Budget And Finance

Commissioners court is the proper body to receive and accept donations on the county's behalf pursuant to Local Government Code section 81.032|To the extent that members of the public send donations to the sheriff, the sheriff should immediately forward those donations to the commissioners court for proper handling pursuant to Local Government Code section 81.032

Salary, expenses, allowances, and other benefits provided by the county - Because the initial determination of whether a public expenditure to a justice of the peace who refuses to perform his duties upon resignation is gratuitous belongs to the commissioners court, we cannot conclude as a matter of law that the officer in these circumstances is entitled to salary, expenses, allowances, and other benefits provided by the county.|Because the initial determination of whether a public expenditure to a justice of the peace who refuses to perform his duties upon resignation is gratuitous belongs to the commissioners court, we cannot conclude as a matter of law that the officer in these circumstances is entitled to salary, expenses, allowances, and other benefits provided by the county.|Article III, section 52(a) of the Texas Constitution prohibits the gratuitous payment of public funds for a private purpose.

Public notice of a proposed budget increase to a sheriff's salary prior to setting the sheriff's salary, subsection 152.013(b) of the Local Government Code requires a commissioners court to provide, and failure to do so invalidates any increase|Changes to the budget after it has been finally approved, subsection 111.010(b) of the Local Government Code prohibits the commissioners court from making|Required notice of the sheriff's proposed salary increase, if the Coke County Commissioners Court finally approved its budget prior to providing, the sheriff's salary for 2014-2015 must remain at the prior year's amount

County attorney with criminal jurisdiction may, pursuant to section 41.005, Government Code, retain a commission on bond forfeiture collection

Scope of Local Government Code section 157.901 concerning county's duty to provide legal representation of county officers and employees

Under the common law, a county commissioners court has discretion to reimburse legal expenses incurred by a county commissioner in the defense of a criminal matter which results in a finding of not guilty if the prosecution was for actions that were within scope of official duties and defense is primarily for a county purpose and not a personal interest.

Authority of county commissioners court to adopt a policy to automatically reduce the salary of employees and officers

Longevity pay, a commissioners court order granting, to certain qualified employees and allowing employees to transfer the longevity pay to another county department if they are hired there, does not continue in effect for an individual who later becomes a county officer|Salary grievance, a county officer who does not challenge the officer's proposed salary in accordance with the procedure and deadline specified by subsection 152.016(a) of the Local Government Code in any given year has effectively waived any, for the upcoming fiscal year

Longevity pay - Provided any longevity pay is prospective to the adoption of the longevity policy, a court would likely conclude that a county's longevity pay policy for county officials may include the prior service of the individual as a county employee|Prior Service - Provided any longevity pay is prospective to the adoption of the longevity policy, a court would likely conclude that a county's longevity pay policy for county officials may include the prior service of the individual as a county employee

Commissioners court may not delegate its approval authority of payroll, claims, and other payments to county treasurer

Whether certain department meetings constitute budget preparation contrary to Local Government Code chapter 111 is fact specific and beyond purview of attorney general opinion|Common-law doctrine of incompatibility does not prohibit simultaneous employment as county employee and county budget officer

Authority of commissioners court to deny longevity pay to county judge who receives a state salary supplement pursuant to Government Code section 26.006|Longevity pay

Authority of county to transfer funds from road and bridge account to general account to pay commissioner who performs road and bridge maintenance

Commissioners Court's use of Tax Code chapter 324 revenue to fund county health services

Funds received under Health and Safety Code section 401.244 are public funds|County's continuing oversight of funds disbursed to entity under Health and Safety Code subsection 401.244(b)(2)|Purchases made by nonprofit entity using funds received by County under Health and Safety Code section 401.244

County payment of expenses for contracted workers in specific circumstances|Filing requirements of real property documents with county clerk

Whether a particular expenditure satisfies Texas Supreme Court three-part test in Texas Municipal League is determination for commissioners court in the first instance subject to judicial review|County may not spend county tax revenue to contribute to operation of county hospital district|Whether providing law enforcement services, grounds maintenance, and library for independent school district primarily serves a county purpose

Freeze vacant positions in elected county officer's office unless officer fills position by promoting existing county employee or obtains commissioners court's special permission, commissioners court may not|Transfer funds from one line item to another existing line item, commissioners court may in absence of emergency|Amend adopted budget where county does not face emergency, commissioners court may transfer funds at any time, but may not|Discretionary authority to approve budgeted expenditure requested by county officer, commissioners court generally has

Notice to elected officers of proposed salary and expenses for upcoming fiscal year, commissioners court must provide after it receives proposed budget from county judge so long as time is sufficient to allow aggrieved officer to file grievance and to have|Notice to elected officers of proposed salary and expenses for upcoming fiscal year, commissioners court must provide after it receives proposed budget from county judge so long as time is sufficient to allow aggrieved officer to file grievance and to hav

Inmate telephone fund, proceeds generated from, should be paid into the county treasury and may be used for any legitimate county purpose|Inmate telephone fund, proceeds generated from, should be paid into the county treasury and may be used for any legitimate purpose

Transfer of funds from one budget line to another, county amending budget by means of does not have to follow emergency expenditure provisions|New employee position, once commissioners court has authorized sheriff has sole control with regard to

District judges' salaries, comptroller may not reduce state salaries paid to Harris or Travis county judges if the appropriate commissioners court decides to pay an amount that would exceed statutory differential|Notwithstanding|Salaries, comptroller may not reduce state salaries paid to Harris or Travis county judges if the appropriate commissioners court decides to pay an amount that would exceed statutory differential

Preservation|Project|Purposes|Management|Specific|Records management and preservation fees, commissioners court and county clerk together must determine what specific records management and preservation purposes may be paid with|Records management and preservation fees, clerk and commissioners court together must determine specific records management and preservation purposes for which may be used, which may include salaries of clerk's office employees

Budget amendments by commissioners court order transferring amounts between budgeted items, authority of commissioners court to authorize budget officer to approve intradepartmental budget transfers

Salary of elected officer may not be higher than that stated in published notice; salary adopted after county published invalid notice may not be increased beyond previous fiscal year's amount until subsequent budget cycle|Salary of sheriff may not be higher than that stated in published notice; salary adopted after county published invalid notice may not be increased beyond previous fiscal year's amount until subsequent budget cycle

Salary, a county may not pay a justice of the peace an amount over and above the justice's to perform an inquest or serve as a magistrate|Justice of the peace, a county may not pay an amount over and above the justice's salary to perform an inquest or serve as a magistrate

Salary supplement fee in a proceeding for court-ordered mental health services, a commissioners court may set as a court cost and pay to the county judge who hears such matters away from the county courthouse, and an amount equal to the fee may not be ded|Court-ordered mental health services, because Texas Mental Health Code provides that an application for court-ordered mental health services may be filed with the county clerk in the county in which the proposed patient resides, is found, or is already re|Court-ordered mental health services, Texas Mental Health Code does not generally require a court in a county where a state hospital is located to hear matters involving patients who are receiving services at a hospital pursuant to the order of a court in|Court-ordered mental health services, Texas Mental Health Code permits but does not require a court to hold a proceeding for court-ordered mental health services at the state hospital in the county or other location outside the county courthouse

Allocation of county property, a commissioners court is permitted to adopt a county budget in which a county vehicle that has been allocated to one county officer is reallocated to another county officer|Allocation of county property, the commissioners court's budget-making authority is limited to the extent that its refusal to approve a requested expenditure precludes an elected officer from carrying out the legal responsibilities of the office

Court-related purposes|Open courts provision requires fees charged to litigants to be used only to support judiciary|Budget-making authority is vested in commissioners court|Expired budget, commissioners court has no authority to amend|Special account in county general fund, authority of commissioners court to establish|Special budget, no authority for commissioners court to prepare budget separate from general county budget "excess contributions" remitted to county under Local Government code section 26.008

Operating funds for indigent medical care services, county must transfer to newly created hospital district|Where newly created hospital district does not comprise the entire county and where the statute does not provide formula by which to apportion operating funds for indigent medical care services between county and newly created hospital district, determination of method of allocation lies with the discretion of the commissioners court, subject to judicial review|Discretion

Transfer of funds from one budget item to another to make payments with respect to county judge's state salary supplement|State supplement to county judge's salary if at least 40 percent of functions he performs are judicial functions|Transfer of funds from one item in county budget to another to make payments with respect to county judge's state salary supplement|Magistrate, service as is a judicial function|Magistrates of the county, including district judges, county judges, judges of the county courts at law, the judges of statutory probate courts, justices of the peace, and city judges have a mandatory duty to give statutory warnings to arrested person brought before them|Judicial function

Salaries, sheriff's and constable's may not be increased mid-budget-year|Justice Assistance Grant funds, a county may not use to increase the sheriff's or a constable's salary mid-budget-year or to pay the sheriff or constable overtime, but may use to pay a constable for services rendered as a deputy sheriff|Deputy sheriff, a constable may be compensated for work performed as|Overtime compensation, a sheriff or constable may not receive|Salary, a sheriff or constable may not receive an unbudgeted increase in the middle of a budget year

Equal protection, county employees' incentive plan does not violate constitutional guarantee by allowing bonuses only to a full-time employee whose job performance has been favorably evaluated and whose department head has implemented a business plan approved by the commissioners court|Incentive plan for certain county employees does not violate equal protection guarantee by allowing bonuses only to a full-time employee whose job performance has been favorably evaluated and whose department head has implemented a business plan approved by the commissioners court|Employee incentive plan, a county commissioners court may not provide bonuses under for work performed before the plan was adopted

Legal expenses, authority of commissioners court to pay legal expenses for criminal defense of criminal district attorney|Unbudgeted expenditure for legal expenses for criminal defense of criminal district attorney, commissioners court's authority to pay|Criminal district attorney is not an employee or officer of a "state agency, institution, or department," entitled to indemnity for legal expenses under chapter 104 of the Government Code

County jail commissary account, a county may enforce a county-jail inmate’s obligation to reimburse the county for medical, dental, and health-related services received during a previous incarceration by deducting the amount from funds in the inmate’s during a subsequent incarceration|Commissary account, a county may enforce a county-jail inmate’s obligation to reimburse the county for medical, dental, and health-related services received during a previous incarceration by deducting the amount from funds in the inmate’s during a subsequent incarceration\r\n

Annual state salary, individuals appointed as judges of newly created 444th and 445th Judicial District courts are entitled to|Payment of state's portion of salaries for individuals who will serve as district judges, commissioners court must approve|Showing of essentiality, degree to which district judges appointed to newly created judicial districts are entitled to supplemental salary payments, office space, and other perquisites of office depends upon a|Annual state salary, individuals appointed as judges of the newly created 444th and 445th Judicial District courts are entitled to|Appointment of judges for the 444th and 445th Judicial District courts, Governor is required to make appointments as vacancy exists in each court

County budget officer, authority to appoint county judge as

Venue project, Terrell County may not borrow money to pay to construct|Venue project, Terrell County may not borrow money

Bills and accounts of the county hospital, county auditor must examine and approve before the commissioners court may order payment|Refuse to approve a payment of county funds on the grounds that payment is prohibited by law, county auditor has reasonable discretion to |County auditor has reasonable discretion to refuse to approve a payment of county funds for hospital bill on the grounds that payment is prohibited by law |Redress to the courts, challenge of the county auditor's discretionary refusal to approve a claim is made through |County auditor has reasonable discretion to refuse to approve a payment of county funds on the grounds that payment is prohibited by law

Individual members, before commissioners court adopts a budget it must provide written notice of proposed salary reduction to|Individual members of commissioners court, before commissioners court adopts a budget it must provide written notice of proposed salary reduction to|Salary grievance committee, before it adopts a budget the commissioners court must consider recommendations of|Salary change, failure to provide written notice to individual county officials of salary change prohibits commissioners court from altering salary from prior year

Low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement program, county's payment to participating dealers under program and reimbursement to county for such payment from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality|Low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement program, county's payment to participating dealers under program and reimbursement to county for such payment from Commission

Records management and preservation fee collected under Local Government Code sections 118.011 and 118.0216 and article 102.005(f) of Code of Criminal Procedure|Records management and preservation fee collected under article 102.005(f) of Code of Criminal Procedure, allocation to district clerk's recrods management and preservation fund|Records management and preservation fund, a county clerk may not expend money from the clerk's fund with the commissioners court's approval|Records management and preservation fund, a county clerk may not expend money from the fund without the commissioners court's approval|County clerk's records management and preservation fund, the treasurer may not pay a request by the county clerk to expend money from the fund unless the commissioner court has approved the expenditure|Records management and preservation fee collected under Local Government Code sections 118.011 and 118.0216 and article 102.005(f) of Code of Criminal Procedure, use and distribution of

Motor vehicle certificate of title fee, tax assessor-collector does not have authority to award fee as extra compensation to salaried employees

Unconstitutional debt, indigent health care services invoices in excess of amount budgeted for that purpose\r\n|Ratification and payment of unconstitutional debt, indigent health care services invoices in excess of amount budgeted for that purpose\r\n|Indigent health care services invoices in excess of amount budgeted for that purpose\r\n|Indigent health care services invoices in excess of amount budgeted for that purpose, whether unconstitutional debt

Performance bonus based on achievement of preset performance goals, commissioners court may not pay to elected county officials

Hotel occupancy tax, expenditure of revenue from tax on "key person insurance" policy as an authorized administrative costs|Administrative costs|Key person insurance

Statutory county court judge, whether, under Government Code section 25.0005(a)the judge is entitled to longevity pay calculated in accordance with Government Code section 659.0445|Longevity pay calculated under Government Code section 659.0445, whether a statutory county court judge is entitled to under Government Code section 25.00005(a)|Contribution\r\n\r\nSalary\r\n\r\nSupplement

Foreign language interpreter on district attorney’s staff, decisions about funding are made by the commissioners court in the budget process, subject to judicial review for abuse of discretion|Interpreter appointed by court in criminal proceeding is not required to provide translation services to district attorney in preparing for trials

Employees, clerk’s implied authority to set the working conditions for and dismiss early because of a thunderstorm and resulting power outage in the county courthouse|Commissioners court may amend the budget to reduce the salaries of county clerk’s employees, but may not do so to recoup payment to employees for the time period that the clerk dismissed them because of a thunderstorm and resulting power outage in the county courthouse

Revenue from the sale of prepaid phone cards in the county jail commissary should be credited to the sheriff for the use of county jail inmates rather than to the general fund of the county|Prepaid phone cards, revenue from the sale of in the county jail commissary, should be credited to the sheriff for the use of county jail inmates rather than to the general fund of the county|Authority to adopt rule that increases the number of training hours required for an employee of a day-care center or group day-care home from that set out in statute

Demand deposits of local government are governed by chapter 2257 of the Public Funds Collateral Act rather than chapter 2256 of the Public Funds Investment Act

Authority of a county judge to unilaterally grant access to county financial records to a volunteer financial consultant

GA-0051 and GA-0620 correctly construed sections 152.013 and 152.016 of the Local Government Code|An elected county or precinct officer aggrieved by the setting of the officer’s salary may request a hearing before the salary grievance committee if, among other things, the request is delivered to the grievance committee chair within five days after the day the officer receives notice of the salary

Commissioners court’s emergency budget amendment, a county auditor has no independent authority to refuse to create budget lines pursuant to a|Officer to whom the Legislature has assigned a clerical function associated with payroll preparation, if a county human resources director is such an officer he could perform county payroll preparation duties|Countersign a county check, only the county auditor and her qualified assistants may|Any task associated with payroll preparation duties, the Legislature has not assigned a county human resources director

Cash could constitute seized and forfeited property under section 24.377 of the Texas Government Code|Expenditures can be made from a district attorney’s asset forfeiture fund after those expenditures are approved by a regional review committee under section 24.377 of the Texas Government Code|County commissioners courts and a regional review committee are two of the entities that may approve expenditures from a district attorney’s asset forfeiture fund

A commissioners court that acts to remove a proposed raise from the budget at the final budget hearing without giving additional notice to county officers and without giving the elected officials a chance to seek redress from the salary grievance committee acts contrary to the requirements of chapter 152 of the Local Gov\\'t Code|County budget, a district court’s supervisory jurisdiction could be invoked to seek a determination whether the commissioners court acted beyond its jurisdiction or clearly abused its discretion in adopting the|Proposed salary increases, county and precinct officers here are not entitled to the

County Court at Law official court reporter, authority to set the salary and hours of work

Directive that removes the county auditor from the process of countersigning checks or warrants, whatever the scope of the \\"accounting procedures\\" that the fiscal officer of the Cherokee County Supervision and Corrections Department may prescribe, they may not include a|Review officer to a standing preliminary review committee, pursuant to subsection 161.1551(b)(2) of the Local Government Code a member of a county ethics commission may not be a

Bond forfeiture collections, Government Code section 41.005 authorizes a district attorney to separate a portion of as a commission without approval of the commissioners court|Commission on bond forfeiture collection shall be deposited in the county treasury in a fund to the credit of the person or department collecting the money|Commission on bond forfeiture collection, how to use, commissioners court may determine subject to any other legal restrictions on its authority

Pretrial intervention program funds collected pursuant to Code of Criminal Procedure article 102.0121 - expenditures must be made in accordance with a budget approved by the commissioners court and must relate to a defendant\\'s participation in or to administration of the program|County attorneys are authorized to collect a fee from any defendant participating in Code of Criminal Procedure article 102.0121 pretrial intervention program. Fees must be deposited into a special fund in the county treasury.|Criminal district attorneys are authorized to collect a fee from any defendant participating in Code of Criminal Procedure article 102.0121 pretrial intervention program. Fees must be deposited into a special fund in the county treasury.|District attorneys are authorized to collect a fee from any defendant participating in Code of Criminal Procedure article 102.0121 pretrial intervention program. Fees must be deposited into a special fund in the county treasury.|County attorneys, criminal district attorneys and district attorneys are authorized to collect a fee from any defendant participating in Code of Criminal Procedure article 102.0121 pretrial intervention program. Fees must be deposited into a special fund in the county treasury.

Nothing in Government Code section 25.0005 indicates that it is not fully applicable to counties served by multi-county judicial districts; thus, the phrase \\"total annual salary received by a district judge in the county\\" includes salaries received by district judges serving in in multi-district counties.|Nothing in Government Code section 25.0005 indicates that it is not fully applicable to counties served by multi-county judicial districts; thus, the phrase \\"total annual salary received by a district judge in the county\\" includes salaries received by district judges that serve multi-county districts.|Calculation of the minimum salary of a county court at law judge under Government Code section 25.0005|Government Code subsection 25.0005(a) does not limit the \\"total annual salary\\" of a statutory county court judge to include only contributions and supplements received by a district judge from the county in which the statutory county court judge serves.

Under Local Government Code section 84.021, a commissioners court must pay salaries of assistant county auditors, as properly certified by the district judges of the county|Under Local Government Code section 84.021, district judges are not required to include the names of assistant auditors in the list of appointees they certify to the county commissioners court|Under Local Government Code section 84.021, a commissioners court must pay the salaries of assistant county auditors, as properly certified by the district judges of the county

Transportation of juveniles, commissioners court may amend budget to provide for only if it finds "grave public necessity" to meet "unforeseen condition"|Transportation of persons to and from juvenile court, county judge not expressly empowered to order

Tax abatement contract, county may not tax property as new property value upon expiration of|New property value|New property value, key to determining is whether county had power to tax the property the previous year|Notice and public hearing requirements for change in tax rate not activated unless proposed tax rate exceeds 103 percent of effective tax rate

Investment functions, commissioners court may delegate to county officers or employees other than treasurer|County treasurer, commissioners court may not remove from process of investing county funds but may restrict authority of|Investing county funds, commissioners court may not entirely remove treasurer from process of but may restrict her authority

Auditor's salary not part of expenses of office subject to five percent increase limitation imposed by section 111.013 of the Local Government Code|Salary of auditor, not part of expenses of office subject to five percent increase limitation imposed by section 111.013 of the Local Government Code

Official court reporters employed in Denton County Courts at Law, the Commissioners Court of Denton County has authority to set compensation of|Compensation of official court reporters, the Commissioners Court of Denton County has authority to set when court reporter is employee in the Denton County Courts at Law|Official court reporters in the Denton County Courts at Law, Commissioners Court has authority to set compensation of

Unclaimed overpayments on property taxes collected by county, funds belong to county once the three year period of reclamation has lapsed under section 31.11 of Tax Code

Medical coverage for district officers, authority of county to provide and phase out|Americans with Disabilities Act, application to county plan to phase out medical coverage for district officers|Medical coverage for district judges, authority of county to provide|Medical coverage for district attorney, authority of county to provide|Medical coverage for district judges, district attorneys, and county extension agents, authority of county to provide|Medical coverage for district officers, county's plan to phase out|Medical coverage for agricultural and home extension agents, authority of county to provide

Hot check fund, county attorney's authority over|Hot check fund, whether subject to county budgeting process|Hot check fund, whether auditor may require county attorney to submit projection of revenues for inclusion in county budget|Hot check fund, relation to other county expenditures

Interest on dealer's motor vehicle escrow account is discretionary fund of assessor-collector, commissioners court not authorized to control use|Dealer's motor vehicle escrow account, interest on is discretionary fund of tax assessor-collector

Salary grievance committee may not consider aggrieved elected county officer's complaint after start of fiscal year

Longevity pay, court may set rate for sheriff prospectively\r\n\r\n|Longevity pay, retroactive payment of higher rate to sheriff violates article III, section 53 of Texas Constitution|Longevity pay, court may set rate for sheriff prospectively|Longevity pay, retroactive payment of higher rate to sheriff violates article III, section 53

Hot check fund, interest that accrues must be severed from principal and used to benefit county

Hot check fund, auditor may require county attorney to submit documentation for expenses incurred from

Juvenile board, commissioners court has no general supervisory authority over|Juvenile probation department, commissioners court's budgeting authority over limited to setting dollar amount of county funds it will expend on, and reviewing that portion of department's budget on abuse of discretion standard\r\n\r\n|Programs under jurisdiction of juvenile board, commissioners court has no power to approve and supervise claims of|Juvenile probation department, commissioners court's budgeting authority over limited to setting dollar amount of county funds it will expend on, and reviewing that portion of department's budget on abuse of discretion standard\r\n|Juvenile board budget, amendment of requires formal board action\r\n|Expenses

Compensation of county court at law judges in counties collecting court costs and fees under section 51.702 of the Government Code|County court at law judges, compensation of in counties collecting court costs and fees under section 51.702 of the Government Code|Salaries of county court at law judges set annually

Salary supplement program for county court at law judges funded by collection of additional fees and court costs, county may not discontinue participation in during middle of program year

Officers and equipment allotted to his office, sheriff has discretion to deploy|Vehicles and equipment for sheriff's office, commissioners court rather than sheriff has discretion to set specifications for|Sheriff's office, court may in the exercise of its discretion allot less money for particular function that sheriff desires so long as it does not prevent sheriff from carrying out duties|Vehicle policy requiring county officer to relinquish control of vehicles in use when taking possession of replacement vehicles is reasonable implementation of county's budgetary authority|Sheriff's office, commissioners court may not micro-manage deployment of resources and personnel of

State supplemental salary compensation for county attorney, whether county may pay employer's share of employment taxes, such as contributions for social security coverage, from state-provided funds

National forest revenues, allocation to school districts in county

Salary increases for elected officers, special statutory notice must apprise public of maximum potential salary increases|Salary increases for elected officers, notice that is materially misleading concerning rates of proposed increases is not in substantial compliance with special statutory notice provision as a matter of law

Storage and disposal fees for controlled substances paid as condition of community supervision are not analogous to "hot check" fund, and are to be deposited in county depository and budgeted according to ordinary county budgeting process

County responsible for paying mental health services proceeding costs under section 571.018 of the Health and Safety Code|Mental health services proceeding costs, county responsible for paying those costs under section 571.018 of the Health and Safety Code

County auditor and assistant county auditors, district judges may increase salaries of even though county budget year has already begun|Salaries, district judges may increase salaries of county auditor and assistant county auditors even though county budget year has already begun

Mental-health proceeding involving patient receiving treatment in regional facility where proceedings originated in another county, allocation of costs and jurisdiction|Prosecutor's fee for which county may charge responsible county in mental-health proceeding under section 571.018(c) of Health and Safety Code encompasses costs of preparing documents; county may not bill separate, additional "document preparation" fee|Prosecutor's fee charged to county responsible for costs of mental-health proceeding, county in which mental-health hospital is located may not charge "document preparation fee" in addition to|Jurisdiction of mental-health proceeding involving patient receiving treatment in one county when detention or application proceedings originated in another county|Mental-health proceeding concerning patient in mental-health hospital in one county when another county is responsible for proceeding costs, responsible county may not be billed for document preparation fee in addition to prosecutor's fee|Attorney's fee|Prosecutor's fee

State funds allocated for expenses of county prosecutor's office are budgeted by commissioners court|County prosecutor, state funds allocated for expenses of office are budgeted by commissioners court

Ratify payment made by county treasurer, commissioners court may if payment otherwise lawful when made|Unconstitutional retroactive compensation for services performed and impermissible private use of public funds, county treasurer's payment of employees' accrued vacation or compensatory time when the county did not have a policy providing for such payment|Accrued vacation and compensatory time, sheriff's deputies may not receive payment for time that accrued when county did not provide for such payment

Sick-leave pool, county commissioners court may adopt rules specifying how transfer of value of sick leave from contributing employee to and from pool to withdrawing employee affects departmental budgets|Sick-leave pool, employee may contribute unvested sick-leave time|Sick-leave pool, value of sick-leave time is transferred with sick leave to and from

Reimbursement for use of personal vehicle to conduct official duties, commissioners court may authorize commissioner to receive

Immunity, in event suit is brought as a result of a justice court ordering a child detained for contempt without authority to do so, county could invoke immunity with respect to state claims but could be subject to suit under federal claims|Hearing for child referred to juvenile court for contempt, hearing must be conducted as that for a child who has engaged in delinquent conduct|Contempt, justice court may not order child to be confined for a term of detention for|Non-secure detention facilities, neither status offender nor nonoffenders may be detained in

Juvenile justice alternative education program, county has no authority to negotiate discretionary expulsions that will be subject to placement in|Juvenile justice alternative education program, county's limited funding and supervision of juvenile board may have corresponding obligations with respect to|Juvenile justice alternative education program, county's authority to fund|Juvenile justice alternative education program, county's, school district's, and juvenile board's authority vis-a-vis|Juvenile justice alternative education program, school district not required to fund construction or facility for|Juvenile justice alternative education program, school district's authority to determine discretionary expulsions that will be subject to placement in

Salary grievance hearing, elected officer is entitled to have five days after actually receiving written notice of approved salary and personal expenses|Notice of approved salary and personal expenses, county commissioners court is not precluded from faxing to elected officers as a matter of law|Faxing written notice of approved salary and personal expenses to elected officer, commissioners court is not precluded as matter of law from|Fax|Written

Multi-county administrative judicial region's "salaries, compensation, and expenses," commissioners court must pay county's pro rata share and has no authority to reduce county's share or to alter the administrative judicial region's budget

County court judges' salaries, county that begins collecting fees and costs under section 51.702(i) of the Government Code after July 1 need not increase on September 1 under section 25.0005(a) of the Government Code|Salaries in counties that collect fees and costs under section 51.702 of the Government Code and that does not comply with section 25.0005(e) of the Government Code must be "set" at increased level under section 25.0005(a)|Salaries for statutory county court judges, county that collects fees and costs under section 51.702 of the Government Code and that does not comply with section 25.0005(e) of the Government Code must "set" at increased level under section 25.0005(a)|Set

Salaries of county court at law judges may be increased by budget amendment

Child support office, authority of Orange County Commissioners Court to set and approve salaries of employees of|Child support office, juvenile board in Orange County is authorized by statute to set salaries of employees of

Donation of money, property, or services to chamber of commerce or similar private corporation that conducts local festivals, county may not make

Salary increases for selected employees, whether commissioners court may grant without amending county budget

With respect to specified programs authorized by section 381.004 of the Local Government Code for stimulating business and commercial activity in a county, the limitations on tax abatement agreements stated in subsection 381.004(g) do not apply to loans and grants made pursuant to subsection 381.004(h).

Loan and grants authorized by subsection 381.004(h) must comply with sections 52(a) and 52-a of article III of the Texas Constitution. Section 7 of article XI of the Texas Constitution may also impact how such loans and grants are structured, depending on the circumstances.

Subject to these constitutional limitations, subsection 381.004(h) leaves the duration and amount of economic development loans and grants to the commissioners court's budgetary discretion in the first instance.

Under article 102.0121 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
the commissioners court, not the prosecuting attorney, ultimately
determines the authorized uses of the county pretrial intervention
program fund. The statute authorizes the commissioners court to
use the pretrial intervention fund for an employee's salary, salary
supplement, or a benefit only to the extent the use of the fund is
solely for the administration of the program.

Government Code section 25.2702 authorizes the Nolan County Commissioners Court to set the salaries of the official court reporter and the court administrator for the 1st Multicounty Court at Law.

Government Code section 74.104 authorizes district judges to determine reasonable compensation of court coordinators, subject to approval by the commissioners courts; neither the judges nor commissioners courts have unilateral authority to set such compensation; a commissioners court may set the salaries of assistant court coordinators under Local Government Code section 152.011.

County judge’s brother’s candidacy for sheriff does not violate nepotism or conflict-of-interest statutes in described circumstances

Constitutionality of paying a one-time bonus to administrative staff of county’s justices of the peace

Section 263.152 of the Local Government Code authorizes a county to periodically sell the county’s surplus or salvage property by competitive bid or auction.  “Salvage property” is personal property, other than items routinely discarded as waste, that because of use, time, accident, or any other cause is so worn, damaged, or obsolete that it has no value for the purpose for which it was originally intended.  When a county attempts to sell salvage property by competitive bidding or auction but receives no bids, the county may dispose of the property through a recycling program under which the property is collected, separated, or processed and returned to use in the form of raw materials in the production of new products.

A commissioners court possesses implied authority to utilize recycling programs for the disposition of routinely discarded county waste, subject to other applicable law.  Whether culverts the county removes from real property are “routinely discarded as waste” presents fact questions for the commissioners court to determine and cannot be resolved in an attorney general opinion.

Authority to determine software systems for county departments.

The mental states of reckless, knowing, or intentional suffice for the prosecution of the criminal offense in Local Government Code section 111.012

A court would likely conclude that: (1) the acquisition of a vehicle dedicated to transporting inmates to and from medical and mental health appointments is a permissible use of commissary funds under Local Government Code subsection 351.0415(c)(5); and (2) a sheriff has authority to expend commissary funds without first seeking the approval of the commissioners court. Whether a commissioners court may use money from the general fund to pay insurance and maintenance costs on a vehicle depends on whether the expenditure is provided in the budget. Local Government Code subsection 263.152(a)(1) applies to county-owned property.

Addressing the appointment of a court coordinator and support staff in a multi-county judicial district.

Considering a single county commissioner’s authority to maintain an outfall ditch with his or her precinct and whether the expenditure of public funds to maintain the ditch lying on private property complies with Texas Constitution article III, subsection 52(a).