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JP arrested on burglary charge
Monitor Staff Reports
KAUFMAN–Kaufman County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Eric Williams was arrested Tuesday on a charge of burglary of a building.

Sheriff David Byrnes reported the arrest in a news release issued Tuesday.
County IT (information technology) director George York reported the possible theft of county property – computer components – from the IT office May 16.
An investigation over the next eight days developed evidence that the missing property was taken by Williams, Byrnes reported.
422nd District Judge B. Michael Chitty issued an arrest warrant and search warrant for Williams’ office and personal vehicle. The search turned up the missing components, Byrnes reported.
Williams was arrested and transported to the Kaufman County Law Enforcement Center. As of presstime late Tuesday, a bond had not been set.
Williams was elected in November, 2010, and took office Jan. 1.

Eric Williams

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Toys for Tots starts fundraising campaign for Gun Barrel City youth

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
Gun Barrel City patrol officer Kevin Roberts (left) guards jailbirds (from left) Paul Lyons, Dennis Baade, Harold Brunerand and Steve Shorrock until they posted $1,300 in bonds for the annual Toys for Tots fundraiser. The drive provides children with a Christmas gift who wouldn't have one otherwise. Donations are still being accepted at the Gun Barrel City Police Department.

County successfully saves $2 million for general fund
By Barbara Gartman
Monitor Staff Writer
KAUFMAN–Midst growing concerns over budget shortfalls, at least one entity is beginning to see a little black ink on its budget books.
Monday, Kaufman County commissioners were told the general fund isn’t out of trouble yet, but it’s looking a lot better.
In a seven-month comparison, the strict budgeting of department heads, an increase in the tax collection, the county employee furlough days and the decrease in the Road & Bridge budget all contributed to a $2 million savings in the general fund, County Judge Bruce Wood said.
“That shows we are on the right path, and that’s good news,” he said.
He expressed his thanks to commissioners, other elected officials and employees for their belt-tightening efforts.
Tax revenues collected for 2009-10 totaled $28,026,167; for the same seven-month period in the 2010-11 cycle, $28,853,383 was collected, an increase of $827,216.
But, the largest gain is in the expense column, at $19,997,578, compared to the first seven months of the fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget.
Expenses in the first seven months of the FY 2011 budget totaled only $18,758,114, a difference of $1,239,464.
Adding the differences together brings the total savings over last year’s budget to $2,066,680.
In other business, commissioners:
• authorized FPL Energy Services, Inc. to do a preliminary facility audit at no charge to find ways to save on utility costs and to make recommendations.
• heard a proposal from Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Mike Smith to create a juvenile case manager for each Justice of the Peace, and assessing a $5 fee per citation to pay salaries and other needs.
The justices have been discussing this need for a few months, he said.
“The truancy problem has skyrocketed,” he said before citing the number of cases needed in order to authorize the position of case manager.
“It will take at least a year to collect approximately $10,000 to be used for salary in each office,” he said.
While commissioners agreed it was a good idea, they tabled any action until they could flesh out the details of such a plan.
They set it for discussion at a called meeting set for Tuesday, May 31.
• heard a presentation on Habitat for Humanity by Beverly Stibbens.
• approved the Health Matters preventative health program, a wellness service for county employees.
The presentation on keeping employees healthy was made by Roberto (Bob) Enrique.
• heard an update on the collection of delinquent JP fees and fines, as presented by attorney Jeff Brown.
The delinquent fees collected in Precincts 1, 2 and 4 ranged from $2,200 to $3,812.
However, delinquent fees collected in Precinct 3 were in excess of $17,000.
“The total increase collected in 2011 over the same period in 2010 was $227,932.14,” Brown said, adding his office will present monthly reports.
• accepted the treasurer’s report for April, as presented by Johnny Countryman.
• accepted the April tax assessor/collector report, as presented by Richard Murphy.
To date, $27,801,063 was collected for the general fund and $2,693,991 for Road and Bridge.
Those amounts represent 93 percent of the current taxes collected, he said.
• accepted the canvass results for the local option election allowing bingo games for charitable purposes in Precinct 2 (Forney area) and to legalize the sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption in the city of Terrell.
Voters in the city of Crandall turned down the sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption, as well as the sale of alcoholic beverages in restaurants.
• paid bills totaling $997,381.70.