Texas Attorney General Opinion: LO97-090 Page: 5 of 6
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The Honorable Michael J. Guarino - Page 5
upon the terms of the county's existing benefits and personnel policies and the intent of the
commissioners court in adopting the program, information which we do not have before us. In any
event, we normally do not construe the employment policies of local governments, see Letter
Opinion No. 93-107 (1993) at 1, or make factual determinations in the opinion process, see Attorney
General Opinion DM-95 (1992) at 1.
Second, even if the county's voluntary exit incentive program established a personnel policy
or benefit, an "equal" program for the adult probation department would not result in the program
being available to department employees in this case. The voluntary exit incentive program was
adopted to meet a specific goal of the county commissioners court: reducing the county's payroll.
The program was available only to commissioners court employees, whose salaries and budgets were
controlled directly by the commissioners court, and to employees of other departments not similarly
controlled who agreed to reduce their salary budgets in furtherance of the program's goal, a
reasonable distinction in our view. See Attorney General Opinion DM-337 (1995) at 6-7
(concluding that phase out of medical coverage for certain officers would not violate equal protection
guarantees of Texas and federal constitution if phase out had rational basis); Attorney General
Opinion JM-910 (1988) at 8 (holding that benefits offered to county employees and officers may
vary provided differences not so unreasonable as to constitute abuse of discretion). An equal
program for the adult probation department would be one that served the same purpose and was
available to similarly situated employees. You tell us that the Adult Probation Board considered
adopting the program for department employees, but declined to do so, presumably because the
department, whose salaries are paid by the state, did not share the county's goal. We believe that
the department's decision not to extend the program to its employees was within its discretion and
not contrary to the requirements of section 76.006.
For these reasons, we conclude that Government Code section 76.006 does not require the
Galveston County Community Supervision and Corrections Department to establish a voluntary exit
program for its employees equal to the program established by the Galveston County Commissioners
Court for certain county employees.
9(...continued)
not intend to create a retirement benefit or a personnel policy. We note that the commissioners court order adopting
the program states that it "supersedes any conflicting policy contained within the currently existing County Personnel,
Policies and Procedures Manual," apparently amending the personnel manual. Furthermore, we believe a benefit or
personnel policy may be established however short its duration.(L097-090)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: LO97-090, text, October 10, 1997; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth277272/m1/5/?q=%221997~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.