February 5, 2018

The Honorable Judge Clay Jenkins

County Judge
411 Elm St
Dallas, TX 75202

Dear Judge Jenkins:

We are writing today to request that Dallas County adopt a $1.50 vehicle registration fee for child safety, as allowed by
State law and as previously adopted by several large Texas counties. The safety of our school children is of the utmost
priority. As Mayors in Dallas County, we must ensure that we are making every effort to protect them, especially as
they navigate busy roads and intersections to receive an education. Our school crossing guard programs are vital to
ensuring that protection. We believe that ensuring child safety should be a shared responsibility of local government
agencies, both cities and counties.

The provision of school crossing guards can be costly. However, an existing State statute can provide a funding source
to help with program costs. Section 502.403 of the Texas Transportation Code allows for a county vehicle registration
fee for child safety. The statute allows the commissioners court of a county that has a population greater than 1.3
million, and in which a municipality with a population of more than one million is primarily located, to impose by order
an additional fee of not less than 50 cents or more than $1.50 for a vehicle registered in the county. If collected, the
county would be required to send the fee revenue to the municipalities in the county according to their population.
Cities could then use revenues from this fee to pay for school crossing guards or other programs to enhance child
safety, health, or nutrition. Additionally, the county would be allowed to keep 10 percent of the fee for administrative
costs.
This registration fee would help tremendously in providing an additional funding source for our school crossing guards.
We estimate that the fee would generate approximately $3.2 million in Dallas County. Currently, Collin and Denton
Counties impose the fee, as well as Bexar, Harris and Travis Counties. However, Dallas County does not. The state
apparently agrees that ensuring child safety is a shared responsibility of local government agencies, which is why we
have this state statute.

We understand that the Commissioners Court will be discussing this issue, including a possible vote, at its meeting
tomorrow. We encourage you to vote in support of adopting this additional $1.50 registration fee, which will ensure
that Dallas County is doing its part to protect our children.

Thank you and we appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

Michael S. Rawlings Rick Stopfer

Mayor, City of Dallas Mayor, City of Irving
Stan H. Pickett Ron Jensen
Mayor, City of Mesquite Mayor, City of Grand Prairie

Paul Voelker Kevin W. Falconer

Mayor, City of Richardson Mayor, City of Carrollton

Rob Franke Robert C. Dye

Mayor, City of Cedar Hill Mayor, City of Farmers Branch

Marcus E. Knight Casey Burgess

Mayor, City of Lancaster Mayor, City of Wilmer

Rudy Durham
Mayor, City of Lewisville