KP-0493

Summary

Local Government Code section 351.0415 authorizes the sheriff or the sheriff’s designee to use commissary proceeds only for the enumerated statutory purposes. To the extent the county commissioners’ court would be using the commissary proceeds for the salary of a particular county employee who will staff a county jail operated by a private vendor, such an expenditure would not be permissible under section 351.0415. Assuming the sheriff or sheriff’s designee would use the commissary proceeds, the question of whether those proceeds may be used for the salary of that particular county employee pursuant to the enumerated statutory purposes detailed in subsections 351.0415(c)(1) and (c)(5) requires the resolution of fact questions that are beyond the scope of this opinion.