Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-195 Page: 4 of 13
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The Honorable Tim Curry - Page 4
defendant when no case is filed against that defendant. Accordingly, the sheriff is not required to
forward the funds to the county clerk or district clerk for deposit in the county's trust depository.
You next ask whether the sheriff is authorized to maintain the funds in a separate interest
bearing account at the county depository. See Request Letter at 3. We conclude in the affirmative.
Chapter 117 of the Local Government Code provides for a county trust depository where
court registry trust funds must be deposited. Chapter 116 of the Local Government Code, on the
other hand, provides for a general county depository where county funds and funds under the control
of county officials must ordinarily be deposited. See TEX. Loc. Gov'T CODE ANN. 116.002
(Vernon 1999); Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. H-1185 (1978); 35 DAVID B. BROOKS, TEXAS PRACTICE:
COUNTY AND SPECIAL DISTRICT LAW 14.5 (1989). The county depository is a bank selected and
designated as such under chapter 116. See TEX. Loc. Gov'T CODE ANN. 116.021 (Vernon 1999).
Chapter 116 of the Local Government Code generally requires the commissioners court of a county
to contract with one or more banks in the county for the deposit of the county's public funds selected
in accordance with the specified procedures. See id. 116.021-.027. Funds deposited with the
bank selected are secured by the bank's pledge of a personal bond, surety bond, securities,
mortgages, real property, or a combination of the enumerated items. See id. 116.051. The county
treasury is an account or fund in which generally county funds must be deposited and maintained
at the county depository bank. See generally id. 113.001-.024 (Vernon 1999 & Supp. 2000).
Your request letter indicates that the Trust Account is maintained at the county depository. We
believe the sheriff may maintain the Trust Account as a separate interest bearing account managed
by the sheriff for the following reasons.
First, the sheriff is impliedly authorized to hold and manage the cash bail bonds when they
cannot be deposited with a court. As previously discussed, a sheriff is expressly authorized to accept
and "receipt for" cash bail bonds. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. arts. 17.02, .05, .20, .21 .22
(Vernon 1977); Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. C-740 (1966) at 4. Additionally, a sheriff is required to
keep an account of bail transactions. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 17.39 (Vernon Supp.
2000); Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JM-856 (1988) at 3. Moreover, based on these duties, a sheriff in
turn is liable for cash shortages in the cash bail bonds accepted or collected. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op.
Nos. JM-856 (1988) at 4-5, H-751(1975) at 1-2. These statutory duties with respect to cash bail
bonds necessarily require a sheriff to hold and provide for the safekeeping of the funds before they
are forwarded and deposited with the clerk of the court in which the prosecution is pending in the
usual circumstances. Similarly, we believe they also necessarily obligate the sheriff to hold and
provide for the safekeeping of those funds when there is no court with which the funds may be
deposited because no case is filed.
Second, chapter 116 of the Local Government Code contains no express provision regarding
the deposit of funds in a separate account or an interest bearing account.' In an analogous situation,
'But certainly more than one account may be maintained at the county depository. See, e.g., Tex. Att'y Gen.
(continued...)(JC-0195)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-195, text, March 17, 2000; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274504/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.