The new Jackson County counselor, W. Stephen Nixon, has ruled that the Guadalupe Center can no longer receive county funding.

That could be a nearly $200,000 hit to the well-known West Side social services agency.

Nixon ruled that the county can no longer contract to fund Guadalupe Center as long as Theresa Garza Ruiz remains on the Jackson County Legislature. Her husband, Genaro Ruiz, recently took the position of associate director of operations at Guadalupe.

As a result, the Legislature on Monday amended the county’s 2011 budget proposal, excising about $50,000 in county funding designated for Guadalupe Center. The Legislature has yet to act on the final budget.

But in 2010, Guadalupe Center received $191,292 in county funds, a large part of it from county COMBAT funds not yet designated. If that money is withheld, the total loss could approach $200,000.

Garza Ruiz said she only learned of the counselor’s ruling Monday and was surprised. She said she initiated the opinion by asking last week if she should abstain from votes related to the Guadalupe Center, given her husband’s new position.

She was uncertain yet what she or her husband might do in response, but they were considering options.

Officials at the Guadalupe Center could not be reached for comment.

“This opens up all kinds of questions,” Garza Ruiz added.

She cited the possibilities of other legislators sitting on boards that receive county funding or attorneys on the Legislature practicing in Circuit Court, which the Legislature funds.

The Legislature approved a new ethics code in 2008, but it’s been seldom cited or discussed since.

“This is the first time that a serious question of governmental ethics has arisen since the adoption of the county’s new ethics code two years ago,” Nixon said in a written statement issued Monday with his opinion. “We wanted to provide clear guidance that all legislators and other public officials can reference because this and similar issues could rise again.”

Nixon took his new post just this year, retiring as a Jackson County circuit judge.

Garza Ruiz said she couldn’t help but wonder if the ruling wasn’t politically motivated.

“But is there proof of that? No,” she said. “We’ll see.”