Back on the ballot

Early voting for the May 7 Texas Constitutional Amendment Election begins Monday with propositions on a property tax limit reduction for elderly and disabled residents, increased homestead exemption for school district property taxes, and the Cameron County Venue Project makes a return to the ballot in a special election.

In an interview with The Rider, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. said the reason for bringing the venue project back to the ballot is because it ended up not passing by a small number of votes in the November election.

“So, the commissioners court and many of the supporters felt that we probably could have done a better job of informing the public and we thought that it would be well served to bring it back sooner rather than later,” Treviño said, “And again, the sooner we can get the authorization to use the venue tax on this project, then the sooner we can move on developing the project and see where it takes us.”

The Rider confirmed with Anthony Lopez, assistant county administrator, that the venue project fell short of 66 votes in the Nov. 2 election.

“One of the comments that I’ve gotten over the last several months was ‘I didn’t realize it was on the ballot,’ ‘I didn’t know it was on the ballot,’ ‘You guys should’ve done a better job,’” Treviño said. “But, part of the issue is we cannot utilize public funds to advocate one way or the other for a project that we put on the ballot, for example, as a county. So, all we could do in the fall and all we are doing now in the spring is, from the county perspective, is just informing the general public, the electorate, that there is a ballot proposition to be considered.”

Asked how much the arena will cost, he replied the county’s estimate is about $100 million.

“But, a lot of things have changed over the last year, including the cost of numerous materials,” Treviño said. “So, we’re not sure what it’s going to cost, but this is just a part of it. The venue tax, the hotel, motel and rental car tax was never designed nor planned to pay for the entire project. It cannot pay for the entire project.”

“If at the end of the day, we’re not able to have enough money to pay for the construction utilizing the venue tax, utilizing the TIRZ, which is the tax increment reinvestment zone from the developer, and then utilizing a public-private partnership to make up the difference, whatever that amount is, well then, you know, we won’t be able to move forward until we have that addressed and taken care of. We’re not going to start a project that we can’t pay for or fund utilizing all of the different resources that will be available to us both from a public and a private standpoint.”

The county judge said the arena will be a multi-use facility and part of the reason for its creation is to be able to host large-scale events such as concerts, sporting events and both high school and college graduations.

Asked what would be next if it fails at the polls again, Treviño said he is staying positive that it will not have to be brought back again because it is going to pass this time.

“I have a message to all voters,” Treviño said. “Obviously, it’s important that any time there’s an election, that you get out and exercise your right to vote because it’s not only a right and obligation, it’s our responsibility any time there is an election. This is something that is going to take a while to get done but more importantly it is something planning and looking towards the future. 

“I think our community here in Cameron County is one that’s very excited at the moment in regards to all the wonderful things that are going on such as SpaceX and what it’s brought to the area, the attention, the tourism, the excitement and the inspiration. So, this is kind of part of it, and I think that it’s critical that people start believing that when we work together we should be able to work to get those things that other communities already have.”

He also said that for the most part, young people are not the most engaged voters and it is critical that they take advantage of the opportunity to vote and make this project a reality because they can be the difference in whether this proposition passes or not.

“But this is an opportunity for all of the people who say we don’t have enough things to do, to help us make the arena a reality and, therefore, another tourist attraction, which is part of the planned development that’s already being done out there,” Treviño said. “It’s gonna be a residential, multifamily, it’s gonna have retail, open style retail shops, and hotels, and restaurants, and bars and nightclubs. All of these things are gonna happen but imagine being able to do all that and go to a show at the same time here in Cameron County. I think it’s exciting and I would hope that everybody would get behind it because this is a quality-of-life issue, an economic development issue, and something positive for the community and it should be a uniting issue as opposed to a dividing one.”

Mark Kaswan, UTRGV associate professor of political science, provided a closer reading of the propositions on the Constitutional Amendment Election ballot on May 7 and said he is confident that both will pass.

Kaswan said Proposition 1 on the ballot proposes a property tax limit reduction for elderly and disabled residents, which corrects an error that the Texas Legislature made in 2019.

Essentially, in 2019 the Legislature passed a property tax cut that was not passed to people who were 65 and older. 

“So, they didn’t get to enjoy the benefit of the tax cut,” Kaswan said. “So, what this proposition is doing is it is correcting that error.”

If passed, Proposition 2 on the Special and General elections ballot, will exempt more of a property’s value than before for property taxes. 

In Texas, if a resident owns and lives in their home, they may declare a homestead exemption, where the first $25,000 of appraised value is exempt from the property tax. 

“What this exemption would do is increase that exemption from $25,000 to $40,000,” Kaswan said.

The last time there was an increase was in 2015, when the exemption went from $15,000 to $25,000.

Asked why this is being considered now, Kaswan replied, “Texas has a budget surplus and they feel like they have more money than they need, and this is a way that they can reduce taxes on people.”

Being that Texas does not require residents to pay an income tax, residents pay more in property taxes, he said.

“Because the state is flush with cash … they want to return a portion of that money to the taxpayers,” Kaswan said.

However, one of the primary beneficiaries of property tax revenue is public schools.

Kaswan said there is a provision in the bill that states the Legislature will cover all or part of the cost of the school districts. However, it does not state for how long.

According to the Texas Tribune, the reimbursement to public schools will cost the state $600 million annually. 

“And what happens when the state does not have a budget surplus,” Kaswan asked rhetorically. “The concern is that this is going to really hurt funding for public education.”

Early voting continues through May 3. For information on where to vote in Cameron and Hidalgo counties, visit https://www.cameroncountytx.gov/elections/index.php/locations/ and https://www.hidalgocounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/58589/EV-May-2022-Schedule-HTML?bidId=.