Honorable Tony Hileman 

Marion County Attorney 

105 Austin Street 

Jefferson, Texas. 75657 

Opinion No. JM-753 

Re: Whether a county may furnish 

rent-free office space in the 

county courthouse annex to a 

chamber of commerce 

Dear Mr. Bileman: 

You ask whether Marion County may provide rent-free office space 

in the county courthouse annex building to the Marion County Chamber 

of Commerce. 

Article 2351(7), V.T.C.S., authorizes the commissioners court of 

each county to 

provide and keep in repair court 

all necessary public buildings. 

Article 1603, V.T.C.S., provides that 

houses, jails and 

The Marion County Commissioners Court has only the powers 

conferred either expressly or by necessary implication by the consti- 

[t]he commissioners court of each county . . . 

shall provide a courthouse and jail for the 

county, and offices for county officers . . . and 

keep the same in good repair. 

tution and statutes of this state. See Tex. Const. art. V, §18; 

Canales V. Laughlin, 214 S.W.2d 451, 453(Tex. 1948). 

The question of renting space within a courthouse has been 

litigated. In Tarrant County V. Rattikin Title Company, 199 S.W.2d 

269 (Tex. Civ. App. - Fort Worth 1947, no writ) the court found 

authority for the commissioners to assign space in the courthouse 

basement for use by five title companies to inspect and copy real 

property records. The companies were viewed as "agents of the public 

who examine and copy the records as agents of the individual members 

of the public after receiving orders for the preparation of an 

abstract." 199 S.W.2d at 272. The Rattikin court disallowed the 

county's attempt .to charge rent for the space provided to the title 

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Honorable Tony Rileman - Page 2 (JM-753) 

companies, because it was space that the court required the companies 

to use to perform their examinations of public records. The court 

considered that rental charges under those facts would constitute a 

prohibited fee for the examination of public records. 

In Dodson v. Marshall, 118 S.W.2d 621 (Tex. Civ. App. - Waco 

1938. writ dism'd), the court approved the rental of an alcove in a 

courthouse rotunda for a cigar and cold drink stand as a permissible 

exercise of the county's duty to provide a courthouse. The court 

viewed the stand as a "necessary convenience incident to the carrying 

on of the county's business in the courthouse." 118 S.W.2d at 623. 

The court noted that the rented spacr was not suitable for use for 

county offices, that no public funds were expended to maintain the 

space, and that the use did not interfere with the proper use of the 

courthouse. 118 S.W.2d at 622 and 624. 

Relying on the rationale in Rattikin and Dodson, this office has 

determined that a county may allocate free space in the courthouse for 

use by the news media and by a county employees' credit union. See - 

Attorney General Opinion MW-200 (1980). 

In our opinion, the Marion County Chamber of Commerce is not "an 

agent of the public" equivalent to the news media or title companies. 

Nor is it an entity similar to a cigar stand or a credit union whose 

presence in the courthouse is necessary to the convenience of county 

employees or those transacting business in the courthouse. Therefore, 

we do not believe that the commissioners court may provide free office 

space in the courthouse to the chamber of commerce without violating 

article III, section 51, of the Texas Constitution. See Attorney 

General Opinion JM-716 (1987) (payment of chamber of comaiie dues by 

county is illegal donation of county funds). 

Your question involves office space in a courthouse annex, not 

space in the courthouse proper. If the annex is considered to be 

an addition to the courthouse building, the preceding discussion 

controls. However, if the annex is a separate public building 

distinct from the courthouse, other statutes may apply. 

Article 2370, section 1, V.T.C.S., provides: 

The Commissioners Court of any county may, when 

necessary, provide buildings, rooms, or apartments 

at the county seat, other than the courthouse, for 

holding the sessions of the County Courts, 

District Courts, and for carrying on such other 

public business as may be authorized by the 

Commissioners Court, and may lease or rent such 

part of any such buildings, rooms, or apartments 

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Honorable Tony Hileman - Page 3 (JM-753) 

as may not be necessary for public use. (Emphasis 

added). 

Article 2370b. V.T.C.S., provides. in pertinent part: 

Section 1. Whenever the Commissioners Court of 

any county determines that the county courthouse 

is not adequate in size or facilities to properly 

house all county and district offices and all 

county and district courts and all justice of the 

peace courts for the precincts in which the 

courthouse is situated, and to adequately store 

all county records and equipment (including voting 

machines) and/or that the county jail is not 

adequate in size or facilities to properly confine 

prisoners and other persons who may be legally 

confined or detained in a county jail, the Commissioners Court may purchase, construct, reconstruct, remodel, improve and equip. or otherwise 

acquire an office building or buildings, or 

courts building or buildings, or jail building or 

buildings (in addition to the existing courthouse 

and/or jail), or an additional building or 

buildings in which any one or more of the county 

or district offices or county, district or justice 

of the peace courts, or the county jail or any 

other county facilities or functions may be 

housed, conducted and maintained; and may purchase 

and improve the necessary site or sites therefor, 

and may use such building or buildings for any or 

all of such purposes, provided that any such 

building or buildings so acquired shall be located 

in the county seat. . . . 

Sec. 2. Such building or buildings, when purchased, constructed or otherwise acquired and 

equipped may also be used for the purpose of 

carrying on such other public business as may be 

authorized by the Commissioners Court, and/or the 

Commissioners Court may also lease or rent any 

part or parts of any such building or buildings, 

(which may not be presently needed for any of the 

above purposes) to the State of Texas and any of 

its political subdivisions, and the Federal 

Government. (Emphasis added). 

Article 1577, section l(a), V.T.C.S., provides: 

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Honorable Tony Hileman - Page 4 (JM-753) 

The Commissioners Court may, by an order to be 

entered on its minutes, appoint a Commissioner to 

sell or lease any real estate of the county at 

public auction, and notice of said public auction 

shall be advertised at least twenty (20) days 

before the day of sale, by the officer, by having 

the notice thereof published in the English 

language once a week for three (3) consecutive 

weeks preceding such sale or lease in a newspaper 

in the county in which the real estate is located 

and in the county which owns the real estate, if 

they are not the same. (Emphasis added). 

None of these statutes authorizes the donation of space in a 

county building other than the courthouse to be used for private 

purposes. However, pursuant to the above-quoted statutes, the 

commissioners court may lease space in a building other than the 

courthouse to a private or public entity if the space is not currently 

needed for county business. 

SUMMARY 

Marion County may not donate office space in 

the county courthouse annex to the .Marion County 

Chamber of Commerce. The commissioners court may 

lease space in a county building other than the 

courthouse to the chamber of commerce. 

Attorney General of Texas 

MARY KELLER 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STKAKLEY 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RICK GILPIN 

Chairman, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by Karen Gladney 

Assistant Attorney General 

p. 3511