Commissioners Court had their second public meeting today, before passage of the budget, and it appears the budget will not pass. Chaper 111 of Gov't Code states Commissioners Court has to pass someting before they set the tax rate, i.e. have to take some affrimative action before tax rate is set. Our fiscal year ends 9/30/09. Auditor has checked with his people and he can't sign checks because there is no money in the budget, as of 10/1/09, to debit against. What functions of county business, if any, go home on 10/1/09 if no budget is in place?

AG op. # WW-1210 (1961) says that time is not of the essence in passing a budget. The San Antonio Court of Appeals basically said the same thing in Gravis, 337 SW2d 306.
Loc. Govt. Code sec 111.012 creates what amounts to a class A misdemeanor for refusing to comply with subchapter A of ch. 111 in couties that size, but that would only apply, in my opinion, to a very egregious, fact-specific situation where the refusal was for some arbitrary or capricious reason. Hope that's not your situation. Nevertheless, it will be a headache for your auditor and treasurer. It may even affect some of your grants which require matching funds. Good luck.

I guess you need to start with the proposition that those who have failed don't get paid.