Hon. W. W. Cavea AssistantCountyAttorney Rusk county Henderson,Texas
Dear Sir: OpinionNO. O-6294 Re: Whetherthe Commissioners' Court can legallypay the expensesof a CountyAgent to the NationalAgricultural Agents'Aseociation.
Your telegramof November27, 1944, requestingthe opinion of this departmenton the questionstatedtherein,is, in part, as fol- lows:
"Is it permissiblefor CountyCommissioners'Court to pay expensesof CountyAgent to NationalCountyAgri- culturalAgents'Associationwhere all kinds of agricul- tural problemsare discussed?"
Article 164,Vernon'sAnnotatedCivil Statutes,providesas follows:
"The Commiasionerst Court of any countyof this State is authorizedto establishand conductcooperativeand dem- onstrationwork in agriculture,and home economicsIn coop- erationwith the Agriculturaland MechanicalCollegeof Texas, upon such terms and conditionsas may be agreedupon by the Commissioners' Court and the Agent of the Agricul- tural and MechanicalCollegeof Texas; and may employ such means, and may appropriateand expend such sums of money as may be necessaryto effectivelyestablishand carry on such demonstration work in agricultureand home economics in their respectivecounties,"
It will be noted that the Legislature,by the foregoingstat- ute, has providedthat in order to conductcooperativedemonstration work in agricultureand home economics,the Commissioners' Court is given the power to employ such means and to appropriateand expend such eums of money as may be necessaryto effectivelyestablishand carry on such work. This Act has given broad power to the Commissioners' Court and leavestheir decisionfinal on the questionas to what is necessaryto carry on this work. Hon. W. W. Caves, page 2 (O-6294)
It followsthat if the Commissioners' Court is of the opin- ion that the attendanceof the NationalCountyAgriculturalAgents' Associationis necessaryto effectivelycarry on the work of the County AgriculturalAgent of the County,then the Commissioners'Court would have authorityto pay the necessaryexpensesof the CountyAgricultural Agent attendingthe NationalCountyAgriculturalAgents'Association.
Article8j Sec. 3, of our State Constitutionprovidesthat taxes shall be leviedend collectedby the generallaws for public pur- pose6 only. It is fundamentallaw that expendituresof tax money must be only for public purposes. 15 Corpue Juris,page 574, in discussing expensesof public officer, uses the followinglanguage:
"Ordinarilymembersof countyboards are entitledto no other allowanceor emolumentwhateveroutsideof the compensationfixed by law for their servicee,and to be entitledto that compensationthey must bring their serv- ices and expenaeswithin the terms of the statute,author- izing the payment,it being the rule that they are entitled neitherto ordinarynor extra compensationor reimbursement for servicesrenderedor expensesincurredin the doing of unauthorizedacte outsidethe scope of their officialduties, even though their servicesare for the benefit of their county."
This departmenthas repeatedlyheld that the Commiseioners' Court haa no authorityto expend county funds to pay expensesof county official6when attendingconventionsbecause same is not "countybusi- ness", end there is no statutoryor constitutional authorityto pay samea See ConferenceOpinionNo. 0-2018,dated April 2, 1919, recorded in Vol. 52, pages 262-3-4,conferenceopinionof the AttorneyGeneral of Texas which containsa full discussionof this question,and many other opinionsof this department.
The distinctionbetweenthe situationmentionedin the pre- cedingparagraphend the one presentedin your inquiryis that Art. 164, V. A. C. S., gives the Commissioners' Court statutoryauthority to pay the expensesof the CountyAgriculturalAgent in attendingthe NationalCountyAgriculturalAgents' Association,if the Commissioners Court is of the opinionthat such attendanceis necessaryto effectively carry on the work of the CountyAgriculturalAgent in his county.
APPROVEDNOV 28, 1944 Yours very truly, Id Grover Sellers ATIORNEYGENEPALOF TEXAS ATTORJEYGE%JZl?ALOFTEXAS