The Brownsville City Commission approved an action plan for the 2020 Census during its meeting last Tuesday.
Census Day is April 1, but the internet self-response begins around the middle of March.
Myrna Leal, a planner for the city, presented the action plan and said the census takes place every 10 years. The data determines congressional and local representation.
Every year “$675 billion in funding are apportioned based on population totals and breakdowns by sex, age, race, and other factors,” according to the presentation.
Federal funding may be used on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs, such as Pell grants, highway planning and construction and Medicaid, among others.
The plan is a compilation of information submitted by organizations that have participated in the process, resources available to the Complete Count Committee organizations and implementation steps to increase awareness and promote participation in the upcoming census.
During the public comment period, Juan Gonzalez, a local representative for the 2020 Census, said the U.S. Census Bureau is hiring for the count.
Gonzalez said the bureau is looking to hire 8,000 people in the Rio Grande Valley. He said part-time positions are great for the Valley, and the pay during training is roughly $12 an hour. After training, it is almost $14 an hour.
“We really want to hire Brownsville people within their neighborhoods,” Gonzalez said. “Familiar faces probably would give us much better results and people responding in a timely fashion to the census.”
People can apply for jobs at 2020census.gov/jobs.
District 1 Commissioner Nurith Galonsky told The Rider that it is critical that every resident of Brownsville be counted.
“It really affects the amount of money we get from the federal government to do projects here,” Galonsky said. “And, luckily, that the citizenship question is not on the questionnaire, so I would encourage everyone to feel secure enough to participate in the process.”
The commissioner said the hardest individuals to count are children under 5 and the elderly over 55 or 65 years.
She also said that working for the 2020 Census is a good opportunity to learn more about the neighborhoods in the city and the needs of the community.
“It’s a good opportunity to engage with our citizens and learn more about what’s going on, like, at the ground level,” Galonsky said. “So, I would encourage university students to look into it.”
In other business, the commission went into executive session to discuss the creation of a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone for the Rio Grande Esplanade project.
After the executive session ended, the commission voted to table the item. Galonsky told The Rider that although it is a good project, there are different variables that still need to be discussed.
City Manager Noel Bernal told The Rider that updates could not be provided at the time because they have yet to follow up with the developer.
“What I’ll tell you is that we have been assessing, we’ve been requesting certain information from the developer on the project to determine its feasibility,” Bernal said. “And, essentially, we’ve come to the point that we just thought it was prudent to bring the commission up [to] date for directions on next steps because the city is going to pursue a [tax increment reinvestment zone].”
The TIRZ will be city initiated and there is interest by the developer, Sam Marasco, to use a TIRZ as a funding mechanism for that project.
“We’re also needing to make sure that … the project is feasible and that we have the financial information and the project details that justify the city’s ability to … continue the discussions with the developer,” he said.
Bernal said that at this time it does not appear the city will be able to continue with the TIRZ for the riverfront development project because of where they are in their evaluation and the information that has been provided.
