Dear Sir: Opinion No. 

### Q-5319 Re: .Amendmentof County budget.
Your letter of January 12, 

### 1944, requesting th2s department on the questions stated therein reads so the opinion of fO11owS:
"InLiterti:Co&t;, whose offiders are pzld sala.ry

basis, the following conditionsprevail: on a

"1. The budgeted epuropriation for the Tax Collecttir'soffice has been ‘roundto be insufficient to meet the expense which~will'necessarllybe In

### curred in 1944. At the same time, hokever, the appropriation or budget of the office of County Clerk for 194 is in excess of the amount that will be needed -- and to approximately the same extent tha.t there ,lsa shortage in the Tax C?llectior'soffice.

%ey Commissioners' Court amend the budget, for Officers Salary Fund, by deducting $1,000 from the budget of Count:?Clerk's Office, and add a like amount to the budget for Tax Collector's office?

"2. The Road & Brid Fund of PrecinctNo. 4 spent in 

### 1943 approximately 4,000 less than the amount of the budget for ,that year. Inpreparation of the 1944 budget itwas not a.nticipatedthat this precinct fund wjuld have any balance of cash on hand Janu.ary1, 1944; but because of ina'ility to obtain delivery of certain road materiel.3.n December 1943 the total of the budgetwas unspent in thee above amount, and lile?wisethis caused 2. cash ba.lanceof $4,000.03 on January 1, 1344.

"P&y the Rotid8~Bridge Fund budget for 1944 now be amended, '01. increasing the sa.me b:-a sum of $4 300.00; orwill it be necessa,ryto Hait until August, 1944 a.nd.edd. the $4 000 January 1 1344 ba.latice to the probable receipts of 

### 1945, when preparing the county'budget for 1945; thu.s in effectmaking a.larger budget by $4,000 in 1945 ra.therth~an19447



### “3. In connectionwith the above, I am'cognizant of the fa.cttha.tthe Road and Bridge Fund of the Precincts are in reality a part of th% county road bridge fund, and .withthe provision of the law which-states that balances ettiginorable hrph:; Cole, Fage 2 (Copy) o-5819 ~

the end of tine

Year shallbe placed back 1 :, i, and bridge fund, for re-distribution on January 1st. Ther& fore, the $4,903 abovementioned would ha,vethe same effect whetner we consider 2.county-wide road & bridge fund or a precinct reed & bridge fund, for the fact is that there,ls ., 2 total of $4,000more in road & Bridge fund on January 1st thn had been antic:pated.



### “3

. The county hospital because of a grea~tl'-increasednumber ofpatients admitted, collected in 19

### 3, i double the a?!ount of money that it was anticipated in the 1943 budget that itwould collect. At the same time Its expenses increased slightly (about 20s). Thereis every reason to believe that in 1944 them revenues of the hospital will agal-n

be far in excess of the amount anticipated to be collected,when said 1944 budget was prepared by the Board of Managers in July, 1943.

%ay the 1944 budget for thehospital,which 1sbut a subdivisionof the budget of the CountyGeneral Fund, be increasedby a.namount equalling the amount of income over and above the amount estimated in thebudget?,

"The collectionsdf the hospital are placed in the County General Fclnd;and in turn, the bills and accounts, and salariesof the hospital are paid out on claims.against the county We same as any other county claim.

"There is no place in General Fund for a reduction In any appropriation in 1944which would be as great as the revised anticipatedamount of expenditure thatwill be necessary in 1944; therefore, a budget amendment In the expenditure section of' General F'undfo'rthehospitalwould increase the grand total of General Fund; however, as stated above, the revenueswill be increasedmore than~theproposed increasedexpenditure, and therefore expenditees under the 1944budget for General Fund, if revised,would actually be less than the revenues.

Way Commissioners' Court increase the total expenditure of the budget of General Fund, and at the same time provide for such increaseby showing cause for, and increasing the 'receipts'section of the fund at the sa~me time?" Article 6898-9,Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, provides for ti% preparation of the county budget.

Article 68ga-lJ,Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, provrdes, fnp2rt: '* + * * When the budget has been finally approved by the commissioners' court, the budget, as approved by the court shall be filed with the clerk of the County court, 24 ta,*s levied ofilyin accordance therewith, and no expenditure of the-funds of the county shall there-'HpnorableMurphy Cole, Page 3 

### o-5819

after be made except In sttiict compliancewith the budget as adopted by the court. Except that emergency expenditures, in case of grave public necessity, to meet unusual and unforeseen conditionswhich could not, by reasonable diligence, thought and attention have been included in the original budget, may from time to timebe authori;e; ",x the court as amendments to the originalbudget.

. _

Article 68ga-9,Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, provides inpart: '* * * The budget shall also contain a complete

_.. financial-statement of the county, showing all outstanding obligations of the county, thee cash on hand to the credit of each and every fund of the county government, the funds received from all sourcesduring the previous war, the funds available from all sourcesduring the ensuing year, the estima~ted revenues available to cover theproposed budget and estimated rate of tax which will be required."

This department has repeatedlyheld that the commissioners' court of a county iswithout authority tomake any expenditure of county funds except in strict compliancewith thebudget, except the emergency expenditures in case of grave public necessity, adsoutlined by Section 11 of Article 68ga, supra. This departmenthas also repeatedly held that Section 20 of Article 68ga~, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, does not authorize the commissioners' court to increase the budget after its adoption and to hold otherwisewould destroy the very purpose of the Act.

This department has consistentlyh~eldthat the question of "Gravepublic necessity' is a fact question to be deterinined primarily 'bythe commissioners' court. In opinionNo. O-2315 itwas held by this department tlat the discretion of the commissioners'court is not absolute authority to expend county funds in the case of an emergency and is final, only when the question is debatable orwhere the existence of.an emergency is unquestionable, However, the commissioners'court has no authority to determine and declare that an emergency exists, and expend county funds therefor, where the facts clearly show the contrary. Stated a~nother way, the commissioners' court has no legal authority to declare an emergency and evade the law,where in fact, no emergency exists.

The only way the countybudgetmay be amended after its adopti is in strictcompliancewith the above statutoryprovisions. Where the existence of "~grave public necessityn is debatable, the acts of ~;~~i",o;;r missioners' court are controlling. Therefore: as above stated, opinion that wh.etheror not the commissioners court of Liberty County has the authority to amend the county budget under the facts submitted is a fact question to be determinedprimarily by the commissioners' court.

.~H$nor?ble Murphy Cole, page 4

Yours very truly
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

By s/ArdellWilliams Ardell Williams Assistant

, AW:EP:wc

APPROVED JAN 26, 1944 s/ Grover Sellers ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
Approved Opinion Committee By s/DM Chairman