Spring Break
Scotty's House voted off donation list
By: Joaquin Villegas
Issue date: 11/4/09 Section: News
|
The jurors' donation list is a list of options for jurors who want to donate daily pay to organizations. Jurors can still donate to the two statute-mandated options, the Child Welfare Board and the Crime Victims' Compensation Fund.
The decision could cost Scotty's House a large fraction of donations.
McDaniel said Scotty's House would lose an average of $20,000 a year from donations.
"The money from donations helps pay for medical examinations and equipment, along with other general operating costs," McDaniel said.
"It also helps because we are supposed to receive some reimbursements from law enforcement agencies for the services we provide, even though we don't always receive them."
The Commissioners Court decision was a close one, with one vote making the difference. Commissioners Kenny Mallard, who originally made the motion to add Scotty's House to the juror's donation list, and Irma Cauley both voted to keep Scotty's House in the list.
"The main reason behind the decision was that the other members probably didn't want to get over involved," said Kenny Mallard, Commissioner for Precinct 3. "They were concerned about just doing what the statute mandated, because they thought it would ultimately cost the county more money."
On the other hand, the commissioners who voted for taking Scotty's House off the juror list cited the decision was too problematic for and complex for the county. County Judge Randy Sims was among those who voted against Scotty's House placement on the list.
"What it all boils down to is the matter that if we leave Scotty's House on the list, we would have to allow other worthy nonprofit organizations into the list," Sims said. "This would create a lot of costs, since we would have to keep track of them and investigate all of them to make sure they are in fact nonprofit.
"This shouldn't be confused with the county telling anybody what nonprofit to support or not to support. Jurors can still get paid and donate their pay at a later time and write it off in their income tax."
Be sure to include your name, major, and class year. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
By submitting a comment, you agree to thebatt.com's Terms of Use.
You may also send a Mail Call to The Battalion at mailcall@thebatt.com