Liberty County Awarded Federal Reimbursement from FY2009 SCAAP PROGRAM


LIBERTY, October 7, 2009 - The U.S. Department of Justice announced the award of $6,547.00 to Liberty County, TX, to reimburse some of the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens who have committed serious crimes in the United States. The goal of this program is to enhance public safety in communities throughout the nation.

This opportunity originates from federally mandated programs that the County is providing at local cost. As many local entities are aware, the Federal Government drives local political entities to assume more responsibility for the administration and delivery of government services. Many times these services are funded with local dollars.

However, in some cases there are federal funding opportunities available, if the proper request is made. Identifying federal funding stream opportunities and then properly applying for them are not simple or easy tasks. The interaction between federal, state and local political entities is complex, and often unwieldy for most local political entities.

An aggressive program of researching and applying for little known federal programs to supplement the local tax burden was implemented by engaging Justice Benefits, Inc. (JBI) for assistance.

JBI is a public sector consulting firm located in Dallas, Texas, that specializes in locating and accessing hard-to-find federal reimbursements for local and state entities. JBI does the research, gathers and analyzes the data, and completes all necessary information to be included in the application. As a result of JBI’s expertise and experience, Liberty County was able to maximize its dollar amount on this application. Liberty County was one of only 900 (out of 3,140) eligible local entities across the U.S. that successfully applied for these dollars.