Project Summary

Introduction

This report presents the results of an economic impact analysis performed by Impact DataSource, Austin, Texas. The analysis estimates the annual impact that the Texoma Council of Governments (TCOG) on the state and local economy during fiscal year 2021. The report also estimates local tax revenues supported by Texoma Council of Governments activities.

The report presents the following information:

• A description of the Texoma Council of Governments,
• Types of economic impacts resulting from the organization,
• The economic impact of the organization, its programs and its employees and workers in spin-off jobs,
• Annual revenues for the local taxing districts, and
• An explanation of how the analysis was conducted and the RIMS II model

A description of the Texoma Council of Governments is next.

Texoma Council of Governments

The Texoma Council of Governments is a voluntary organization of local governmental units in Cooke, Grayson, and Fannin Counties organized under the authority of Chapter 391 of the Texas Local Government Code.

With the goals of developing better cooperation, reducing duplication of efforts, and increasing efficiencies by taking advantage of the economies of scale, TCOG is organized into four departments: Administration & Finance, Aging Services, Client & Energy Services, and Government & Regional Services.

The Texoma Council of Governments employed 47 workers and paid $3.0 million in salaries and benefits. The organization’s four departments include several subprograms which span a range of regional services. A summary of the Aging Services, Government Services and Client Services Departments and subprograms is provided below.

Aging Services Department

Area Agency on Aging Administration

The Area Agency on Aging is responsible for the development & coordination of a comprehensive system of services for citizens over the age of 60 or with a disability. Professionally trained staff provide support & free consultation on long-term care choices. This program helped 14,000 clients navigate complex service delivery systems resulting in over $1 million spent in our region last year.

Money Management Program

The Money Management Program provides bill payer and representative payee services to individuals in danger of losing their independence because of their inability to manage their finances.

Guardianship Program

The Guardianship Program provides guardianship services to individuals that have been judged to be incapacitated by the courts; these individuals have no other family or friends to provide these services.

Benefits Counseling Program

The Benefits Counseling Program provides personal assistance to older individuals which helps the preparation of necessary documents relating to public entitlements, health care/long term care, individual rights, planning/protection options, and housing and consumer needs. The dissemination of accurate, timely, and relevant information, eligibility criteria, requirements, and procedures to older individuals about public entitlements, health/long-term care services, individual rights, planning/protection options, and housing and consumer needs.

Ombudsman

The Ombudsman manages volunteers and identifies, investigates, and resolves complaints made by, or on behalf of, residents of nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. These complaints relate to action, inaction, or decisions, which may adversely affect the health, safety, welfare, or rights of the residents, providers, or representatives of providers, of long-term care services, public agencies, or health and social service agencies.

Nutrition Program

The Nutrition Program is for congregate and home delivered meals. Over 100,000 meals were provided to local seniors last year. Payments are made locally to Tri-County for services rendered.

Care Management Program

The Care Management Program is a coordinated, community-based home care program administered by registered nurses. Services are available to persons 60+ years of age who are homebound, unable to care for themselves, or recently discharged from area hospitals who require temporary in-home care. Over 125,000 hours of service last year helped provide and prolong independent living. Payments are made to local contractors to provide various in home services.

Information, Referral, & Assistance

This program consists of activities such as assessing the needs of the inquirer, evaluating appropriate resources, assessing appropriate response modes, indicating organizations capable of meeting those needs, and providing enough information about each organization to help inquirers make an informed choice. Also assists inquirers for whom services are unavailable by locating alternative resources, when necessary and actively participating in linking the inquirer to needed services, and following up on referrals to ensure the service was provided. Last year over 6,800 area Texomans were assisted.

Caregiver Support Program

Caregiver Service is an ongoing process that assesses the needs of a caregiver and care recipient by planning, arranging, coordinating and providing services. Programs include Support Groups, Community Outreach, Respite Care, & Caregiver Education and Training for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other diseases. Last year, this program provided over 5,800 hours of service.

Data Management Program

The Data Management Program is responsible for reporting and maintaining financial records for the Aging Services Department. This includes activities directly related to reporting for non-direct services, purchase and maintenance of required tracking and reporting software. Included are activities directly related to direct purchase of service, service authorization and document verification to support the provision, tracking and reporting of vendored Congregate Meals, Home Delivered meals and Transportation services.

Senior Corps Program

The Senior Corps Program is composed of two programs, Foster Grandparents and RSVP, both mobilizing senior volunteers to serve their community’s schools, senior centers, & other social service agencies. Together, these programs provided over 180,000 volunteer hours last year amounting to a value of nearly $4 million for our region. Stipends/payments were made to low-income seniors for volunteering totaling $45,852. Public transportation vouchers were provided totaling $2,195.

Government Services Department

Community & Economic Development

The Community & Economic Development program helps communities achieve long-term competitive development through investments in human, information, and natural resources, with the ultimate goal of improving quality of life.

GIS Services

The GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Program creates, analyzes and manages geographic datasets and applications. These datasets include political jurisdictions, transportation networks, emergency management and environmental resources. Local governments and citizens rely on maps and data created by the TCOG GIS Program to make well informed and often life saving decisions. The GIS Program helps promote geographic education in the region and provides a coordinating resource for GIS professionals in the region.

Criminal Justice & Emergency Planning

Criminal Justice Program promotes and helps to develop coordinated, collaborative prevention and justice-oriented initiatives across Texoma. Partners on these projects include grantees, volunteers, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, government agencies, the private sector and others. Through a contract with the Criminal Justice Division of the Office of the Governor, TCOG administers the local process for grant distribution to the region.

Emergency Planning

TCOG staff and the TCOG Homeland Security Advisory Committee facilitate and execute the Homeland Security Funding Process with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Homeland Security Administrative Agency.

Municipal Solid Waste

The Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Grant Program provides financial and technical assistance to city and county governments, school districts, and law enforcement districts in their efforts to combat illegal dumping, promote recycling, and ultimately reduce the amount of waste introduced to local landfills. The MSW program is overseen by the Natural Resources Advisory Committee (NRAC) which consists of members who represent a broad range of interests, including a representative of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality(TCEQ), public officials, private operators, citizen groups, and interested individuals.

Regional Transportation Plan

The Regional Transportation Plan oversees the effort to develop a regionally coordinated transportation plan which helps identify all of the publicly-funded transit programs and plans for ways to streamline the services to ensure that the maximum number of people is being served, even with limited resources.

Sherman-Denison MPO

The Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Planning Organization is responsible for planning transportation investments to meet mobility needs within the urbanized area.

Client Services Department

2-1-1 Information and Referral Program

211 is a program of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, offering trained specialists, ready to connect callers with services. 211 is the toll-free number that is available to the general public which provides local referrals to agencies for assistance, and state programs such as Your Texas Benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, TANF, and others.

Energy Assistance Program

The Energy Services Program includes utility payment assistance, direct supportive services and individual case management as well as installation of energy saving weatherization applications that reduce utility consumption.

Weatherization Program

The weatherization program weatherized more than 300 homes during the year.

Public Housing Program

The Public Housing Program maintains 476 units across 17 cities.

Section 8 Choice Voucher Program

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program is a low rent housing voucher program which provides over 500 families with rental subsidy and includes a self-sufficiency program available in Fannin and Grayson counties.

Texoma Housing Partners

The Texoma Housing Partners is a consortium of 18 small public housing authorities that provides over 500 families with affordable housing and also includes a social services program available in Fannin, Grayson, Collin and Hunt counties.

Information about the Texoma Council of Government’s expenditures in fiscal year 2021 is provided next.

Texoma Council of Governments Expenditures & Employment

The organization’s annual operating expenditures during fiscal year 2021 were estimated to be $10.7 million along with salaries and benefits of $3.0 million. In total, TCOG’s spending in 2021 totaled $13.7 million.

The following table summarizes the number of employees within each department as well as the number of volunteer hours reported with various programs within each department.

Types of Impacts Resulting from the Texoma Council of Governments

The Texoma Council of Government, through its wide-ranging services, supports economic and fiscal impacts in the state and region. This report estimates the impact of the organization during Fiscal Year 2021 which ran from May 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021. Broadly speaking, the economic impacts estimated in this report can be categorized into two main types of impacts described below.

1. Direct economic impacts are the immediate economic activities generated by the organization. These
   impacts include the organization’s employees, compensation paid to these workers as well as the expenditures made by TCOG. These expenditures include the general supplies, utilities and operating costs of the organization as well as the payments made by TCOG. Payments by TCOG include payments to contractors providing meals, in-home services, weatherization improvements, building maintenance services, as well as rent payments to landlords and stipends paid to some low-income senior volunteers.
2. Indirect and induced economic impacts represent the additional economic activity that is supported by the organization’s expenditures, employment and compensation. Indirect jobs and salaries are supported in area businesses that supply goods and services to the organization or its contractors, such as maintenance companies and service firms. In addition, induced jobs and salaries are supported in area businesses, such as retail stores, gas stations, banks, restaurants, and service companies that may supply goods and services to workers and their families. This report labels the combined indirect and induced impacts as simply “Indirect”.

This report estimates the economic impact of the organization on the State of Texas and Texoma region (Cooke, Fannin, Grayson counties) using impact multipliers from the US Department of Commerce’s Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS II). Additional information about the RIMS II model is provided in the Methodology section.

In addition, this report quantifies the value of the volunteer work coordinated by the Texoma Council of Governments during the year.

The economic impacts result in fiscal impacts for local and state governments.