THE A~~IR~‘EY GENEHAL 

OF TEXAS 

WILL WILSON 

AlTORNEY OlENEHAL 

October 2, 1957 

Honorable Joe Resweber Opinion NO. ~-267 

County Attorney, 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 connection with 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 disbursement of County Funds under the provisions of a 

certain contract. In your request, you posed the following 

question: 

"Are County funds legally disbursed if 

any part thereof be used to pay expense items 

incurred in connection with 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 Commissioners Court of such 

county and the governing body 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 

such a hospital or hospitals, the Commissioners 

Court of any county and the governing body of 

any city or town within such county may, by resolution or other appropriate action, confer 

upon, delegate to and grant to a Board of Managers 
Honorable Joe Resweber, page 2 (w-267) 

as hereinafter P?ovlded, full and complete authority to establish, erect, equlp, maintain and 

operate such hospital or hospitals. . . . 

,I 

. . . 

"Sec. 4. Such Board of Managers shall 

have full and complete authority to enter into 

any contract connected with or incident to the 

establishment, erection, equipping, maintaining 

or operating such hospital 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 connected with 

such hospital or hospitals, and such action by 

such city or town as though such action had been 

taken by the Commissioners Court of such county 

or governing body of such city or town. 

11 

. . . 

"Sec. 7. In connection with the erection 

and equipping of such hospital or hospitals said 

Board of Managers shall have the authority to 

determine the manner of expending any f,unds that 

may have been provided by such county and such 

city or town for such purpose, whether by the 

issuance of bonds or other obligations, or by 

appropriations from other funds of such county 

and city or town, it being the intention by 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 provisions clearly grant to the Commissioners Court of any county and t: ,:he governing body of 

any city or town the power to erect, equip and operate a 

joint city-county hospital. They further provide that the 

operation of the hospital shall be under the control of a 

Board of Managers who shall have "full and complete authority to enter Into any contract connected with or incident to 

the establishment,, erection, equipping, maintaining or operating such hospital,. 

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 44941, Vernon's 

Civil Statutes, Harris County and the City of Houston entered 

into the joint operation of Jefferson Davis Hospital. In 
Honorable Joe Resweber, page 3 (W-267) 

accordance with the above quoted provisions, the Board of 

Managers of Jefferson Davis 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 certain personnel and services to Jefferson 

Davis Hospital in return for the performance of other sertlces 

on the part of the Board of Managers. 

It is our opinion that inasmuch as the contract in 

question provides for an Increase in the professional staff 

and the medical facilities of Jefferson Davis Hospital, it is 

a contract which clearly falls within the discretion of the 

Board of Managers of the hospital, inasmuch as it is incident 

to the operatlon of the hospital. This being so, we see no 

reason why county funds which have been allocated to the hospital by the Commissioners Court of Harris County, should not 

be spent to pay expenses incurred in connection with the provisions of the contract In question. For this reason, we 

answer your question in the affirmative. 

SUMMARY 

County funds may legally be disbursed 

even though a part thereof be used to 

pay expense items incurred in connection with a contract between 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