At Monday’s meeting of the Brown County Commissioners Court, approval was given to a partial tax exemption for child care businesses.  In 2023 an amendment to the Texas Constitution was approved which allows for child care businesses to receive a partial- or full-exemption from property taxes, if approved by the local City and/or County.  The motivation behind the amendment to the state Constitution was to encourage more child care businesses to operate.  Locally, both the City of Brownwood and the City of Early have approved a 100% property tax exemption.  The Commissioners approved a tax exemption of 50% on property taxes from Brown County.  The business has to apply for the exemption.  In Brown County there are nine child care facilities.  So far only one has applied for the property tax exemption.

Commissioners also approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a Warrant Service Officer.  In this agreement, Brown County Sheriff Vance Hill will appoint several officers to undergo training and be certified to issue warrants for ICE.  Currently, if an illegal alien is in the Brown County Jail, an ICE officer from San Angelo has to travel to Brownwood to serve the ICE detainer warrant.  With the Warrant Service Officers, the ICE detainer warrants can be issued to the jail inmate by local personnel, eliminating the need for the ICE officer to travel here from San Angelo.

In other business:

*** Commissioners re-appointed Dr. David Alan Smith to the Board of Trustees of Central Texas Mental Health/Mental Retardation, d/b/a The Center for Life Resources.

*** Approved a funding agreement for the Brownwood Community Library in the amount of $30,000 for the 2025/2026 fiscal year.  This amount has already been approved in the County’s current budget, but a formal funding agreement is needed by the Library to use in grant applications.

*** Approved five applications to install private lines by the Housley Group on behalf of Frontier Communications, in and around County Roads 551, 594, and 617.

*** Opened bids for concrete box culverts on CR 428 and 433.  Bids were received from Ribble Construction, Tony’s Concrete, and H&H Concrete Construction.  No action was taken today.  Selection of the winning bid(s) will be scheduled for a future Commissioners Court meeting.

The Commissioners also received the annual report from the Brown County Veterans Service Office, presented by James Masters.  Some of the highlights of the report:

*** Brown County has 2,545 total military veterans.  Thirty from World War II; 147 from the Korean War; 885 from the Vietnam War; 463 from Desert Storm; 538 from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom; and 482 from the Cold War and other periods of service.

*** The current veterans received $24.329 million in 2024 for Compensation/Pension and Survivor Benefits.

*** $22,625.107 in Federal benefits were recovered through direct Compensation and Pension payments to Service/Non-Service Connected Veterans.  Widows received $1,704,856 in Survivors Benefits.

*** The Veterans Service Office assisted Disabled Veterans and their dependents with education applications resulting in $1,412,417 to higher education institutions in Brown County and online educational institutions.  Much of that money was for Howard Payne University and TSTC.

*** The Brown County Veterans Administration Health Clinic provided service to 2,042 Veterans, 800 of whom live outside Brown County.  The V.A. Health Clinic provided $18,158,198 in medical services including direct patient care, nursing home care, home health care, contracted services, and Community Care primarily provided by Hendrick Medical Center Brownwood.  The Brown County V.A. Health Clinic carries $2,100,000 in total payroll, with all health care positions filled.

*** The Brown County Veterans Service Office provided services to 1,160 Brown County Veterans.  The Service Officers track 95 active claims daily, with 50+ claims pending development for submission.