Honorable Tom Renyon

Mstrlct Attorney Braxorla County Angleton,Texas. OpinionNo. C-81
Re: Authorityof 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 equipmentto'be‘used.,for County road oonstruatlonand malntenanoe,purposes. Braxorla County operatesunder the 'Optional County Road &au of 1947, &ticle~6716-1,~ Vernon's Civil Statutes. Seotlon 15 thereof reads as follows:

"Ali,equiyiuent,

mater+als'andsup&' pllee for the oonstructlonand malntenance of oounty roads,and 

### for the oounty road department shall be purohasedby the Ccmnlssloners

Court on oompetltlvebids in oonfomlty with estlmatesand speoifloationsprepared by the County Road Rnglneer; except when upon reoomendatlon of the County Road Engineer and when in the judgment of the CommlsslonerrCourt It is deemed In the best Interest for the oounty to do so, purohases In an amount not to exceed One lhoueand Dollars ($l,OOO.OO) may be made through negotiationby the Comlssloners Court's duly authorieed repreclentatlve, upon requisitionto be approved by the Coimnlssloners Court OP the County Audltor without advertising for competitive bids. Before any claims ooverfng the purchase of suoh equipment,materials and supplies aqd for any servi$es contracted

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

for by the Carrmlselon~rs CouPt, shall be orderedpaid by the Co@nnlssloners Court, the CountyVRoadEngineer shall certify In writing to the correctness of the clalme~therefor and shall certify thatthe reapectlveequipment,materials and supplies covered by the olaims conform to speolflcatlons

approved by,hlm and that the same respectiveequipment,materiala' and supplieswere delivered In good condltlon and that any road department servloes oontraotedfor by the Connnlssloners Court have been satisfactorily performed. The provisionsof this seotlon shall not be oonstruedto permit the division or reduction df purchasesfor the purpose of avoldlng the requirementof taking farmal bids on purchaseswhich would otherwise exaeed @,e ThousandDollars ($l,OOO.OO)."

,, l'hls offlbe has 'prevlouely Issued Oplnloiis

O-6859 (1945)and M-1)4 (1953): Theae opln%onsdealt.withpdrtlcular leases or lease-purahase agreemedte. The oplnlona, without expreselyapproving, implledlyrecognlzed'the basic validity of a,oontliaot];for lease 'or'lease-purchase of road mgohlneryby a WuMilaslone~rs,oo~. aR6wever, no specific 'statutory

provision or,court interpretation ha&been found whloh would expressly 'authorize a oomm#N3lonerscourt to enter Into this partloulartype of 6ontr'sot. If such authority exists, It must be implied from the statutorypowera granted to the o&nlrsloners oourt.

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

oourt:theauthority to do all things connected with the.proourement of equipment,materials and supplles for the oonstruotlon and milntenanoeof oounty roada. The

"There Is no reason to believe that. the.frsmersof the statutemeant to restrlot the prooW&ment. of implementsto a purohase. Of course, the word tpurohasella eseentlally applicableto the proaurementof material, for that, when used, beoomes a part of the roadbed,‘butimplementaand 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 conferredwas to procure the lmplements, and the word 'purchase' was used as a mere direction as to the means of exercisingthe'power.,The authority to purchasebeing the greater of the powers to be exercised,necesaarlly Included the leaeer power to lease or to accept as a donation."
The reasoning expressedabove Is sound and Is adopted as the opinion of this office.
It must be noted that Seohon 15 of Article 6716-l Includesa requirementthat expendituresIn &%cesa of @,OOO.OO must'be made upon the basis of coinpetltl~e bid; ding. This requirementnecessarily lncludes'any,expendlL ture made under a rental or lease-purchase contraat. This $l,OOO.OO limit must be figured upon the total value of the .entlre contract and not upon any monthly or annual payment.
In thla oonneotlon,the constitutionalllmltatlon Imposed b$ Section 7 of Artiole XI of the Constltu~lonof 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. restrlotlonsof thls:oonstltutional provisionwould 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-purchaseagreement 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

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