Bell County presents child‑safety fee distribution and hotel‑occupancy funds to Belton

Bell County Tax Assessor‑Collector Shay Luedeke presented the City of Belton with a child‑safety fee distribution of $25,869.73 at the Dec. 10 council meeting and also delivered a hotel‑occupancy tax check to the city.

Luedeke told the council that last fiscal year Bell County collected $462,124.50 countywide from vehicle registrations (308,083 registrations) and said state law requires allocation of the child‑safety fee funds to municipalities. He said that since the program began in February 2001 Bell County has collected and distributed $9,000,184,748.98 in these fees (figure reported as stated in the transcript). Luedeke read statutory language as provided in the transcript, citing the 'transportation code, chapter 402Dot50502Dot403' and 'article 102.014g of the code of criminal procedure' as describing permitted uses (crossing guards, child safety, health and nutrition initiatives, child abuse prevention and intervention, drug and alcohol prevention, and public‑safety/security programs in the absence of school crossing‑guard programs).

The presentation noted Belton’s allocation this year is $25,869.73 and that Belton ISD had been notified. Council members thanked citizens for the contributions. A second check for hotel‑occupancy taxes was delivered and recorded in the meeting; the transcript shows a hotel/motel tax figure rendered as $21002.45.58 which appears corrupted; staff referenced it orally as roughly $21,002.45.

The council accepted the presentations and thanked county staff for the partnership.