11/3/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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r- 690K A-'/ PAGE 473 - MOTION WAS MADE by Commissioner Macht, SECONDED BY Commissioner Ginn, to approve staff's recommendation. Under discussion, Commissioner Ginn mentioned that government entities, for instance, the Substance Abuse Council of Indian River County and the IRC Adolescent Substance Abuse Counseling Program, were being awarded $65,000 of taxpayers' money to fight substance abuse. She is in favor of it, but the Board needs to take that into consideration when they are preparing to appropriate money from the Children's Services Network. She has heard some criticism of the Teens Acting Responsibly Global Education Troupe (T.A.R.G.E.T.), that they are going off into questionable areas. She would support the motion on the floor, but thought the Board needed a little more information for the future. Colette Hyde, Executive Director of the Substance Abuse Council of Indian River County, oversees the administrative component for Indian River County of the federal anti- drug abuse grant. She explained that the grant dollars which come into the county via law forfeiture and are federal -level tax dollars. Indian River County is awarded that $157,777 from a federal block grant. The Adolescent Offender program, which New Horizons' administers, is a $44,000 program. The 25% match comes out of New Horizons budget, so it is not Indian River County taxpayers' dollars going towards that program. The tax dollars take a round -about route, but it is the only adolescent substance abuse/offender program in Indian River County. All the services provided via that grant are free of charge to the youth. The grant helps those parents in the county who cannot afford counseling services for their children. Commissioner Ginn asked if the matching dollars from Indian River County would come out of the Children's Services Network, and Budget Director Joseph A. Baird advised that the funds come from the general fund, not from the Children's Services Network. Commissioner Ginn's point was that more money is going out than the Commissioners realize. Vice Chairman Macht pointed out that a lot of the programs that the Council oversees are not related specifically or directly to children. The Council is administering/making recommendations to the Commission on distribution of grant monies that come through the State, generally from the federal government, and are not necessarily speaking of children's issues. He thought the children's portion of that could easily be extrapolated and furnished to Commissioner Ginn. November 3, 1998 30