County Focus Series
Years ago, County Progress published a special series of articles to help acclimate new officials to Commissioners Court: County Focus. This set of descriptive writings authored by experts in the field covers the varied offices and departments that make up county government. What are the responsibilities of the Commissioners Court? How about the county treasurer? Who is in charge of emergency management? What job functions are assigned to the county clerk? We’ve got the answers in this comprehensive set of articles.
In our latest readership survey we were asked to publish this series once again. We updated each article as necessary and launched County Focus in March with the County Judge and the County Commissioner. April included the justice of the peace and the county court at law, and May featured the tax assessor-collector. This month, we cover the county treasurer and the auditor. Our July issue will address the county road administrator and the county engineer.
County Treasurer
The county treasurer occupies an important role in the fiscal operations of almost every county in Texas. As the county’s banker, the treasurer is the chief custodian of all county finances.
All funds belonging to the county received by any county official must be turned over to the county treasurer daily, although counties under 50,000 in population may relax this requirement up to 15 days. Certain funds, such as child support payments or money in the registry of a court, are handled according to specific court orders. All other fines, forfeitures and related fees are to be paid over to the county treasurer. Any monies owed to the county not collected by the other county officials may also be paid to the county treasurer.
The county treasurer is required to keep all county funds in the county depository. Most counties maintain funds in a local bank, and the county treasurer acts as the chief liaison between the county and all depository banks. In this capacity, the treasurer maintains records of all deposits and withdrawals, and reconciles all bank statements, thus assuring their accuracy and the safety of all county funds.
Some duties fall to the county treasurer regarding the registration and custody of the proceeds of certain bonds issued by the county. The treasurer serves as the financial manager and coordinator of all revenue bonds and funds, including initial issuance, establishment of accounts, acceptance of original funds and payment of accounts. An account of the principal and interest paid on courthouse, jail, road, and related improvement bonds must also be maintained by the treasurer. The treasurer also serves as custodian of the sheriff’s bail bond collateral.
Many county treasurers are also the county’s investment officer. The county treasurer may, at the instruction of the Commissioners Court, withdraw county funds and invest in and purchase federal securities. These funds are invested in accordance with the direction of the Commissioners Court’s required Investment Policy and Investment Strategy for the county, provisions of the depository contract, and the provisions of law. Should revenue be realized by prudent management of investment funds, it is the county treasurer’s responsibility to keep and account for those funds.
It is the responsibility of the county treasurer to disburse all money belonging to the county. After expenditures have been approved by the Commissioners Court, the treasurer processes payments. Jury checks are prepared by order of the court’s judge and are signed by the county treasurer. The county treasurer is the proper official authorized to make delivery of all county checks to the payee.
The county treasurer has the authority to take back to Commissioners Court any bill that has been previously approved if the treasurer doubts the legality of the disbursement. The Court must take the treasurer’s reasons into consideration and may either order the disbursement processed or cancel it. The treasurer also has the authority to determine when revenue reports are due in the treasurer’s office. In addition, the treasurer can reconcile another official’s bank account if both officials agree. The treasurer also reconciles an official’s bank account if the official is incapable of doing so, as deemed by the auditor.
In most counties, the treasurer is charged with payroll responsibility. The treasurer may also serve as facilitator for social security, county retirement, group health insurance, credit union, deferred compensation, and savings bonds deductions for county employees.
Regular reports on county finances are submitted by the treasurer to the members of Commissioners Court to inspect and verify. The county treasurer performs no direct role in determining the fiscal policy of a county; this is set by the Commissioners Court. However, the county treasurer may aid the court in determining its fiscal decisions.
The office of county treasurer can have many miscellaneous duties. If a county does not have an auditor, the county treasurer is vested with the responsibility of examining the accounts, dockets and records of the sheriff, justices of the peace, constables, tax assessor-collector and clerks’ offices. The county treasurer may be permitted or required at times to act as the treasurer for other districts or local governmental entities. Some examples include navigation districts, drainage districts, levee improvement districts or hospital districts.
As the fiscal officer for Texas counties, the county treasurer plays a key role in successful management of county government.
– By Richard O. Avery, Ph.D., County Relations Officer, Texas Association of Counties
Former Director, V.G. Young Institute of County Government, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, The Texas A&M University System
County Auditor
Prior to the late 19th century, the prevailing legal opinion of the day was that judicial courts had no power to review political acts, making the determinations of the Commissioners Court absolute and final except in cases where the result was clearly outside of the jurisdiction of the Commissioners Court, or a clearly capricious act, and therefore void. However, an amendment to the Constitution of 1876 granted supervisory powers to the district court to review acts of the Commissioners Court.
The county auditor was introduced into the district court supervisory role in 1905. Created by statute rather than constitutional amendment, the county auditor emerged 14 years after the grant of supervisory jurisdiction to the district courts, and thus appears to be a legislative act by those responsible for creating the office of county auditor intended as an adjunct to the district court’s exercise of supervisory jurisdiction over the Commissioners Court. Initially, the County Judge and district judges having jurisdiction in the county appointed the auditor jointly. The Legislature subsequently amended the statute to provide for the appointment of the county auditor by only the district judges.
The powers and responsibilities of the county auditor reach into every corner of the courthouse, including district officers, and virtually every other officer, including the Commissioners Court.
The county auditor has financial oversight for all county offices and officers, and may prescribe the accounting procedures for all county officers, including the district clerk and district attorney.
The county auditor may disapprove the payment of claims against the county, and the County Commissioners Court may not pay a claim without auditor approval. The auditor must countersign all checks, other than checks to jurors.
Unlike the County Judge or the Commissioners Court, the county auditor may request an attorney general’s opinion and utilize that opinion to encourage other county officials to comply with the determinations of the attorney general.
Another critical area, which sets the auditor apart from the elected officials, is the following: The County Commissioners Court has little authority over the budget of the county auditor. In a 1979 court case the court held that only if the county auditor’s budget request was found to be clearly unreasonable could the Commissioners Court deny the request, again subject to review by the district judges. This case treats the county auditor in an entirely different manner than any other county officer making a budget request. In regard to all other county officers, the budget authority of the Commissioners Court is paramount, absent an abuse of discretion by the Commissioners Court in denying a requested budget.
In view of these powers and responsibilities, and most notably the oversight authority granted the county auditor, it is not surprising that numerous situations of ill will toward the county auditor have surfaced over the years and will likely continue into the future. It is also not surprising that quite often the auditor finds that he or she is not the most popular official in the courthouse. A quote by a district judge from a newspaper article summarized this point well: “Being a county auditor is a thankless position, because the very nature of the job makes it, in some ways, antagonistic to what department heads want to do.” Another quote from the same newspaper article by a 12-year County Commissioner stated, “When there is no controversy, it means everything is being rubber-stamped. But when there is (controversy), it means…department heads don’t agree with the auditor and all that…because he or she is doing a good job. And he or she is not rubber-stamping everything that they request.”
In addition to the numerous responsibilities sighted above, the Local Government Code dictates: “The county auditor shall see to the strict enforcement of the law governing county finances.”
Auditors find themselves in a very unpopular situation when they are forced to “step up” and make the difficult call that a given action is not in compliance with the law. With these responsibilities and oversight authority vested in the auditor mixed with the highly charged political environment of counties, it is no wonder that the job of a Texas county auditor may be one of the most difficult positions in the state.
SO, HOW DOES A TEXAS COUNTY AUDITOR FUNCTION IN AN EFFECTIVE MANNER IN THIS ENVIRONMENT? IT’S POSSIBLE BECAUSE “SOMEONE KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING!”
If the statutes had not been adopted to allow for the level of independence the auditor has today, the auditor would not be able to carry out these duties and responsibilities in a proper manner. The underlying concept present in the minds of those who framed the original legislation that created the auditor’s office was that the county auditor is not appointed by or responsible to any elected officer or elected body charged with administration and policy determination for the county. Instead, the selection of the auditor is vested upon the district judge(s) whose district(s) include the county. District judges are not primarily chosen with a view to their interest in, their knowledge of, or their policies toward local government. There can be no doubt that the method of creating, determining and controlling the salary of the county auditor is a creature of the Texas Legislature, who in turn delegated those powers to the judiciary.
The Texas Association of County Auditors encourages all state representatives, senators, and county officials to take the time to understand the difficult but critical role county auditors play in this state. Although no one enjoys oversight and on occasion questioning of their actions/decisions, in today’s environment the county auditor may be the best friend and safety net the county has.
The Texas Association of County Auditors believes that the taxpayers of every county in this state deserve to have a qualified and independent county auditor. We live in a society that is becoming more dependent on technology by the day, and taxpayers expect fiscal accountability from their state and local government. Texas counties can ill afford to unnecessarily expose their officials and these taxpayers to inadequate fiscal accountability. There are those who will argue that other county officials may assume the duties of the county auditor in a county with no auditor; however, the statutes establishing the county auditor set forth specific qualifications for this office, and there is no other office in the county that possesses the level of independence to properly execute and enforce the duties and responsibilities of a Texas county auditor.
– By Tommy J. Tompkins, former Bexar County Auditor