Honorable Tom Renyon 

Mstrlct Attorney 

Braxorla County 

Angleton, Texas. 

Opinion No. C-81 

Re: Authority of Commlssloners Court of 

Braxorla County to 

rent road equipment 

and/or enter into a 

lease-purohase agreeDear Mr. Kenyonr 

re;; for euoh equip- 

. 

You have requested the opinion of this offlce as 

to whether the Braxorla County Commissioners Court has 

authority to reiit road eguQnaent or enter Into leasepurchase agreements for road equipment to'be‘used.,for 

County road oonstruatlon and malntenanoe,purposes. 

Braxorla County operates under the 'Optional County 

Road &au of 1947, &ticle~6716-1,~ Vernon's Civil Statutes. 

Seotlon 15 thereof reads as follows: 

"Ali,equiyiuent, mater+als'and sup&' 

pllee for the oonstructlon and malntenance of oounty roads,and for the oounty 

road department shall be purohased by the 

Ccmnlssloners Court on oompetltlve bids 

in oonfomlty with estlmates and speoifloations prepared by the County Road Rnglneer; except when upon reoomendatlon of 

the County Road Engineer and when in the 

judgment of the Commlsslonerr Court It is 

deemed In the best Interest for the oounty 

to do so, purohases In an amount not to exceed One lhoueand Dollars ($l,OOO.OO) may 

be made through negotiation by the Comlssloners Court's duly authorieed repreclentatlve, upon requisition to be approved by 

the Coimnlssloners Court OP the County Audltor without advertising for competitive 

bids. Before any claims ooverfng the purchase of suoh equipment, materials and 

supplies aqd for any servi$es contracted 

-397- 
Hon. Tan Kenyon, page 2 (c-81 ) 

for by the Carrmlselon~rs CouPt, shall 

be ordered paid by the Co@nnlssloners 

Court, the CountyVRoad Engineer shall 

certify In writing to the correctness 

of the clalme~therefor and shall certify 

thatthe reapectlve equipment, materials 

and supplies covered by the olaims conform 

to speolflcatlons approved by,hlm and that 

the same respective equipment, materiala' 

and supplies were delivered In good condltlon and that any road department servloes 

oontraoted for by the Connnlssloners Court 

have been satisfactorily performed. The 

provisions of this seotlon shall not be 

oonstrued to permit the division or reduction df purchases for the purpose of avoldlng the requirement of taking farmal bids 

on purchases which would otherwise exaeed 

@,e Thousand Dollars ($l,OOO.OO)." 

,, 

l'hls offlbe has 'prevlouely Issued Oplnloiis O-6859 

(1945) and M-1)4 (1953): Theae opln%ons dealt.with pdrtlcular leases or lease-purahase agreemedte. The oplnlona, 

without expresely approving, implledly recognlzed'the basic 

validity of a,oontliaot];for lease 'or'lease-purchase of road 

mgohlnery by a WuMilaslone~rs,oo~. aR6wever, no specific 

'statutory provision or,court interpretation ha&been found 

whloh would expressly 'authorize a oomm#N3loners court to 

enter Into this partloular type of 6ontr'sot. If such authority exists, It must be implied from the statutory powera granted to the o&nlrsloners oourt. 

Section 15, titlole!6716-1, supra, gives to the oam- 

‘mlssloners oourt:the authority to do all things connected 

with the.proourement of equipment, materials and supplles 

for the oonstruotlon and milntenanoe of oounty roada. The 

"There Is no reason to believe that. 

the.frsmers of the statute meant to restrlot 

the prooW&ment. of implements to a purohase. 

Of course, the word tpurohasel la eseentlally 

applicable to the proaurement of material, 

for that, when used, beoomes a part of the 

roadbed,‘but implementa and other equipment, 
Hon. Torn Kenyon, page 3 (C-81 1 

which are snot exhausted In the work of 

constructlon,'may be procured In other 

ways than by purbhase. The power obvlously conferred was to procure the lmplements, and the word 'purchase' was used 

as a mere direction as to the means of 

exercising the'power., The authority to 

purchase being the greater of the powers 

to be exercised, necesaarlly Included 

the leaeer power to lease or to accept 

as a donation." 

The reasoning expressed above Is sound and Is adopted as the opinion of this office. 

It must be noted that Seohon 15 of Article 6716-l 

Includes a requirement that expenditures In &%cesa of 

@,OOO.OO must'be made upon the basis of coinpetltl~e bid; 

ding. This requirement necessarily lncludes'any,expendlL 

ture made under a rental or lease-purchase contraat. This 

$l,OOO.OO limit must be figured upon the total value of the 

.entlre contract and not upon any monthly or annual payment. 

In thla oonneotlon, the constitutional llmltatlon 

Imposed b$ Section 7 of Artiole XI of the Constltu~lon of 

TexaB,'must be noted. In the event a rental or lease-purohase 

Oontract'should extend beyond the pe?lod of one ye&r, It IS 

probable that a debt of the type dealt with ih this donstltutlonal ptiovlslon may be imeated,’ In which event a bond lbsue 

or’ time w&rr&nts would be reQuli%d. If a contraot la~reetrloted to the period covered by the annual caunty budget, the. 

restrlotlons of thls:oonstltutional provision would not become operative. 

SUMNARY 

Under the provisions of the Optional 

County Road Law of 1947, Artlole 6716-1, 

Vernon's, Civil 'Statutes, the Contmlssloners 

Court has authority to rent road equlment 

and/or enter Into a lease-purchase agreement for such equipment. 

If the total oontraot entered Into requlreS the county to expend a SUIU greater 

-399- 
_ -. - 

Hon. Tom Kenyon, page 4 (c-81.) 

thar,$l,OOO.OO, competitive bids are 

required. 

, Yours very truly, 

WA&&R CARR 

Attorney OeneTal 

MLQ:ms 

BY 

Maloolm L. Quick 

Aaslstant 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V, Geppert, ChaInnan 

Sonny Davle 

ICehis Taylor 

Edward Moffett 

V. F. Taylor 

APPROVED FOR TIiE ATTORNEY QENERAi 

By: Stanton Stone 

-4OO-