Williamson County dumps $900,000 into disaster relief fund for coronavirus response

Updated 6:37 p.m. March 24

The Williamson County Commissioners Court approved adding $900,000 into its nondepartmental disaster relief fund amid coronavirus concerns during a March 24 meeting.

"The budget amendment is needed to cover additional expenses related to the COVID-19 response," the agenda item read.

The additional money was added to the county's general fund.

Gravell said the money is only short-term funding for county operations including overtime pay for county employees redirected to doing coronavirus prevention work.

"To be clear, the $900,000 approved today is just for county emergency operations," Gravell said.

As of noon March 24, Williamson County had 19 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with two in Austin, four in Cedar Park, four in Georgetown, one in Leander and three in Round Rock.

In other business:

• The commissioners will hold court on March 31 at its regular time, 9:30 a.m. In April, the court approved changing its weekly meetings to biweekly meetings. Court will be held April 7 and April 21.
• The commissioners approved an action authorizing Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell to execute an emergency child care services agreement with the YMCA of Greater Williamson County to provide child care services for the children of essential county employees.