BELTON — Child safety programs around the county received a boost of more than $413,000, thanks to local vehicle owners.
This money, part of this fiscal year’s child safety fee allocations, was unanimously approved for distribution by the Bell County Commissioners Court.
Bell County Tax Assessor-Collector Shay Luedeke, who presented the annual fees to the Commissioners on Monday, said the money comes from the $1.50 fee collected on every vehicle registration in the county. Each fiscal year, the money gathered this way goes toward crossing guard programs for cities or, if the city doesn’t have one, toward various other child programs for local school districts.
These other child safety programs can include those focused on health, nutrition, child abuse prevention and intervention, and drug and alcohol abuse prevention.
Luedeke said waived vehicle registrations from last year, along with many people purchasing new cars, led to a 10% increase in fees this year.
In the 2021 fiscal year, the county registered 306,297 vehicles that resulted in a total collection of $459,445.50. The county plans to keep $45,944.55 of that money due to administration fees.
The fees for the 2021 fiscal year were collected between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021.
“I estimated an additional 30,000 to 35,000 of vehicles are registered in the county but they are exempt from paying the child safety fee or the county road and bridge (fee),” Luedeke said. “Those are the disabled veterans and the farm tags. I won’t know those numbers for probably around a couple more months from the (Texas Department of Motor Vehicles).”
County officials said this year was the first time the 2020 Census data was used to determine the allocations of the fees. The fees are distributed based upon each city’s population.
The local city that received the biggest allocation was Killeen, with more than $170,700, followed by Temple with about $91,500.
Other local entities included Harker Heights with about $36,900, Belton with about $25,700, Nolanville with about $6,600 and Morgan’s Point Resort with $5,100. Salado will get about $2,600, with about $2,600 for Troy, $2,200 for Little River-Academy, $1,200 for Holland and $744 for Bartlett.
Additionally, Bell County will receive about $65,900 for residents living in the unincorporated areas of the county.
Due to the new distribution, Luedeke said some cities saw a large increase to their allocation percentage. This included Troy — which will receive more than $2,600 — that saw about a 53% increase to the amount of fees received.
In the history of the program, Luedeke said the county has given millions to local entities for safety measures.
“We have given Killeen $2.7 million since the inception of the child safety fees,” Luedeke said. “That is a lot of dollars and fees, and it looks like we have been doing for the past two decades now.”
During the meeting Luedeke said he planned to visit Bell County cities he can to present the funds during their city council meetings. Those that he can’t visit will get the money through the mail, Luedeke said.
