Cannot find a black and white answer to this question....any of you civil gurus have any ideas?
County auditor has set an arbitrary deadline each year of Dec. 15th for all departments to submit bills for payments for that budget year, even though there is still half a month remaining...
Addtionally, some of the bills submitted and approved for payment by the commisioners court in the current budget year are not paid until the next year, out of the following year's budget(2007), despite being budgeted,incurred and approved for payment in 2006.
The commissioners are asking what authority the auditor has to circumvent their budgeting process by paying bills in the next year's budget.
Lastly, the auditor has forms for requesting line-item transfers and budget amendments which require the signature of the elected official or departmant head( which I believe he has the authority to do). Except when they are not immediatley available, then he signs his own name to the requests and approves it, sometimes without elected official knowledge.
I know this sounds picky, hence the fact that it is county politics.....but any help or insight would be appreciated.

Is that the sweet sound of separation of powers issues I hear wafting from Scurry County? While it doesn't directly address your precise issues, you probably should review Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. GA-0154 (2004). It confirms that because the county budget is organically an order of the commissioners court, and no statute provides otherwise, that the commissioners court cannot delegate its authority to amend the budget. That means the auditor can't do it. While the auditor has statutory authority to prescribe the county's accounting procedures, that authority doesn't extend as far as dictating budgeting procedures. Once the auditor has approved a claim for payment, his/her authority in the matter has ended. It then goes to the commissioners court for approval and the treasurer for issuance of a check, all of which is spelled out in chapters 111 and 113 of Local Government Code. Aside from the concept that counties and their offices have only the powers given to them by statute or constitution, there's also the precept that each elected officer occupies a sphere of authority (as delegated to him/her by statute or constitutional provision) that cannot be usurped by another elected officer. Renken v. Harris County, 808 S.W.2d 222, 226 (Tex. App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, no writ). Since the Local Government Code assigns budgeting authority to the commissioners court as a body, as well as authority to amend the budget, the commissioners court must at least sign off on a procedure that substantively amends the budget (by paying current claims out of next year's budget -- and isn't that an art. 11, sec. 7 paradox in itself?). That probably doesn't answer your question, does it?

Ah the eloquence with which you speak......!
Thanks for the response Scott. I agree with you from a theoretical standpoint....the practical question is giving me fits....
He has done this 2 years in a row and been "reprimanded" each time but continues. I have suggested the offended commissioner talk with the appointing judge to complain, but wanted to make sure the auditor was not somehow exercising some authority I had missed. You are correct in stating that the commissioners and other departments will have to amend their budget each year to offset the late payments taked from the the prior budget year....and while we aren't talking significant sums....it still should not be his decision.
So assume he is "slow" to act at the end of each budget year and the claims don't get his approval and checks cut until they are dated the next year...any suggestions? refuse to pay them and order the checks be issued with last years date? Order they be included in the prior year budget? And how does that affect the auditors rights to set up an accounting proceedure?
I guess you were correct in your inital assessment....TURF WARS!!!!

You may want to verify that payment for 2006 is coming from 2007. The auditor may be using cash carry forward and taking what is left from 2006 to pay in 2007. It might not be a budget amendment at all. There are other tricks to this process. I would not suggest that the commissioner is not completely in touch with precisely what the Auditor is doing but the fact that a payment is approved in 2007 does not mean that it came from 2007 budget. Sounds Orwellian, I think I could never be sure.

Your best option probably is political pressure. People tend to listen a bit more intently to those who can cut off their paycheck. On the other hand, it might be appropriate to remind the errant auditor that he, too, is subject to mandamus for refusing to timely approve payments without legal justification. Auditors sometimes lose those fights. See, e.g., Santoya v. Pereda, 75 S.W.3d 487 (Tex. App.--San Antonio 2002, pet. denied). Counties are like dysfunctional families, aren't they?

Thanks guys....
The complaining commissioner was a deputy auditor for 15 or so years prior to accending to her current position, so she has a fairly good grasp of the situation and how the numbers are being manipulated.
Sounds like we need to get specifics and go from there!