Sec. 115.031. AUDIT BY ACCOUNTANT. (a) If considered by the commissioners court of a county to be justified by an imperative public necessity, the court may employ a disinterested, competent, and expert public accountant to audit all or part of the books, records, or accounts of:

(1) the county;

(2) a district, county, or precinct officer, agent, or employee, including the county auditor;

(3) a governmental unit of the county; or

(4) a hospital, farm, or other county institution maintained at public expense.

(b) The commissioners court may also employ the accountant to deal with any other matter relating to or affecting the fiscal affairs of the county.

(c) The resolution providing for the audit must state the reasons for the audit, such as a determination by the commissioners court:

(1) of official misconduct, intentional omission, or negligence in records or reports;

(2) of a misapplication, conversion, or retention of public funds; or

(3) of a failure to keep accounts, make reports, or account for public funds by any officer, agent, or employee of the district, the county, or a precinct, including the officer, agent, or employee of a depository, hospital, or other public institution maintained for the public benefit at the public expense.

(d) The reason stated in the audit resolution may also be a statement by the commissioners court that it considers the audit necessary for the court to determine and fix the proper appropriation and expenditure of public money or to determine and fix a proper tax levy.

(e) The commissioners court may present the audit resolution in writing at any regular or called session of the commissioners court, but it shall lie over to the next regular term of the court.

(f) The commissioners court shall publish the resolution once in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county. If there is no newspaper of general circulation published in the county, the court shall post notice of the resolution at the courthouse door and two other public places in the county for at least the 10 days preceding the date the resolution is adopted.

(g) To be implemented, the resolution must be adopted by a majority vote of the four county commissioners and must be approved by the county judge at that next regular term of the commissioners court.

(h) A contract entered into by the commissioners court for the audit shall be made in accordance with statutes applicable to the making of contracts by the commissioners court. Payment under the contract may be made from county funds in accordance with those statutes.

(i) In addition to the emergency powers under this section, the commissioners court may provide for an independent audit of the accounts and officials if the court, by an order properly entered at any regular term, determines that the audit would best serve the public interest. A contract for that audit is subject to the requirements of Subsection (h).

(j) The authority given to county auditors under this subtitle, as well as other provisions of statutes relating to district, county, and precinct finances and accounts, is subordinate to the powers of the commissioners court under this section.

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.