Money Well Spent

7.5 million dollars.

According to the Austin American Statesman, that’s how much money it cost the state of Texas for the first 19 days of the raid of the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado and ensuing boondoggle aftermath. I had a few other words to describe this situation, but this is a family friendly site.

And that’s just the first 19 days. It’s been roughly five weeks since the raid out in West Texas. Who knows what the costs are up to now.

To make matters worse, the local government’s are a little leery about how whether or not Austin is going to foot the bill.

State Comptroller Susan Combs told Dewhurst, Craddick and Perry in a letter that she plans to work to “utilize funding allocated in the current state budget to cover the allowable emergency costs.”

But some government officials aren’t sure what “allowable emergency costs” include, and that’s making them nervous.

Tom Green County Treasurer Dianna Spieker said: “We’re operating under faith” that the county will be reimbursed. She said last week her county had spent $70,000 on everything from overtime for law enforcement to paying the road and bridge department to set up barricades.

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, a member of the finance panel, said the operation is largely a state responsibility.

“We should reimburse local agencies as soon as possible for any action they have taken that is state responsibility,” she said.

Technically, many of the court costs are the responsibility of the counties, but state leaders say they plan to use state money.

“We can’t wash our hands from it — we’re the ones who did it,” said state Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, a member of the Finance Committee. “I hope it turns out it was the right thing to do.

Same with some of the many attorneys who have graciously volunteered their time to help out.

Some lawyers who volunteered to represent the children are now wondering what they’ve gotten into financially. Susan Hays of Dallas, an attorney for a young girl, said she’s spent nearly $1,000, mostly on gas to visit her client in East Texas and the client’s mother in San Antonio.

“We were all told it was a one-day hearing,” she said. “My case is now spread out all over the state. The Legislature is going to have to do something.”

Did the state of Texas have any plan as to what they were going to do with all these kids, all of which would be needing legal representation? While its great to see so many in the legal community volunteer their time, surely the State had some other plan. I would hope so, especially for a county of just over 100,000 people out in west Texas

To top it off, according to Grit’s latest post on the subject (which by the way, his coverage has been excellent), there was ample evidence that the call sparking the whole mess didn’t come from Texas and didn’t come from anyone credible, and the authorities just ignored it.

Authorities knew before the raid that Dale Barlow was in Arizona, had spoken to him, but made no effort to have him arrested or detained by his probation officer.

The caller mispronounced the name of the town (there’s a long “a” in Eldor-A-do), used terminology that did not match FLDS religious lingo, and only gave details about the group and the ranch that could be easily gleaned online.

Authorities knew the calls to the shelter didn’t come from Texas, and with minimalist investigation would have identified the caller as a routine hoaxer.

So what have the citizens of Texas gotten for our 7.5+ million dollars?  A whole lot of nothing.