In 2017, Attorney General Opinion KP-0160 held that counties with a population of 190,000 or less lacked the necessary statutory authorization to adopt procedures for pre-approval of payroll and office expenses.
SB354 by Sen. Lucio (D-Brownsville) authorizes the disbursement of salaries and routine office expenses in counties under 190,000 population without specific approval by commissioner’s court. The bill allows a county to operate more efficiently and removes the requirement of a commissioners court to approve every salary or payroll expenditure. The bill became effective on May 31, 2019. For more information please feel free to contact Aurora Flores.
Jim Allison, General Counsel to County Judges and Commissioners Association provided the following recommendation for commissioners courts:
To implement these provisions, place an item on the agenda: Consideration of Order for Disbursement of Salaries and Routine Office Expenses. If you do not wish to authorize disbursement of routine office expenses, delete this part of the Order. Click here to see a draft Order for consideration.