Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0857 Page: 2 of 7
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Mr. Jeff May - Page 2
(2) require that emergency overtime be reported to the county
auditor and the commissioners court.
Id. 157.021(b).
As the governing body of a county, a commissioners court conducts the business of
the county. TEX. CONST. art V, 18(b); see also Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0214 (2000) at 2.
A commissioners court is expressly authorized to set the compensation for county employees. TEX.
Loc. GOV'T CODE ANN. 152.011 (West 2008). Additionally, a commissioners court is charged
with the legislative power of budget making, which involves the discretionary authority of setting
the budget priorities and allocating county funds to the county's purposes. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op.
No. JC-0214 (2000) at 2.
At the same time, the constitution and statutes delegate to independent, elected officers a
sphere of authority, which "the Commissioners Court may not interfere or usurp." Pritchard &
Abbott v. McKenna, 350 S.W.2d 333, 335 (Tex. 196 1). This sphere of authority has been described
as covering only an elected officer's core duties under the constitution and statutes. See Griffin v.
Birkman, 266 S.W.3d 189, 197 (Tex. App.-Austin 2008, pet. denied) (citing Comm'rs Ct. of Titus
Cnty. v. Agan, 940 S.W.2d 77, 80 (Tex. 1997)). This office has said that within this sphere of
authority is the power to "decide how to use the employees who work in his or her office to
accomplish the officer's constitutional and statutory duties." Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0239
(2000) at 4. This office has also opined that an elected officer may, among other things, "set the
officer's employees' work schedule, and ... assign employees as the officer sees fit to accomplish
the duties of his" or her office. Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. Nos. GA-0661 (2008) at 2; see also JC-0214
(2000) at 5. This office has also opined that an elected officer's sphere of authority encompasses the
power "to dismiss his or her employees for all or part of a day for any reason" and "to authorize
employees to be paid for the time they were unable to work because of an office closure."3 Tex.
Att'y Gen. Op. Nos. JC-0239 (2000) at 7, JC-0131 (1999) at 3; see also Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. Nos.
GA-0778 (2010) at 2, GA-0661 (2008) at 2-3.
An independent, elected officer's sphere of authority with respect to utilizing his or her
employees in a given workweek collides with a commissioners court's authority in section 157.021
over the hours of work of county employees during an established standard workweek. Mindful of
this tension, we consider your specific questions.
I. Authority of a commissioners court to withhold payment of partial salaries and benefits
You first ask whether
3Allowing employees time off must serve a public purpose within Texas Constitution article III, section 52,
which provides that the Legislature shall have no power to authorize any county to grant public funds to any individual.
See TEX. CONST. art. III, 52(a). Whether a particular office closure does so must be determined in the first instance
by the officer, whose decision is subject to judicial review. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. GA-0322 (2005) at 4.(GA-0857)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0857, text, May 5, 2011; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275753/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.