Commissioners approve consolidating small vendor rebates into employee-relations fund

Titus County Commissioners unanimously approved a staff proposal to deposit consolidated small rebate checks into the county's employee-relations fund (fund referenced on the record as 10/2008), which pays for modest employee-related items such as flowers, plaques and retiree recognition.

Annette from the auditor's office told the court the county receives small rebate checks annually (often single-digit or low three-digit amounts) and that when those small rebates are split across departments they become administratively difficult to track. "It's not a large amount of money. It's not taxpayer driven money," she said, adding the fund balance is "really low" (she estimated about $75).

Annette said larger rebates tied to specific purchases would still be returned to the originating department, and that staff could bring a proposal to cap the employee-relations fund if needed; she said she would notify the court if the fund ever breached $2,500.

Commissioner Parker made the motion to consolidate the rebates into fund 10/2008; Commissioner Applewhite seconded. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.