Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0360 Page: 1 of 11
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
September 30, 2005
The Honorable Mark E. Price Opinion No. GA-0360
San Jacinto County Criminal District Attorney
1 State Highway 150, Room 21 Re: Whether the San Jacinto County Auditor
Coldspring, Texas 77331 may serve as the accountant for the San
Jacinto County Emergency Services District
(RQ-0329-GA)
Dear Mr. Price:
You ask whether the San Jacinto County Auditor may serve as the accountant for the San
Jacinto County Emergency Services District (the "ESD"). In particular, you raise the Texas
Constitution's bar against dual office holding, article XVI, section 40; the common-law doctrine of
incompatibility; and two statutes, Local Government Code chapter 171, relating to local public
officials' conflicts of interest, and Local Government Code section 84.007, requiring the county
auditor to take an oath that he will not be personally interested in a contract with the county.'
I. Background
Your query arises because the San Jacinto County Auditor may be hired by the ESD as its
accountant. You are concerned that the county auditor as accountant for the ESD may audit his own
books. You state that it "is a serious problem [that] the Auditor would be auditing the books he
himself prepared. This negates the purpose of a second independent audit and could be construed
as an appearance of impropriety." Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2.
A county auditor is appointed to a two-year term by the district judges with jurisdiction in
the county. See TEX. Loc. GOV'T CODE ANN. 84.002-.004 (Vernon 1999 & Supp. 2004-05); see
also id. 152.031 (Vernon 1999) (district judges determine the county auditor's compensation,
travel expenses, and other allowances). A county auditor's main duties under the Local Government
Code include keeping and examining county financial records, see, e.g., id. 112.007, 114.024,
115.001, and verifying that county expenditures are authorized, see, e.g., id. 113.043, .064. The
'See Letter from Honorable Mark E. Price, San Jacinto County Criminal District Attorney, to Honorable Greg
Abbott, Texas Attorney General (Mar. 18, 2005) [hereinafter Request Letter]; Letter from Honorable Mark E. Price, San
Jacinto County Criminal District Attorney, to Nancy S. Fuller, Chair, Opinion Committee, Office of Attorney General
(Apr. 27, 2005) [hereinafter Supplemental Letter] (letters on file with Opinion Committee, also available at
http://www.oag.state.tx.us).I _
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0360, text, September 30, 2005; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275256/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.