AUSTIN — Collin County must immediately stop paying the three lawyers prosecuting Ken Paxton's criminal fraud case, a Dallas court has said.

The 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas on Monday temporarily halted the payments — the result of a lawsuit filed against the county and prosecutors by a local taxpayer — and will consider a more permanent block probably within the next few weeks. The court's decision could determine the immediate future of the case against Paxton, the first-term attorney general who faces three felony charges of violating state securities laws.

The Collin County Commissioners Court handles the local budget. Its five Republican members were scheduled to vote Monday on the prosecutors' latest bill, which tops $205,000 for a year's worth of work.

Instead, they delayed the vote and any future payments to the prosecutors until the court weighs in. The prosecutors will not stop working in the meantime, their lawyer David Feldman said.

"My clients are going to rely on the fact that they're going to get paid," said Feldman, who said he was surprised by the court's decision Monday.

Collin County is on the hook to pay for Paxton's prosecution. While a case like this would usually be handled by the local prosecutor, District Attorney Greg Willis recused himself because he is a friend of Paxton's.

Three private criminal defense attorneys from Houston were chosen to continue the case in Willis' stead. They've spent the last year and a half building the case against Paxton in advance of his criminal trial, scheduled to kick off May 1.

Jeffory Blackard, a real estate developer who filed the lawsuit seeking to halt their pay, claims the prosecutors are being paid in excess of a cap the county places on some attorneys' fees. George Gallagher, the Tarrant County judge overseeing the Paxton case, has ordered Collin County to pay the prosecutors, citing an exception that gives him the discretion to break the cap in extraordinary circumstances.

The prosecutors' pay has become a political headache for the Commissioners Court in recent months. While all of its members have expressed concern about the cost, they had until Monday to vote to pay for the lawsuit or risk violating Gallagher's order.

At their meeting Monday, commissioners applauded the court's decision to temporarily halt the payments. They voted to request that the local rules be changed to remove the discretion of judges to break the fee ceiling. If the ceiling were eliminated, outside prosecutors like those pursuing the Paxton case would see their pay capped at $11,000 for all pre-trial work plus a two-week trial.

The prosecutors have submitted bills totaling $510,726 since the case began in 2015. Blackard's suit, which targets the prosecutors and the county, is also being paid for by the taxpayers of Collin County. Costs associated with his suit now top $106,000, bringing the grand total of Paxton-related costs to $617,159, according to the Collin County auditor.