Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, September 7, 2010,
Item 25
25 is consider and take appropriate action regarding request to Texas transportation commission to establish a veterans discounttology program for qualifying veterans.
>> good morning, judge and Commissioners.
August the 25th we met with the board of the ctrma and they have accepted the letter that you presented to them.
they will postpone and do a research -- their research on the situation of allowing discount fees or free toll freeze for veterans.
they will come back to us in about 30 to 60 days with their answer.
right now we're here to proceed on to the next step is to present a similar letter to txdot.
and with open hands I'm waiting to receive that letter and carry it forward.
>> you know, when we said txdot -- when we come to deal with txdot, they've got many arms and legs.
they're all over the place.
I guess this letter here again is in request for the disabled veterans to receive a discount or waiving the tolls on toll roads for disabled veterans and those that are recipients of the congressional medal of honor and also the purple heart, disabled veterans.
and of course this one here is addressed I guess to the Texas transportation commission of course, mr. Deleasee is the chair of that.
so it's the basically the same situation that we had before when we discussed this -- when it came up before the Commissioners court.
of course, we can only act as far as Travis County is concerned.
in other words, those particular toll situations that are within the bounds of Travis County.
and of course, the Texas transportation commission also oversees that portion of the tolls.
so deece eckstein is the one that was in the -- in ca hoots as far as dealing with this particular situation last time this came before the Commissioners court and of course as you stated earlier, mr. Polk, that you can gone before the central Texas regional mobility authority, which they seem to take that letter that the Commissioners court approved at that time, Travis County Commissioners court approve at that time, and seemed to look favorably upon it.
now, I guess what we would question today is we will take a similar letter and submit that to the Texas transportation commission.
hopefully having something to take them and hopefully they will look favorably on allowing a disabled veterans within Travis County, per se, to have discounts or a waiver of tolls for our disabled veterans.
and deece, is anything different?
>> no, Commissioner.
I think -- deece eckstein, intergovernmental relations.
I think you've summarized the situation very well.
as I think you explained, there are four toll roads in Travis County, one of which is operated by the ctrma and the other three are trait praited through the -- are operated through the Texas department of transportation.
and so it is to them that we're now turning with essentially a similar request to the one that the court approved two weeks ago asking them to consider granting a veteran discount for congressional medal of honor recipients, purple heart recipients and disabled veterans persons.
>> could you give me that number again as far as the ones that -- as far as the disabled veterans that we have here within Travis County, per se?
>> according to the latest statistics we have from the Texas department of motor vehicles, there are 2,506 license plates issued to disabled veterans here in Travis County.
and there are another 634 license plates called purple heart license plates that are issued to purple heart recipients.
>> I second Commissioner Davis' motion to approve.
you do move approval.
>> yes.
>> judge, let me make one final comment.
and the final comment is that I understand that Williamson county is now looking at a same similar situation according to sources.
>> yes, that's correct.
>> could you give me maybe a little brief deal as far as what Williamson county is doing to maybe look at allowing the same discount or waiver of fees for their disabled veterans?
>> I think they're taking the same step as we are.
I have not talked to my counterpart since last week.
I noticed that there was a newspaper article within the Round Rock leader that they were pursuing the same -- they were pursuing this bill also.
Round Rock or Williamson county -- let me see what their numbers are.
>> I'm not sure their numbers will help us any.
>> it really wouldn't.
>> anyway, I just wanted --
>> they are proceeding to do the same thing.
>> it's essentially catching fire.
that's what I'm saying.
it seems to be spreading.
>> I hope it does go.
>> I hope it does for disabled veterans for the state of Texas.
thank you.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you very much.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 2010 6:54 PM
