Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Article Image Alt Text

Governor’s grants beefing up security with equipment

Hays County is reaping benefits from Gov. Greg Abbott’s Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP), which provides funding support for security operations throughout the state.

On Tuesday, the county commissioners approved the acceptance of four grant awards from the HSGP. The county accepted $200,000 for a Hays County command vehicle that will be deployed “during emergency incidents in order to re-establish communication and coordination during such events,” according to the county. A grant of $75,000 will be used to purchase air packs and replacement bottles for the Hays County HazMat Team. The county says the team’s air packs are outdated. A third grant, for $20,000, will be used for maintenance of the HazMat Team’s monitoring equipment. The county’s fourth grant award is $122,477.80 to pay for night vision binoculars for 14 members of the Hays County SWAT Team. None of the grants have matching-funds requirements.

The Hays County Commissioners Court approved the applications for these grants in January. Abbott announced the grant awards — $55.5 million statewide — last week. A press release from the governor’s office states the funding will “support state and local efforts to prevent terror attacks and crack down on terroristic activity in Texas.”

The HSGP awarded funding to 227 State Homeland Security Program projects and 134 Urban Area Security Initiative projects. The HSGP awarded $19.9 million for equipment, training and exercise support for local, regional and state response teams, including SWAT and HazMat teams. Another $12.1 million went toward planning and preparedness efforts, $8.1 million went toward supporting interoperability among emergency communications capabilities, and $3.7 million in grant funding went toward state and regional fusion centers where intelligence and information is shared among agencies.

Projects were selected for funding based on risk assessments and planning processes that identified capability gaps and opportunities to foster coordination among agencies, according to the governor’s office.

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054