THE AYTORNEBY GENERAL 

OlF%-ICXAS 

AUSTIN. TEXAS 78111 

April 15, 1969 

Honorable G. R. Close 

County Attorney 

Ochiltree County Courthouse 

Perryton. Texas 19070 

Dear Mr. Close: 

Opinion No. M-374 

Re: Whether the Commissioners 

Court has authority 

through its County Historical Committee to purchase a history of the 

county, under the stated 

facts, and a related 

question. 

You have requested the opinion of this office regarding 

the above question, and in this connection have provided the 

following facts: 

In 1968 a special committee under the 

Ochiltree County Historical Survey Committee was 

formed for the purpose of the preparation, printing , publishing and sale of an Ochiltree County 

history, to be known as "The Wheatheart of the 

Plains - A History of Ochiltree County, Texas". 

By resolution of March 6, 1969, the Commissioners Court of Ochiltree County authorized the 

purchase of 4,000 copies of the county history, 

through the County Historical Survey Committee, 

and directed that the volumes be distributed and sold 

at a price of not less than $10.00 per copy. As the 

books are sold the general fund of the County is to 

be reimbursed up to the total acquisition price, and 

any surplus is to be held by the County Historical 

Survey Committee for use in historical projects, under 

the direction of the Commissioners Court. 

-1848- 
I. . 

Hon. G. R. Close, page 2 (M-374) 

Your second question is whether the Commissioners Court 

has the authority to make an emergency amendment to the county 

budget in order to make the payments authorized in the aforementioned resolution, the necessary amounts not having been 

included in the budget at the time of its adoption. 

It is axiomatic that the Commissioners Court is a court 

of limited jurisdiction, and has only those powers expressly 

granted by constitution or statute, or those necessarily implied therefrom. Canales v. Laughlin, 147 Tex. 169, 214 S.W.2d 

451 (1948). The March 6, 1969 resolution adopted by the Commissioners Court here involved relied upon Articles 2372r and 

6145.1, Vernon's Civil Statutes. 

Article 6145.1 authorizes the county judge to appoint a 

County Historical Survey Committee, and reads, in part, as 

follows: 

II . ..The county is hereby authorized to pay the 

necessary expenses of such committee. Such committees as are appointed shall institute and carry 

out a survey of the county to determine the existence 

of historical buildings, battlefields,private collections of historical memorabilia, or other historical 

features within the county, and shall thereafter continue to collect data on the same subject as it may 

become available. The data collected shall be made 

available to anyone interested therein, and especially 

to the Commissioners Court and to the Texas State 

Historical Survey Committee. This Committee shall 

make any recommendations concerning the acquisition 

of property, real or personal, which are of historical 

significance, when requested to do so by the Commissioners 

Court." 

The foregoing statute only authorizes the Commissioners 

Court to pay the necessary expenses of the County Historical 

Survey Committee. These expenses may only be those properly 

incurred in carrying out the assigned duties of the committee. 

The assigned duties relate only to the gathering of historical 

data concerning the county- At this point we are not prepared 

-1849s 
Hon. G. R. Close, page 3 (M-374) 

to say that correlated historical data may not be presented 

in book form by the committee, but it is our view that the 

necessary expenses of the committee certainly do not include 

the printing and publication of a county history for sale to 

the public. 

We are left with the question of whether the Commissioners 

Court has the authority to buy 4,000 volumes of a county history, 

with the objective of resale to the general public. The Commissioners Court is given specific authority to make certain 

expenditures for historical purposes in Article 2372r, which 

reads as follows: 

"The Commissioners Court of each county of this 

State, in addition to the powers already conferred on 

it by law, is hereby empowered to appropriate from 

the general fund of said counties, monies for the 

purpose of erecting historical markers, monuments, 

and medallions, and purchasing objects and collections 

of objects of any kind which are of historical 

significance to such county." 

Research has revealed no other statute or constitutional 

provision from which the Commissioners Court may derive 

authority to make the expenditures contemplated here, and it 

is our view that the above-quoted provision cannot be extended 

to include the purchase of county histories such as planned by 

Ochiltree County. 

A "collection" is defined in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1966, as "an assembly of objects or 

specimens for the purposes of education, research or interest". 

Under such a definition, several thousand copies of the same 

book could not constitute a "collection of objects" within 

the terms of the statute. 

You are accordingly advised that it is the opinion of this 

office that under the facts presented, the Commissioners Court 

of Ochiltree County does not have the authority to purchase 

copies of a history of the county. 

-l&50- 
Hon. G. R. Close, page 4 (M-374) 

Although not expressly made the subject of inquiry, it is 

not necessary to reach the problem involved, as to the question 

of the authority of the Commissioners Court to permit the sale 

of county property without declaring it to be surplus and 

unusable, and without taking bids thereon: nor is it necessary 

to answer your question concerning emergency amendment of the 

county budget. 

SUMMARY 

Under the facts presented, Articles 2372r 

and 6145.1, V.C.S., do not provide authority 

for the Commissioners Court of a county to 

expend county funds for the purchase of volumes 

of a county history, and no other authority 

exists to provide a basis for such expenditures. 

very tr ly, 

.~ 

dd / /iszzL 

D C. MARTIN 

y General of Texas 

Prepared by Malcolm L. Quick 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Kerns Taylor, Chairman 

George Kelton, Vice-Chairman 

Alfred Walker 

Richard Chote 

Tom Bullington 

Harold Kennedy 

W. V. GEPPERT 

Staff Legal Assistant 

HAWTHORNE PHILLIPS 

Executive Assistant 

-1851-