Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-439

Opinion No. 439 County Commissioners-Ail-pol-t. Pur- chase of Land for-Poor-Poor Fund- Transfer of Funds. HELD: Whether or not funds from the Poor Fund of a county ma~' be used to purchase land for an airport within thc county, to be constructed under the C. "T. A., is a question of fact which the county commissioners must deter- mine in the exercise of a wise, sound and honest discretion. If the county commissioners find such expenditure necessary, no transfer of funds is necessary but same ma~' hp spent out of the Poor Fund. February 2, 1934. You have inquired whether Sander;; County may transfer funds from the poor fund to purchase land upon which an airport may be built at Plains ill the said county to meet the require- ments of the Civil Works Administra- tion, where the latter is prepared tt: spend not less than $5,000 nor more than $15,000 on the construction of such airport, such sum being several times the amount required for purchase of the land. You say it is impossible to lease the land required and that a pur· chase is necessary to meet the require- ments of the Civil Works Administra· tion. No exact method of providing for the care and maintenance of the dependent poor of the county is prescribed by statute. N"ot enough facts are given to ena ble me to determine whether the method suggested is reasonably suit- able or necessary to accomplish this purpose. Will the expenditure of this money for land for an airport result in the employment of the dependent poor. and, if so, to what extent? What would be the comparati,e result if an amount of money equal to the cost of the land were spent in gh'ing employ- ment in other ways or in furnishing supplies for the dependent poor? If the money spent for such land would result in giving equal or grea ter em- ployment or in providing an equal amount or more care and maintenance of the dependent poor than could be accomplished by the spending of the same amount of money in other ways and if the expenditure of such sum is actually necessary in order to properly meet the emergency due to unemploy- ment of the dependent poor then it would seem that the power to make such expenditure may be found in Sec- tion 4465 R. C. M. 1921 as amended by Chapter 100, Laws of HIS1. These are questions of fact, however, which the county commissioners must determine in the exercise of a wise, sound and honest discretion. While the expendi- ture of this money for this purposc and in fhis manner is ullusual. I mil unable to say from the facts before me that the purchase of said land under the circumstances is not legitimately incidental to or necessary for the relief of the poor. The money spent by the Civil Works Administration is for the purpose of providing relief to the unemployed poor in a national emergency. In a local emergency or in a time of extreme need, a liberal construction, in my opinion, should be given to the statute so that the commissioners may not only cooperate with the Civil Works Admin- istration but also discharge their duty of providing such care and maintenance of the dependent poor in order that they will not suffer for want of the OPI:\'IO:-IS OF THE ATTOR:\,EY GE:-IERAL 305 necessaries of life. If this can be done hy providing work and labor for them anll at the same time furnishing an air- port whiCh will be an asset to the com- llIunity. certainly it would be more de- sirahle than merely giving alms. I de- sire to call attention to the following opinions rendered by this office: No. 378 dated October 31, 1933, No. 423 dated .Tanuary 23, 11)34, this volume. Since the emergency consists of gi\'- ing relief to the poor ralher than in furnishing air transportation, it is my opinion that if the COlllmissioners find the expenditure of this money is nec- essary, no tran"fer of funds is neces- sary but that the same lllny be spent ont of the poor fund.