THE A~~IR~‘EY GENEHAL OF TEXAS

WILL WILSON AlTORNEY OlENEHAL October 2, 1957

HonorableJoe Resweber Opinion NO. ~-267 CountyAttorney, Harris County Harris County Courthouse Re: May County Funds legally Houston 2, Texas be disbursed if any part thereof be used to pay expense items incurred in connectionwith a contract entered into between the Trustees of Baylor University and the Board of Managers of Jefferson Eavis HosDear Mr. Resweber: pital?

You have requested an opinion of this office concerning disbursementof County Funds under the provisions of a certain contract. In your request,you posed the following question:
"Are County funds legallydisbursed if

any part thereof be used to pay expense items incurred in connectionwith the attached contract between the Trustees of Baylor University and the Board of Managers of Jefferson Davis Hospital?" Article &494i,Vernon's Civil Statutes,reads in part as follows: "Section 1. Any county of the State and

any incorporated city or town within such county, acting through the CommissionersCourt of such county and the governingbody of such city or town,may jointly establish,erect, equip,maintain and operate a hospital or hospitals for the care and treatment of the sick, infirm, and/or injured;and for the purposes of establishing, erecting, equipping,maintaining and operating sucha hospital or hospitals, the Commissioners Court of any county and the governingbody of any city or town within such countymay, by resolutionor other appropriateaction, confer upon, delegate to and grant to a Board of ManagersHonorable Joe Resweber,page 2 (w-267)

as hereinafterP?ovlded, full and complete authority to establish, erect, equlp,maintain and operate such hospital or hospitals.

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. . . "Sec. 4. Such Board of Managers shall have full and complete authority to enter into any contract connectedwith or incident to the establishment,erection, equipping,maintaining or operating suchhospital or hospitals, and in this connection shall have authority to disburse and pay out all funds set aside by such county and such city or town for purposes connectedwith such hospital or hospitals, and such action by such city or town as though such action had been takenby the CommissionersCourt of such county or governingbody of such city or town.

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. . . "Sec. 7. In connectionwith the erection and equipping of such hospital or hospitals said Board of Managers shall have the authority to determine the manner of expendingany f,undsthat may have been provided by such county and such city or town for such purpose,whether by the issuanceof bonds or other obligations,or by appropriations from other funds of such county and city or town, it being the intentionby this Act to grant to such Boards the complete authority to manage and control all matters affecting such hospitals, reserving to such county and city or town the right only to appoint members to such Board of Managers and to zpprove the annual budget hereinabove provided for. The above quoted provisionsclearly grant to the Commissioners Court of any county and t: ,:he governingbody of any city or town the power to erect, equip and operate a joint city-countyhospital. They further provide that the operation of the hospital shallbe under the control of a Board of Managerswho shall have "fulland complete authority to enter Into any contract connectedwith or incident to the establishment,, erection,equipping,maintaining or operating such hospital,.

Pursuant to the provisionsof Article 44941,Vernon's Civil Statutes,Harris County and the City of Houston entered into the joint operation of JeffersonDavis Hospital. InHonorable Joe Resweber,page 3 (W-267)

accordancewith the above quotedprovisions, the Board of Managers of JeffersonDavis Hospital entered Into a contract with the Board of Trustees of Baylor University,whereby the University, through its Medical School located in Houston, agreed to furnish certainpersonnel **and** servicesto Jefferson Davis Hospital in return for the performance of other sertlces on the part of the Board of Managers.

It is our opinion that inasmuchas the contract in questionprovides for an Increase in the professional staff and the medical facilities of Jefferson Davis Hospital, it is a contractwhich clearly falls within the discretion of the Board of Managers of the hospital, inasmuchas it is incident to the operatlon of the hospital. This being so,we seeno reason why county fundswhich have been allocated to the hospital by the CommissionersCourt of Harris County, shouldnot be spent to pay expenses incurred in connectionwith the provisions of the contract In question. For this reason,we answer your question in the affirmative.
SUMMARY County fundsmay legallybe disbursed even though a part thereof be used to pay expense items incurred in connection with a contractbetween the Trustees of Baylor University and the Board of Managers of Jefferson Davis Hospital.

WCR:zt
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE Geo. P. Blackburn, Chairman Wayland C. Rivers, Jr. John H. Mlnton, Jr. W. V. Geppert J. C. Davis, Jr. Very truly yours,
WILL WILSON ~o~F;,T&~~.

Way1 d C. Rivers, Jr. Assistant

PEVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: James N. Ludlum