School disbursements from county top $700,000 Taylor, Hutto educational systems see thousands of dollar in allocations
TONY CANTÚ
Special to the Press
GEORGETOWN — The holidays may be over, but the spirit of giving continues in Williamson County with 12 area school districts receiving nearly $700,000 in allocations issued by the Tax Assessor/Collector’s Office.
Among those, the Taylor Independent School District got more than $17,000 and the Hutto Independent School District was awarded in excess of $64,000.
In addition, funds aimed at child-safety measures recently were distributed to the Williamson County Children’s Advocacy Center by the Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector’s Office.
The funds allocated to school districts were generated by a $1.50 fee collected by the tax office during registration renewal of more than 574,000 motor vehicles during the 2024 fiscal year.
Williamson County Tax Assessor/Collector Larry Gaddes said the funds can be used for programs that support and enhance child safety, health or nutrition — from crossing guards to reduced school lunches.
“The small fee stays and is spent here in Williamson County,” Gaddes said. “I can think of no greater good than spending it on the people who work every day to help protect the children in our community.”
Indeed, the program helps cover the breadth of children’s needs across the county’s dozen school districts. In 2023, more than $859,000 was raised through the autorenewal fee, Gaddes noted.
Since its launch in 1999, the fee usage has metamorphosed to cover needs beyond school crossing guards, Gaddes said.
“The Transportation Code states that the funds are to be distributed to the municipalities for the administration of school crossing-guard programs,” Gaddes said. “At the time, and currently, the schools managed their own crossing guards, not the cities.”
That’s when the program was tailored to meet specific needs.
“So the (county) commissioners asked, and the cities agreed, to let the county deliver the funds directly to the schools,” the tax assessor/ collector said.
Since 1999, the funds have been distributed directly to the school districts, Gaddess said.
“In 2010, the Commissioners Court changed the distribution and added a 10% allocation to the Williamson County Child Advocacy Center to be used to enhance child safety, health or nutrition — including child abuse prevention and intervention,” he added. More than $776,000 was distributed to area schools and the WCCAC, for which 10% of the funds collected are allocated.
The remaining amount is prorated to each school district based on their percentage of students in the county, he explained.
“ “The (county) commissioners asked, and the cities agreed, to let the county deliver the funds directly to the schools.” — Larry Gaddes, Williamson County tax assessor-collector
