Iionorable John T. Cox 

County Attorney 

Bell County 

Belton, Texas 

Opinion No. C-141 

Re: Can a county issue time 

warrants to finance the 

purchase of a site for 

and construction of a 

building to house the 

offices of certain county 

Dear Sir: officers and agencies? 

In your original letter you have, in effect, asked 

two questions: (1) whether ,a county can issue time warrants 

to finance the purchase of a site for and construction of a 

"courthouse annex or office building" when such building, 

although ,located as close as practicable to the existing 

courthouse, is physically completely, unconnected with the 

existing structure and separated from it by a street, and 

(2) whether a county can issue such time warrants for such 

a purpose where the building is located across the street 

from the existing courthouse,but is physically connected 

with it by means of a tunnel beneath the street or by a passageway over the street. 

In your second letter you have further stated that 

the specific purpose of the proposed building would be to 

house the offices of the following county agencies8 (1) Bell 

County Department of Public Welfare, (2) Bell County Tax 

Assessor-Collector, (3) Bell County Juvenile Officer, (4) Bell 

County.School Superintendent, (5) Bell County Agent, (6) Bell 

County Home Demonstration Agent, atid (7) Bell County Health 

Unit. 

The first matter to be determined iti answering your 

inquiry is the power of the county, through the Commissioners ' Court, to provide such a building at all, for although 

the Commissioners' Court does serve as the governing body of 

the county and although its control extends to nearly every 

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Hon. John T. Cox, page 2 (C-141) 

phase of the county's business, its jurisdiction is not 

plenary. Its power must be specifically authorized by the 

Constitution or the statutes, or by necessary implication 

therefrom. Canales v. Laughlin, 147 Tex.169,214 S.W.Zd 

451 (1948). 

Article 2351, Vernon's Civil Statutes, enumerates 

the various powers and duties of the Commissioners' Courts. 

Subdivision 7 of that statute provides that the court shall: 

"Provide and keep in repair court houses, 

jails and all necessary public buildings." 

The courts have interpreted this subdivision of 

Article 2351 in the case of Dancv v. Davidson, 183 S.W.2d 

195 (Tex.Civ.App.1944, error ref.), in which the court said, 

at page 198: 

"By the term 'public building' as used in the 

statute is meant a building used primarily 

for public or governmental purposes, that is, 

to house public or governmental agencies. 

. s . The Commissioners' Court is the legal 

body authorized under the statute to determine 

whether or not a 'public building' is 'necessary" and its decision relating thereto can 

not be disturbed by this court, except upon a 

showing of an abuse of discretion s . .I' 

As to the definition of what constitutes a "public 

building" under Article 2351, this office has written numerous opinions. Enclosed is Attorney General's Opinion No. O1952 (1940), written prior to the DBncy case, supra, which 

states, at page 5, n . e - that 'necessary public buildings' 

mean public buildings essential for the conduct of strictly 

'county business': and, when referring to office buildings, 

it means public buildings essential for housing the offices 

of county officers or agencies." 

It is clear that the offices and agencies listed in 

your second letter, as set out above, are performing for the 

county governmental and public functions; that a building to 

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Hon. John T. Cox, page 3 (C-141) 

house such offices is a "public building" within the purview 

of Subdivision 7 of Article 2351: and that the Commissioners' 

Court has the statutory authority to determine whether such 

"public building" is "necessary". 

Having determined that the Commissioners' Court of 

the county has the power to provide the building in question 

we must next determine whether the county can issue time warrants to pay for the purchase of the site and costs of construction of such a building. 

It has long been the established rule in Texas that 

where, as here, the Commissioners' Court has the power to 

provide something -- in this case, "other necessary public 

buildings" under Subdivision 7 of Article 2351, and, under 

Subdivision 10 of Article 2351, to "audit and settle all accounts against the county and direct their payment" -- the 

power to incur debt for such purposes and to evidence the 

debt by issuance of time warrants is necessarily implied. 

San Patricia County v. McClane, 58 Tex.243 (1883): Stratton 

v. Commissioners' Court, 137 S.W.1170 (Tex.Civ.App. 1911, 

error ref.): Lasater v. Lopes, 110 Tex.l79,217 S.W.373 (1919). 

A fairly recent statute, Article 237013, Vernon's Civil 

Statutes, authorizes issuance by the Commissioners' Court of 

negotiable bonds of the county for the purpose of, among other 

things, the construction of county office buildings and the 

purchase of sites therefor. It has long been the established 

rule in this regard that the power to issue negotiable bonds 

is a different power from that to issue non-negotiable time 

warrants and that the grant of the power to issue such negotiable bonds confers upon the Commissioners‘ Court an additional power and does not deprive it of its existing authority to issue warrants. Lasater v. Lopez, supra. 

Thus the answer to your‘first question is that the 

Commissioners' Court of a county does have the power to purchase a site for and construct a county office building, 

across the street from and physically unconnected with the 

existing courthouse, to house the enumerated offices and to 

issue time warrants for this purpose. In view of our answer 

to your first question it is obvious that the answer to your 

second question would also be in the affirmative. 

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Hon. John T. Cox, page 4 (C-141) 

SUMMARY 

The Commissioners' Court of Bell County has 

the authority to build a county office building,.across the street from and physically 

unconnected with the existing courthouse, to 

be used for the stated purposes and can fi-, 

nance the purchase of ,the site for and construction of such a building by issuance of 

time warrants. 

Very truly yours, 

WAGGONER CARR 

Attornejr General of Texas 

JMS-s 

Enclosure 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Howard Maya 

J. C.. Davis 

J. S. Bracewell 

Ben Harrison 

v James i+l. Strock 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENF3AL 

By: Stanton Stone 

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