Representatives of CASA appreciate Marshall County efforts to secure funding.
During the public comment portion of the Marshall County Council meeting earlier this month the Director of CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocate, Chastity Keller, several of her volunteers and Department of Child Services members attended the meeting with her. Part of the reason they were attending was to show support for the additional appropriation needed to keep the program going past the end of 2024. $25,317.70 was appropriated from the Opioid Unrestricted Funds.
Keller said the DCS numbers are three times higher than they were at this same time last year and they have received 89 calls in March just for Marshall County.
“When their number go up our number go up,” said Keller.
Keller thanked the council for the funding to keep the program going this year and asked them to begin looking for a long-term funding solution.
Council president Jesse Bohannon asked Keller if when the numbers for her department increase, does the amount of funding provided by the state increase.
Keller said at the end of 2023 they had 20 cases. She said, “It should go up but there’s less money to divide between the counties now and it always pays the state first.”
This year was the least amount the county has received, and it was just over $4,000. The most Marshall County has received is $15,000 to $18,000 and that’s not enough to cover the estimated $60,000 budget.
