Brown County commissioners unanimously approved a new fee on vehicle registrations to benefit a Child Safety Fund at Monday’s meeting of the court.
The fee of $1.50 per vehicle or trailer registered in Brown County will take a period of time to implement, according to County Tax Assessor Collector Cheryl Nelson. She explained that the process will go through the state which will inform the office that prints registration renewal notices.
Brown County Attorney Shane Britton and Lisa Marx of the Heart of Texas Child Advocacy Center brought the issue before the court in order to find additional money for the county to fund child welfare agencies. Their hope is that the “lions share” of this fund will be allocated to the Heart of Texas Child Advocacy Center (HOTCAC), which was recently opened in Brown County. The Child Advocacy Center provides forensic interviews for children in the county that are sexually assaulted and also assists surrounding counties with these services as well.
Previously Brown County child victims of sexual assaults were transported to an advocacy center in Burnet, Texas. According to Marx and Britton, having a local child advocacy center not only saves the county money, but it also helps secure more accurate and detailed testimonies from children who are not experiencing additional stress through the trip to Burnet, and transportation by Brown County Sheriff’s Office Investigators.
Marx and Britton stated that currently, the advocacy center receives $2700 per year from Brown County, some funding from the cities of Brownwood and Early, along with some state and federal grants; however, these funds cover only a portion of their $90,000 budget. The center has been doing fundraisers to help its operating budget.
Commissioner Precinct 2 Joel Kelton stated that he was concerned of increasing taxes to citizens of the county, especially when he was working to raise funds for infrastructure improvement.
“I’m not sure that this is the best avenue. I’ve already said this once, that this is a revenue source that we go to for our road and bridges and things like that. Now you are talking about attaching a social program on top of something we usually go to for our road and bridge and we are looking right now for funds for our paving and some other things right now,” said Kelton. “We are talking about whether we need to raise that fee on road and bridge for our infrastructure. And now we are going to have another buck and a half on a social program, and I’m not against the child advocacy center but I am against growing government involvement in social programs.”
During the vote, Kelton said he would give a “reluctant yes.”
Although the Child Safety Fund fee was approved, the disbursement of this fund to different agencies has not been decided. During the next fiscal year’s budgeting process, which agencies will receive the funds as well as the amounts received will be decided.
In other matters on Monday’s agenda:
*Commissioners took no action and did not implement a burn ban.
*Commissioner Precinct 1 Gary Worley received approval of employee Shane Moody to replace Jimmy Robinson as a road hand, start date May 1st. Robinson was promoted to a supervisor position in August of 2012.
*Elections Administrator Suzy Young received approval for a part time employee to serve 24 hours per week for 20 weeks, (May 13-September 30) to image voter registration cards. Funds to pay the employee are available from previously budgeted funds for elections workers according to Young and County Auditor Nina Cox.
*Elections Administrator Suzy Young received approval for the purchase of software to track equipment as it is checked out and returned to the elections office. According to Young, this software, to be purchased from Data ID Systems, is highly recommended for Brown County by the Secretary of State and the Attorney General’s office, after an investigation regarding missing elections equipment was completed. The item missing was noted to be a N100 machine which was sent for repairs but never returned by the repair company according to Young who states she has a receipt for the pickup and never received the machine back into the office’s inventory.
*County Clerk Sharon Ferguson received approval for new employee Jeanne Degal who will fill a vacated position at the county’s regular base clerical salary.
*Brown County Jail Administrator Becky Caffey received approval to hire Daniel McCombs as a jailer replacing Matthew Tillery who was recently promoted to a Sergeant position. McCombs will be paid the beginning base salary for the jailer position.
The Brown County Commissioners Court will meet next at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 6, 2013.
