OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

mnorable iknton Coopwood 

DlstriCt Attorney, Travle Cotloty 

kuetin, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

era Court or Travf8 

dependent audit of 

the reasons stated 

CiVll statutea OS 

uthorltg given in the statute for 

order au’oh audit, but would llk6 to 

on on the same. I am famlllar with 

640, inclusive, but do not feel that 

these ;rrtlclaa oontemplate a oonplete audit.” 

Tte popultltlon of Travis County auoording to the 1940 

Federal Cclnsue is 111,053. 

Therefore, Article 1646k, Vernon*8 Annotated Civil 

Statutes, providing for the empLoy.nent of a special auditor 

Or auditors by one or more counties under the population of 
25,000, either jointly or sepamtely, by the Oo&as10nera* 

court of said county or 00unt1es, and rurther providing the 

i)istrLct Judge or Crund Jury may order said audit if either 

so desires, does not apply to Travis County. 

nrticle 16k%, Vernon's iinnotatad Clvll Statutes, 1925, 

provides in regard to all oountler the folloringr 

"at each term 02 the dletrlct oourt, the 

distriot judge, upon request 02 the grand jury, 

uay appoint a cownlttee consisting of three oltlneris of tha oounty, men or good moral oharaoter 

and intelllgenoe, and exparlenoed aoaountantu, to 

examine into the condition of the finances OS tha 

oounty. Said committee shall examine all the books, 

aooounts, reporta, vouahers and orders OS the aommieeionera oourt relating tc the flnanoer OS the 

county that have not been examined and reported 

upon by a proilow ooolaitka) Ooant all the money 

in the oifics Of tha @OuMiJ treanurer belonging to 

the county, and make suoh other examination ab it 

deems neaeosary and proper in order to araertain 

the true oonditlon 02 the 2lnanaes at the eoanty. 

The oourt 8hal1, ii neoenaary, upon the appllaatlon 

0r sata 00mrPttt40, send r0r persons and evidanae to 

aid la suoh lnvestlgatlon.w 

Arti.ole 1641, 'Vernonlm nnriotated Civil Btatutee 1925, 

provides au follows: 

"Any oommloeloners aotwt, when In It.6 judgment 

an imperative pub110 neoeoslty exists therefor, shell 

have authority to employ a disinterested, competent 

and expert publio accountant to audit all or any ?3rt 

of the boo&s, records or accounts of the oouaty; or 

of any dlatriot, oounty or proolnct officers, agents 

or employee, inoludlng auditore of the counties, and 

all governmental units of tho oounty, hoepi~tal, f3rma, 

and other lnetltutfons of the county kept and reelntained st public expense, as wall as for all nattars reieit- 
ing to or affeotlng the fiaoal affairs of the aounty. 

The resolution providing for such audit shall recite 

the reasons and neoeasity existing therefor such us 

t&t in the judginent of said court there exists offlcisl misconduct, willful omlsaion or negligence in 

rooords and re’ports, miaapplicotion, conversion or retention of~publfc funds, failure In keeping accounts, 

making repokta a:d aooountlng for public funds by any 

offloer, cogent or eaploye of the district, oounty, or 

precinct, including depositories, hospitals and other 

public lnstltutlona aalntained for the pub110 benefit, 

and st publio.‘cxpanse; or that in the judgment of the 

court, it 18 neoeeanry that’ It have the inforlution 

sou@t to enable It to determine and fix proper appropriation and expenditure 02 pub110 zaonoya, and to aaoertain and fix a just and proper tax levy. The said 

resolution may be presented in writing at any regular 

or oalled eesslon of tho oommiasionera oourt, but shall 

lie over to the next regular tera of said oourt, and 

shall be published In one issue of a newspaper of 

general olroulatlon publlahed in the county; provided 

if there bs no auoh newspaper published in the county, 

thoen notioe thereof shall be posted in three publio 

places in said oouuty. one of whioh shall be at the 

court house door, for at least ten daya prior to Its 

adoption. At auoh noxt regular term said resolution 

8hal.l be adopted by 6 lnajor$ty vote ot the four oondsatoners of the aourt and approved by the oounty judge. 

Any oontrcrat entered into by said oommlaalonera crourt 

ior the audit provided herefn shall be made In aooordante with the statute8 applloable to the letting of aontracts by said oourt, payment for whloh may be made out 

of the publio Sunda of the aounty In aoaordanoe with said 

etatutaa. The authority conferred on county auditors oontslned in this title aa well as other provisIons of statutea relating to district, oounty and preoinct fin&noes 

and aooounts thereor ehall be held aubordlnste to the 

powers given herein to the aommlealonere* oourt .* 

Article 1641 6aa made necessary by the holding In the, 

case of Navvrro County v.. Tulloe, (Div. ~pp.) 237 S. W. 982, that 

the Commissioners* Court did not possess the right to disregard 

the duly appointed auditor and omploy other auditora at the 
gonorabie Uanton Cooprood, ~ALJ~ 4 

oounty'e expenee for the putpoee of obtaining Information 

lt iivthe duty of the,audltor to supply. 11 Tex. Jur., p. 

(footnotea) . 

whloh 

5813, 

"The authority or the oommlasloneret oourt 

88 the eovemlng body oi a county to make oontraots 

in it8 behalf 18 etrlctly llmlted to that oontrrred 

either expressly or by fair or ncoeesary lmplloation 

by the Conetltutlon and lawn of the atate." 11 Tex. 

J-w., 632. Childrees Co. v. State, (Sup. Ct.) QZ 

S. H. (Zd) 1011. 

Therefore, in regard to your question No. 1, we agree 

with your ilndlnge that there is no rtatute authorizing an audit 

to ba ordered by the Orand Jury of T'ravlr Connty, and we hold 

that ouoh,Orand Jury ln thle reepeot would hare only the power 

to request an examlnatlon Sor the purpose8 and in the manner 

epeoiiled in Artlale 1658, supra. 

In resard to your quertlon No. E, it eppeere that 

Artlole 1641 ie.the eraluslre authority under whioh an lndependent audit oould be ordered bl your Commlrelonere* Court. 

Trusting thle fully anewore your queetlone, we are 

Yours very truly 

ATltUNEY G'S.X%JRAL GFTE:SM 

BY aL+?Y. zIxzzzu&. 

Robert L. Lattlmore. Jr. 

,isaletatlt