Beebe, Arkansas: More Public Funding for a”Free” Safe Haven Baby Box

We’ve addressed this before, but here we go again: Public money.

This time: Taxpayers in Beebe, Arkansas (population 8,437) ) are about to be dunked for $11,730 to lease a Safe Haven Baby Box of their very own–a device that Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc founder/CEO Monica Kelsey claims ad infinitum is privately funded by donors. No tax lists need apply.

According to the White County Citizen, however, the Beebe City Council agreed to pay $11,136 for the baby box to be installed by the end of the year, plus a forever annual maintenance fee of $600. FYI: the current cost of the box itself is approximately $16,000 as per SHBB Inc.

The council agreed to pay $11,136 for the baby box, to be installed by the end of the year, plus the annual fee of $600 for maintaining it with an inspection. The other almost $12,000 has been raised in community donations by Vickie Parker of Options Pregnancy Center, according to Harley Spears, assistant to Mayor Mike Robertson.

This means that Options Pregnancy Center has raised nearly $12,000 and Beebe taxpayers will be rooked for an additional near $12,000 for installation and other box stuff

I watched the city council meeting on You Tube :126:45 (so you don’t have to), to verify before I posted anything. Unfortunately, much of the conversation was off mic–that is, the woman (presumably Ms Parker) explaining the box to members, was so far away from the mic that only muffled sounds were heard. I went with the captions, which are a little difficult to track, but OK. So, the box is sorta privately funded, and the rest of the loot comes from civilians.

Ironically, while the baby box discussion was queuing up, angry Beebe southsiders en masse were demanding that their city government do something to remedy their serious ongoing drainage and sewer backup situation. Some brought pictures. It was not pretty! While $12,000 (excuse me!) would be a drop in the bucket to get them out of their wadding boots. it would be a start. But you know…priorities.

And to add insult to injury, while I was looking online for more information about the proposed box, I learned that at the end of last year, city,council voted themselves. a $1000 bonus each. Yikes!

For more information on public funding, go to our Promotors & Funders page. I’m having trouble adding quite a few new government and foundation funders to the table towards the top, which I am working on, but you can still get a good idea of how taxpayers are being forced to pay for “a free” service and equipment.”