Central Health expands services to Southeast Travis County and two more takeaways from today's Commissioners Court meeting
Travis County Commissioners approved a license agreement with Central Health that will allow the entity to expand its services to Southeast Travis County at a meeting Aug. 22.
A Wildfire Evacuation Special Operations Plan was implemented Tuesday following a unanimous vote by commissioners. Here are three more takeaways from the Aug. 22 Travis County Commissioners Court meeting:
- Commissioners approved a license agreement with the Travis County Central Health Care District, or Central Health, that will allow the organization to expand its services to Southeast Travis County with a new Del Valle location in the existing South Healthcare Clinic called the Travis County Healthcare Clinic. Central Health, which is funded primarily by local property taxes, is a public entity that provides health care services to low income, uninsured residents in Travis County. Central Health will provide services to the community Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. The agreement would generate $7,800 for the county annually.
- Central Health also presented its proposed fiscal year 2017-18 budget to commissioners Tuesday morning, with the expectation that final approval would take place Sept. 19. Jeff Knodel, chief financial officer for Central Health, said Central Health is proposing a decrease in the tax rate by almost penny from the current rate of 11.0541 cents to 10.7385 cents per $100 valuation. Knodel said although the budget calls for a tax rate decrease, residents could see an annual increase of $12.50 on their tax bill due to the increase in home values over the past year. Central Health's taxing district imposes approximately 4.4 percent of the total tax burden in Travis County.
- Commissioners approved the job description for the newly created public information officer position today, with plans to post an advertisement for the job online before the end of the week. The application will remain open until Sept. 8. The county plans to conduct interviews at the Travis County Administration Building in downtown Austin Sept. 13 with a final executive session interview with the commissioners Sept. 26. The position, which will function as part of a six-month pilot project, would be filled as soon after Oct. 1 as possible, the commissioners said.