My county pays constables $9.00 a month plus lets them keep all the fees they collect for serving papers. Today I ran across Art 16, �61(b), Texas Constitution, which specifically excludes constables from the category of precinct officers who may be compensated on a fee basis.

Is anyone aware of an exception that would legalize local custom?

Do I have a duty to sue the constables for return of all the fees they have pocketed?

You will find no availing exception. The constitution means what it says. See Vondy v. Comm'rs Ct. of Uvalde County, 620 S.W.2d 104, 108-09 (Tex. 1981). At this stage, the best approach probably is to study the amount of salary that will account for the income they've brought in, then review that against salaries paid to other constables with similar workloads. See Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. JM-770 (1987) at 5; Vondy v. Comm'rs Ct. of Uvalde County, 714 S.W.2d 417, 422 (Tex. App.--San Antonio 1986, writ ref'd n.r.e.) ("The Uvalde County Commissioners Court did not set Vondy's salary by evaluating work performed by or required of Vondy, but considered only those factors previously rejected by the Supreme Court in Vondy I."). If you sue to recover the fees, you're likely to face a counterclaim seeking mandamus to set and pay a "reasonable salary." The best course, if possible, probably is to let bygones be bygones and approach the compensation issue proactively. This tension between county finances and the existence of a constitutional office for which the Supreme Court has mandated funding, regardless of the particular office's history, is the basis behind the abolition bills that seem to crop up each legislative session.