Current budget has a line item under office supplies category. Official wants to create a new line item under salary category and transfer money from existing line item to the new one.

There would be no change from the previously budgeted expenses in the current budget, just a shift in items.

Amendment or line-item transfer? The reason I am asking is because this situation does not involve any sort of emergency or unforeseen need.

It depends largely on how specific the budget is with regard to its line items. If the proposed transfer is simply from "office supplies" to an existing item titled "salaries," it probably isn't that big a deal. Unless the amended salary would be for an elected official, in which case it would be improper except at budget time (at least, as far as the AG sees it). On the other hand, creation of a new line item is more likely to require an underlying emergency to justify it. Either way, that determination initially is a discretionary one for the commissioners court to make. Whether the official is willing to go to the commissioners court to seek a blessing on the transfer is a question you probably know the answer to better than I.