(a) The comptroller of public accounts shall apportion and pay to counties in which county officers are compensated on a salary basis the money the legislature appropriates for the year for that purpose.
(b) The comptroller shall apportion the money on the basis of population. The annual apportionment may not exceed 14 cents a person, except that in a county that had a population of less than 60,000 according to the 1930 federal census and in which the ad valorem valuation for all purposes according to the most recently approved tax roll exceeds the valuation for 1930 by 50 percent or more, the annual apportionment may not exceed 25 cents a person.
(c) The comptroller shall make the payment each year in four installments on the first day of January, April, July, and October. However, if a commissioners court orders that county officers who were previously compensated by fees are to be compensated by salary, the comptroller shall pay the first installment to that county within 15 days after the date the comptroller receives notice of the commissioners court's order.
(d) The comptroller shall mail or electronically transmit a warrant for the payment to the county treasurer. The warrant must be:
(1) drawn on the state treasury;
(2) payable to the county treasurer; and
(3) registered by the comptroller.
(e) The payment shall be deposited in the salary fund of the county. If a county has more than one salary fund, the commissioners court shall apportion the payment among the salary funds.