The Edinburg City Council vote on a proposed 5 cent increase in the property tax rate ended in a tie, which kept it from approving the $167.9 million budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020.
Councilmembers voted 2-2 on the proposed 0.685 cents per $100 valuation tax rate. Mayor Richard Molina and Mayor Pro-Tem David Torres voted in favor, while Councilmembers Gilbert Enriquez and Homer Jasso Jr. voted against. Councilmember Jorge Salinas was absent from the meeting.
“If you don’t have a tax rate, you cannot have a budget,” City Manager Juan Guerra told The Rider after the meeting. “So, it’s up to the elected officials to make sure that they have a tax rate that allows for a balanced budget while also respecting the taxpayer.”
Enriquez said he is not against the tax rate but is worried about the lack of information given to him and taxpayers.
“I voted against it because of the fact, the way that the city manager disseminates information,” he said. “I don’t think it’s transparent like he claims.”
Throughout the meeting, Enriquez said he had not seen or been given the budget numbers.
“It’s the elected officials’ right to not want to increase [taxes] by 5 cents, and I think that’s just the point of discussion right now, what should the tax rate be,” Guerra said. “Once they identify the tax rate, they’ll, hopefully, be able to pass a balanced budget and the upcoming fiscal year will, hopefully, take care of the resident.”
The council went into executive session to discuss the duties, responsibilities, remuneration and employment of City Secretary Ludivina Leal.
Leal was arraigned Sept. 4 on one charge of illegal voting in connection with the alleged voter fraud in the 2017 mayoral election for the City of Edinburg. More than 20 people have been arrested in the case, including Molina, who was arraigned earlier this year on charges of organized election fraud and 12 counts of illegal voting.
Enriquez made a motion to remove Leal from her position and appoint Administrative Assistant Tim Serna as city secretary. He asked City Attorney Omar Ochoa if Molina would have to abstain from voting.
Ochoa replied he did not believe it was a conflict of interest and that the mayor should not refrain from the vote. Enriquez’s motion failed after a 2-2 vote.
“It has everything to do with accountability,” Enriquez said after the meeting. “When I decided to run, and when I was elected and sworn in, I told everyone I was going to hold everyone accountable from top to bottom, including myself. I’m an elected official. Then it’s my duty to protect the taxpayer and to be their voice and to hold the administration and the people that we appoint, the people that we hire, accountable.”
The co-chair and members of the RGV Juneteenth Observance Planning Committee presented the council with an appreciation plaque in recognition of its participation in this year’s Juneteenth observance.
“We’re working with communities throughout the Rio Grande Valley to, hopefully, encourage them and help them celebrate Juneteenth as a permanent part of their annual festivals, observances and holidays,” said Raymond Howard, co-chair of the planning committee. “We want this to be certainly included in that menu of opportunities for the community, to learn about African-American history and to learn how that history has integrated into the multiculturalism of
the Valley.”
Juneteenth is an annual observance on June 19 to remember when Union soldiers enforced the Emancipation Proclamation and freed all remaining slaves in Texas in 1865.
“We don’t have to be a perfect community, but we are a strong community,” Howard said. “We’re stronger because we work together, we’re stronger because we recognize the strengths of all of its citizens and that we believe that including everyone is far more in the city’s interest than excluding others.”
