The Tom Green County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved transportation-related grant items and measures aimed at improving traffic enforcement, continuing disaster relief, and supporting future infrastructure funding.
Commissioners accepted two grant awards from the Texas Department of Transportation for Fiscal Year 2026 Selective Traffic Enforcement Program.
One award provides $59,400 under the Comprehensive STEP grant, and the other offers $19,800 under the Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) STEP grant.
Both include a proposed pay rate of $55 per hour plus benefits for deputies who participate in the enforcement patrols.
The court also approved submitting a $25,960 grant application for the STEP Impaired Driving Mobilization program, which would fund additional patrols during holiday periods, also at the proposed $55 per hour rate for deputies.
Sheriff Nick Hanna explained the benefits of the STEP program during the meeting.
“This is a perennial program that we engage in every year to help TxDOT,” said Sheriff Hanna. “These three programs, these three line items, provide approximately $405,000 worth of additional funding for our deputies to go out and do nothing but traffic law enforcement, whether that’s high visibility crime like DWI, speeding. They also focus on commercial motor vehicle violations. The benefit is higher visibility, more deputies on the road, plus these deputies are not required and do not answer routine calls for service.”
“This is a big boost to our traffic law enforcement,” he added. “Of course the county also benefits from the additional amount of traffic law enforcement and citations issued within the county.”
Flood Disaster Extension
The Commissioners also voted to extend the July 4, 2025, Flood Disaster Declaration for an additional 90 days to ensure continued access to state and federal relief programs.
“What this is appropriate for, is any grant opportunities for different nonprofits or individuals that are still needing of assistance,” said County Judge Lane Carter. “We need to extend the declaration, that way it opens up those opportunities for them to receive funding — both state and federal.”
The extension means residents who sustained flood damage earlier this year will remain eligible to apply for financial aid and recovery assistance.
Transportation
Additionally, the court approved a resolution supporting a Future Interstate Highway Funding Formula Program, tied to the I-27 Advisory Committee and the Ports-to-Plains Corridor initiative.
“This is a part of the I-27 Advisory Committee that we participate in and also Ports-to-Plains,” said Pct. 3 Comm. Rick Bacon. “A lot of people don’t realize that interstate funding is not the way it was back in the 50s and 60s, when the interstate program first came into being, and that was that the federal government paid for the majority of the construction of those roads. Since then, that has gone away and they have never renewed that in the transportation bill, so the states are on the hook for 100-percent of that.”
“What Ports-to-Plains is suggesting is there is some money that was left over … that may not be spent; so, they are recommending to Congress in the transportation bill that they move that money over and create a new fund that would fundninterstate highways for all 50 states,” Commissioner Bacon said.
If Congress adopts the funding plan, Tom Green County could see more federal support for highway expansion and long-term infrastructure projects that impact local travel and commerce.
The next meeting of the Commissioners Court is 8:30 a.m. Tuesday Sept. 30.
