Bee County residents who live outside the city will no longer pay a $25 fee to have their brush hauled away.

Commissioners voted Monday to rescind the fee they imposed in September in hopes of offsetting the rising price of fuel.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Ronnie Olivarez brought the item up for discussion.

“In Skidmore and Tynan, I have a lot of retired and elderly people and they can’t afford this $25 fee,” Olivarez said. “I’m already getting complaints of people throwing their brush on their neighbor’s brush pile so they won’t have to pay the fee.”

Olivarez said some of the elderly and retired citizens in that part of the county simply don’t have enough brush to fill up a dump truck, so they’re pooling their brush and sharing the fee.

He said the county does not allow such cooperative ventures and will charge each property owner.

Olivarez said he fears some property owners will simply abandon their brush by the roadside because they cannot afford the fee.

He said volunteer fire departments in the area fear possible wildfires starting as a result of all the abandoned brush.

Frank Montez, supervisor of the county’s road and bridge crew, said the fee was imposed in hopes of offsetting the rising cost of fuel.

But Olivarez said the fee hasn’t generated much in the way of revenue because residents cannot afford to pay the fee.

County Judge David Silva noted that the county will take a hit financially because commissioners expected the fee to generate $10,000 over the next 12 months.

He said the $10,000 fee was included in the 2008-09 budget.

In other action Monday, commissioners voted 2-2 to write a letter to the Department of Public Safety expressing the court’s displeasure at not getting a commercial vehicle enforcement officer assigned to the county.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Eloy Rodriguez asked for the matter to be placed on the meeting’s agenda.

He said he and the rest of the commissioners court budgeted over $26,000 for a secretary and provided valuable office space for the DPS in the belief that a CVE officer was to be stationed here.

However, one month after the county adopted the budget, commissioners were informed that the officer would not be assigned here after all.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Susan Stasny supported Rodriguez’s proposal, but suggested the letter be written civilly but let the DPS know that the local DPS sergeant appeared to promise commissioners that a CVE officer would be assigned to Bee County if the secretary and office space were provided.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Carlos Salazar Jr. said he would not support Rodriguez’s proposal, saying a front page story in the Bee-Picayune has already let the DPS know of the commissioner’s displeasure.

Olivarez agreed with Salazar.

Judge Silva cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of writing the letter.

In other action Monday, commissioners voted to allow the sheriff’s department to hire five full-time jailers to replace 12 part-time jailers.

Jail Administrator Mike Page told commissioners the jail typically employs 17 part-time jailers.

Part-time employees are more likely to seek better paying employment elsewhere, he said.

Stasny said she approved of the request because it would cut down on the cost of training new employees and because trained employees make for a safer jail.

The commissioners also agreed to increase the pay the remaining part-time jailers from $7.50 per hour to $10 per hour, the average in the industry.

In other action Monday, commissioners:

Agreed to allow Commissioner Rodriguez to research the possibility of issuing prescription drug discount cards to Bee County residents.

“This is at no cost to the taxpayers or to the county and would save residents as much as 20 percent on some prescription drugs,” Rodriguez said.

The cards would would offer low-cost prescription drugs through the National Association of Counties, which has enrolled more than 1,000 counties nationwide in the offer.

The program will save users an average of 20 percent on medicine not covered by insurance.

Rodriguez said the National Association of Counties can offer the great savings because of the volume of consumers.

Residents would get the prescription drug cards at local Stripes convenience stores.

Rodriguez said the county would not handle any of the paperwork and therefore would not be saddled with any of the costs.

He said Nueces County is offering the program to its residents.

Bee County residents who take advantage of the program can save even more on generic medicine, maybe as much as 30 percent depending on the drug and pharmacy.

Rodriguez said almost all pharmacies accept the NAC prescription drug cards and age and income are not factors in deciding who can enroll in the program.

Rodriguez, citing the Nueces County program, said there are no claim forms to fill out and there is no limit to the number of times the card can be used.

Under the NAC program, the prescription drug card cannot be used along with insurance, but it can be used to purchase drugs not covered under a plan, including those not covered by a Medicare Part D Plan.

The prescription drug card can also be used to purchase prescription drugs for pets, Rodriguez said.