BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center                                                                                                      S.B. 1630

                                                                                                                                   By: Wentworth

                                                                                                               Intergovernmental Relations

                                                                                                                                            5/28/2007

                                                                                                                                              Enrolled

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Currently, the county auditor's salary is prohibited from exceeding the amount of the compensation and allowances of the highest paid elected county officer whose salary is set by the commissioners court of the county.  A county auditor is a county official appointed to a two-year term of office by the state district judges in that county.  Qualified county auditors are leaving their county jobs to find other work because the salaries offered to them are not competitive with those offered in the private sector.

 

S.B. 1630 authorizes Comal County, and certain other counties based on population, to retain a qualified county auditor by offering a greater salary.  This bill authorizes that salary to exceed the amount of compensation and allowances received by the highest paid elected county officer.  This bill also provides that the authority to increase the county auditor's salary rests with the commissioners court of the county.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 152.032(d), Local Government Code, as follows:

 

(d)  Provides that this subsection applies only to a county with a population of 500,000 or more, excluding a county subject to Subsection (b), and to a county that borders a county subject to Subsection (b) that has a population greater than 50,000 and less than 85,000.  Authorizes the amount of the compensation and allowances of a county auditor in a county subject to this subsection to be set in an amount that exceeds the limit established in Subsection (a) (prohibiting the amount of the compensation and allowances of a county auditor from exceeding the amount of the compensation and allowances received from all sources by the highest paid elected county officer, other than a judge of a statutory county court, whose salary and allowances are set by the commissioners court) if the compensation and allowances are approved by the commissioners court of the county.

 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: upon passage of September 1, 2007.