permanent roads ahall riret be used only on 

rirat or second-olass roada, and on those whioh shall 

have the right of way Purniahed free oP coat to make 

as etraight a road aa ia praotioable anb having the 

greatest bonus oliered by the oitizene or money, 

labor or other property." 

” None of 'the monies (motor vehiole registratio: ;eis) 80 plaaed to the oredit of the Road and 

Bridge Fund oP a oouuty shall be used to pay the salary 

or OOmpen%atf.On Of shy COUdy Judge or County .COIS&.Ssioner, but all eaid monies shall be ueed for the 

oonetruotion and maintenance of lateral road8 in such 

county under the supervision oP the County Bngineer, 

if there be one, and it there is no such engineer, then 

the County Commisaionerst Court shall have authority to 

oommand the servioes of the Division Engineer or the 

State Highway Department for the purpose or eupervi+ng 

the oonatruotion and surveying oP lateral roads in 

their reapeotive oountiea. All fund8 allooated to the 

countlea by the provisions of this Aot (Arta. 6675a-1 

to 6675a-14; P.C. Art. 807%) may be used by the 

oountiea in the payment or obligations, iP any, issued 

and incurre4i.n the construotion or the improvement 

or all roada,'inoluding State Bighways o; 'such oountiea 

and districts therein; or the improvement oP the roada 

comprising the County Road system." (Parenthetical 

matter ours) 

The commiaaionere~ oourt la authorized to ellooate the _ . road and bridge fund among the varloue aommlssionersl preoinots, 

eubjeot to the provisions of Article 674.0 and 6675a-10, su ra, 

(Shivers v. Stooall, 75 S. N. (26) 276; arrirned 129 T. 25 % , 

103 S. Vii'. (26) 363), and we presume that the allooationa and 
Mrs. Peyton Burke, ‘page 4 

expenditure8 oP the road and bridge fund, mentioned in your 

letter, were made Prom time to time in oomplianoe with the 

provisions of aaid artioles. We understand Prom your inquiry 

that, on the bee18 of the aforementioned allooation of the 

road and bridge fund on said peroentage basis to the various 

preoinots, the oommiaaioners* court authorized the isauanoe of 

sorip warrants for claFms incurred against the reepeotive preoinct Funds. 

issued against 

We understand further that the sorip warrants 

order, 

eaoh preoinot fund were registered in numerical 

and, aa funds beoome available in a partioular preoinot 

fund, under the above mentioned allooation, the sorip .warrants 

against that partfouler preoinot fund are paid in the order of 

their registration. 

With reiarenoe to the matter of the proper order in whioh 

warrants drawn against oounty funds are to be paid, in the oase 

of Wilkinson v. Franklin County, 94 S. W.. (26).1190, the Court 

eaidr 

(I 

a, . .Artiole 1625, R. s., clearly denotes the 

order in which warranta drawn against the oounty 

treasurer are to be paid, and amounts to an appropriation of the funds in the oounty treasury to 

the payment of all warrants legally drawn against 

the several olaeaea of funds in the order ot their 

registration. . .v 

In Opinion No. O-4552, this department paesed upon a 

question involving the authority of a oommiasionere~ oourt to 

transfer fund8 of certain preoinota to another preoinot fund, 

when there were registered scrip warrants outstanding against 

the partloular preoinot funds Prom whloh said transfer was to 

be nede. We quote rrrm said Opinion a8 roiiow8,t 

“The holder8 of the outstanding aorip again& 

Preoincte Noe.~ 1, 2 and 3 have vested interests in 

the funds of said preoinots to the Pull extent of 

olaiae as evidenoed by auoh aorip, and the Commissionera’ Court of Limeatone County haa no authority 

to decree a prsierence, thereby impairing suoh 

vested rights of oreditors of Preoinota Nos. 1, 2 

and 3 by paying out the funds of said preolnota to 

Precinot No.. 4.” 
tire, Peyton Burke, page 5 

Ih view of the foregoing and in view of the faots submitted, 

it is our opinion that the holder of a registered rorip warrant 

against a partioular preoinot has a vested interest in the runas 

legally allocated to that particular preoinot to the full extent 

of olaixus as evidenced by auoh scrip warrant. It is our further 

opinion that the vested rfghta of the creditors of 5 partfouler 

precinct nay not be impaired, and that the registered aorip 

warrants agaihst a partioular preoinot fund should be paid in 

the order of the registration of warrants issued against that 

partioular preolnot fund, even though warrants issued on a given 

date against ens partfouler preoinot fund may be paid before 

warrants drawn on the same date against a different preoinot 

fund beoome eligible for payment. 

We trust that the foregoing satiaraotorily answers your inqulry . 

Your8 very truly, 

ATTORNXY Q~RAL OF T&XM 

JAE:IJ 

BY