Two of the three candidates for Edinburg mayor talked about taxes, UTRGV’s economic impact and their experience during a political forum last Thursday at Edwards Abstract and Title Co.
About 40 people attended the forum, which was hosted by Village in the Valley, a nonpolitical and nonprofit organization. The event was also streamed online via Facebook Live and on Zoom.
During the debate, candidates Gilbert Enriquez and Ramiro Garza Jr. were asked what they plan to do to reduce taxes in the City of Edinburg.
“I will support looking at it,” said Garza, who previously served as Edinburg city manager. “Our residents and our values have increased, which means it’s more taxes. But in this particular case, as I mentioned, our taxes have increased by four-and-a-half cents in the last three years. It is not just in the values. It has been the actual City of Edinburg.”
He believes that taxes can be reduced and that he will do everything possible to do so.
Enriquez, owner of E-CON Construction and a former Edinburg city councilman, agreed that property taxes should be reduced.
“There is a correlation between growth and tax rate, and when you are growing, our tax rate should be coming down,” he said. “We haven’t decreased our tax rate by over 20 years and, to me, that is unacceptable for the amount of growth that we have had.”
Enriquez said there is no reason for the property tax rate to be at 68 cents.
“Just like our surrounding [cities of] McAllen, Pharr and Mission, they don’t have the amount of growth that we have, so I believe it can be done.”
The candidates were also asked for their opinion on the expansion of athletic programs at UTRGV.
“This is an opportunity for the city of Edinburg,” Enriquez said. “When the medical school was brought here to Edinburg, that created a lot of new opportunities. The expansion of the university will help the economic opportunities for Edinburg.”
He wants to create new opportunities so that more people can shop in Edinburg.
Garza said expansion of the athletics programs would be a popular economic impact for the city.
“Hopefully, that as a mayor, we can partner with them and the UT System to really invest in this program,” he said.
The candidates also were asked why people should vote for them.
“I have 20 years of experience in the city government,” Garza said. “I understand the personnel, I understand the ordinances and the inner workings of the state government because my job is there and that’s what I like to work with. I understand what the day-to-day responsibilities as a mayor and volunteer feel like when you are volunteering and helping the city.”
Garza said he believes he has what it takes to make the City of Edinburg run in a better direction.
“If you want fairness, if you want transparency, if you want accountability, I have been fighting for those characteristics since 2017,” Enriquez said. “You can see me online in every single meeting asking questions. I hold people accountable. I ask for fairness.”
He said those are the most important aspects for growth and new opportunities for the city.
“If you are looking for someone that is going to fight for you, that’s me,” Enriquez said. “I’m the candidate. I’m the one that will fight for you.”
Marsha Terry, co-founder and co-president of Village in the Valley, said the purpose of the debate was to “educate the citizens … about the candidates that are running for office within their city.”
“I feel a lot of the times when people go to the polls, myself personally, I don’t know who the candidates are, I don’t know why they’re running, I just see their names and I’m thinking maybe I should vote for that person,” Terry said. “We want to try to eliminate that and have people make more educated decisions about who they are choosing to vote for.”
Asked why incumbent Mayor Richard Molina did not attend the event, Terry replied that he had a conflict with
the schedule.
“This is not our first time doing this,” she said. “We email all the candidates that are running for all the offices. So, in McAllen we emailed all the candidates and in Edinburg we did the same thing. We can not guarantee who is going to show up or not. You can decline and, so, Richard Molina had a conflict on the schedule and declined to be able to attend the debate.”
The mayoral election will take place Nov. 2.
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