DAN MORALES

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

## QBffice

of the !&tornep @eneral &ate of Eexae January 17.1992
Honorable Carlos Valdez Nueces County Attorney Nueces County Courthouse 901Leopard Corpus Christi, Texas 78401-3680 Opinion No. DM-74 Rc: Whether a district judge can set the salary of his official court reporter at a level that differs from that set by the other district judges in a county (Ml-52) Dear Mr. Valdez: You ask whether one of the district judges in Nueces County can set the salary ofhis official court reporter at a level that differs from that set by the seven other districtjudges in that county. We conclude that he may. Section 52.051ofthe Government Code’ provides: (a) An official district court reporter shall be paid a salary set by theorder ofthe

judgeof theCOUIT.

This salary is in addition to transcript fees, fees for a statement offacts, and other necessary expenses authorized by law.2

hction 52.051does not violate provisions ofthe Texas Constitution, article VIII, sections l-a and 9, which cm-r the county commissio~~ers court to set tax rates, subjcd to applicable tax rate ceilings. Gilt-Mossorv. D&u Cowrty,781S.WZd6l2 (Tex App.-Dallas 1989,no writ). %e amount of an official court reporter’s salary is subject to various limitations. See Gov ’t Code 552051(b), (d), (c). Additionally, there are time constraints during which an order increashg a court reportefs salary must be sobmittcd to the commissioners court of each county in thejudicial district. Seeid 5 52.05(c). The procedure for setting a salary is also statutorily defined, and includes holding a public hearing on the matter. SeeLocal Gov ’t Code P 152.905.

p. 372Honorable Carlos Valdez -Page 2 .(DM-74)

(d) The official district court reporter may not receive a salary that is more than 10 percent greater than the salary received during the preceding budget year without the approval of the commissioners court ofeach county in thejudicial district. (e) A person appointed to succeed an official district court reporter may not receive a salary greater than the salary received by the person’s predecessor in office. (Emphasis added.) We find that the plain language of the statute indicates that the salary of an official court reporter is determined by a unilateral act3of the judge of the court in which the reporter is employed. We find no indication in this statute that the judges within one district must be in agreement as to one salary for the court reporters in all districts; or that deviation among the salaries of court reporters in a district is precluded. See Maysv. Fifth CourtofAppeals, 755 S.W.2d 78 (Tex. 1988); GillMussw v.Dab County, 781 S.W.2d612 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1989,no writ). A district judge’s order of a pay increase is presumed valid as long as it is within the limitations authorized by section 52.051 of the Government Code. See Muys, supra (implicit approval of divergent court reporter salaries where a five percent salary increase was ordered by only “some”ofthejudges); Duncanv.Pogue, 759 S.W.2d 435 (Tex. 1988) (affirming Mays standard of review). You inform us that the variant salary in this case is within the maximum allowed by statute; therefore, we can presume it isvalid. SeeMuys,supnz.Further, we think that when the legislature requires district judges to act as one collective body in setting the salaries of public employees, it does so expressly. See Local Gov’t Code 0 152.03 (districtjudges shall set, by majority vote, the county auditor’s annual salary). Thus, we conclude that the fact alone that an official court reporter’ssalary differs from that set by the other districtjudges in a county does not rebut the presumption ofits validity. Cf. Attorney General Opinion DM-51 (1991) (pay scale differential for justices of the peace in same county does not, on its face, violate equal protection clause ofthe fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution).
jWe note. that section 52.051(d) of the Government Code requires commissioners court approval of asalary ofan official court reporter incertainsituations.

p. 373Honorable Carlos Valdez -Page 3 (DM-74)

SUMMARY A district judge can set the salary of his official court reporter at a level that differs from that set by the other district judges in a county.

DAN MORALES Attorney General ofTexas WILL PRYOR First Assistant Attorney General MARY KELLER Deputy Assistant Attorney General JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKL,EY(Ret) Special Assistant Attorney General RENEA HICKS Special Assistant Attorney General MADELEINE B.JOHNSON Chair, Opinion Committee Prepared by Kay Guajardo Assistant Attorney General

p. 374