COVID-19 funds disbursed to schools
On October 27, 2020 Hays County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the funding and agreed to fund school districts to cover expenses caused by COVID-19.
Dripping Springs Independent was allocated $91,794, Wimberley Independent School District was allocated $33,397, Hays Consolidated Independent School District was allocated $266,356 and the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District was allocated $108,452. The funding will pay for protective gear for teachers and students and cover costs in making campuses safer.
Judge Ruben Becerra said, “Our goal was to support our local school districts that are in need of relief from the expense of responding to COVID-19,” he said, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus. “I’m proud of our (commissioners) court members for seizing this chance to utilize the funding for something so important.”
The school districts are required to develop and operate a spending plan to assist with the daily operations to protect students, teachers and staff as a result of the COVID19 pandemic. Hays County is legally obligated pursuant to the Texas Constitution to accurately report the way the funds are expended.
In other business, the Hays County Commissioners Court approved an interlocal agreement between Hays County and Atascosa County for outsourcing inmates with a vote of 4-1. Atascosa County would house overflow of Hays County inmates as needed at a rate of $50 per inmate per day, which is closer and $5 cheaper per inmate than Fort Bend County.
Becerra was the sole no vote, stating the additional contract was heading in the wrong direction, as inmate outsourcing numbers have been steadily decreasing.
“We are hovering at a long-time low,” Becerra said. “I’m concerned this might create a slowdown of sorts in that trajectory. This community has embraced our efforts as a court to modernize our judicial system as a whole. I find that this effort is taking a step back ... a closer step in spirit to the effort would be not to have this contract at all and continue on the wonderful trajectory that we are on.”
The commissioners also voted to execute an agreement between Hays County and Texas State University to be performed by the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment related to the 2021 Hays County Feral Hog Program.
In an effort to monitor and reduce the economic impact of feral hogs, water and wildlife of Central Texas, the Meadows Center has removed 2,877 feral hogs at a rate of about $13 per hog in 2020. They estimate $1.4 million in economic damages mitigated, a return on investment of $38 for every local and state grant dollar spend in 2020.