Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-227 Page: 3 of 6
This text is part of the collection entitled: Texas Attorney General Opinions and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
The Honorable Michael G. Mask - Page 3
who is responsible for the prosecution ofjuvenile justice cases under
Title 3, Family Code.
Id. 46.0031. In addition, House Bill 804 amended section 46.006 to provide:
(a) It is the purpose of this chapter to increase the effectiveness
of law enforcement in this state and to increase the funds available for
use in prosecution at both the felony and misdemeanor levels.
(b) The commissioners court in each county that has a prosecutor
subject to this chapter may not reduce the county funds provided for
the salary or office of the prosecutor as a result of the funds provided
by this chapter.
Id. 46.006.
Section 46.0031 does not expressly address whether the county must pay the employer's
share of employment taxes on this "supplemental salary compensation" from county funds or
whether it may use the state-provided funds to pay the taxes. Furthermore, the section 46.006(b)
limitation on reducing county funding for the salary or office of the county attorney falls short of a
mandate that the county increase such funding. It does not resolve whether the state-provided funds
may be used to pay the employer's share of employment taxes on the state supplement or whether
county funds must be used for this purpose.
Texas courts do not appear to have addressed the issue of whether a state-provided
supplement of this kind may be used to pay the employer's share of employment taxes. Although
this office has addressed whether employer FICA contributions are included in an officer's salary
on several occasions, in each case a statute specifically resolved the issue. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op.
No. JM-322 (1985) (because former article 695h of the Revised Civil Statutes specifically excluded
state-paid FICA contributions from the salary of a district judge, the FICA contributions were not
to be used in calculating district judge's salary as basis for determining salaries of county court
judges); Tex. Att'y Gen. LO-95-074 (whether "total salary" of judge included employer FICA
contributions depended upon wording of statute); LO-93-19 (term "minimum annual salary" ofjudge
in former Government Code section 25.0005 included portion ofjudge's FICA contribution paid by
state or county). Thus, we are not aware of any legal precedent that would provide guidelines
regarding whether state funds appropriated for salary supplements for county officers may be used
for the county's share of employment taxes.
We resolve your question by reference to the general statutory scheme and the legislative
history of section 46.0031. Federal law provides that both the employer and the employee pay a
share of the tax for old-age, survivors, and disability insurance. See 26 U.S.C. 3101 (tax on
employee), 3111 (tax on employer) (1994). Subchapter B of chapter 606 of the Government Code
authorizes political subdivisions in this state to pay the employer's share of taxes in order to obtain(JC-0227)
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This text can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Text.
Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-227, text, June 7, 2000; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274536/m1/3/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.