Walmart wants to make a donation to our Sheriff�s Office in the amount of $750.00. The Sheriff wants to spend this money on equipment that is not budgeted. Can this donation be made directly to the Sheriff�s Office for the Sheriff to buy the equipment or does it have to placed in the general fund and the Sheriff ask for a line item transfer for the equipment?

Best I can tell, there is no law against accepting donations, as long as there is no quid pro quo.......

Sheriff can't buy equipment for the county. About all he can do is extract a public promise from the Commissioners that the donation will be spent in accordance with the wishes of the donating party.

Why don't you have Walmart buy the item and donate it to the sheriff

We must recall that counties have only the authority delegated to them by statute or constitution. As to counties, then, authority is a question of what is expressly spelled out (including powers necessary to carry out the express authority), not one of being implied from an absence of prohibition. And that brings us to section 81.032 of the Local Government Code. It is the commissioners court that is authorized to accept donations on behalf of a county "for the purpose of performing a function conferred by law on the county or a county officer."