Office of the Attorney General, 091517 TXAGO, AGO RQ-179-KP

• Case Date: September 15, 2017
• Court: Texas

Office of the Attorney General AGO RQ-179-KP No. RQ-0179-KP Texas Attorney General Opinions September 15, 2017          Office of the Attorney General          Attention: Opinion Committee          P. O, Box 12548          Austin, TX 78711-2548          In re: Section 25.2702, Texas Government Code, as amended by HB 4281          Dear Sir:          This request is being made by the Office of the County Attorney for Nolan County at the request of the Nolan County Judge and Commissioners Court. The facts and history of the matter are as follows:

1) The Nolan County Court at Law was created in the late 1970s / early 1980s. From a part time criminal court, the jurisdiction was expanded to full time including family law in 1991. The "Multicounty Court At Law" was created by act of legislature in 2013. Nolan County was designated the "Administrative County" for the Court.

2) The statutes concerning the Nolan County Court At Law, where provision was made for a court coordinator, indicated that the "judge of a County Court at Law may appoint a Court Coordinator or Administrative Assistant... The Court Coordinator or Administrative Assistant is entitled to be paid from county funds the compensation, fees and allowances that are set by the Commissioners Court or provided by law," (§ 25.1791, Gov Code (repealed) VACS. Art, 1970-347)

3) Nolan County is part of the 32^nd Judicial District, along with Mitchell County and Fisher County. Section 75.401 of the Government Code provides that the Coordinator or Administrator for the District Court(s) shall be paid by the Commissioners Court of the county/counties served. The wording, including that of HB 4101 from the recent session, seems to indicate that the Commissioners set a "maximum" budgeted amount, from which the Judge, as the supervisor, may determine the appropriate salary. There is not an intergovernmental agreement, formal or otherwise, for the compensation of the Court Coordinator for the 32^nd Judicial District Court. Each of the three counties sets an independent budget for that salary.

This is unlike the procedure set by

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