KP-0416

Summary

A county commissioners court generally may not amend its budget to grant a salary increase to the employees in the sheriff’s office in the middle of a budget year in the absence of a finding of an emergency.  But a commissioners court may amend the budget without an emergency to transfer funds from one budget item to another, subject to limitations in other law.

To adopt a midyear budget amendment due to an emergency, the commissioners court must make a finding of fact about the existence of a “grave public necessity to meet an unusual and unforeseen condition that could not have been included in the original budget through the use of reasonably diligent thought and attention.”

Section 111.0106 of the Local Government Code authorizes a commissioners court to adopt a special budget for grant or aid money that is available for disbursement in the fiscal year but was not included in the budget for that fiscal year, for the limited purpose of spending the grant or aid money for its intended purpose.  Whether funds from a particular grant may be used to give a prospective raise to employees of the sheriff’s office will depend on the “intended purpose” of the grant itself, as well as its terms and conditions.