During a special meeting last Tuesday, the Edinburg City Council heard from residents who voiced their concerns on how the city spends money.
The special meeting was held to conduct the second public hearing on a proposed property tax revenue increase for Fiscal Year 2019, which begins Oct. 1, but the majority of the comments were made during the public comment section of the meeting.
“It seems like we’re always paying taxes, and it’s always more and more and more … but I’m not seeing much from the city,” said Heriberto Anaya, a concerned property owner.
Mayor Richard Molina asked Anaya to specify what he was lacking.
“I live on Owassa Road,” Anaya said. “… My main concern is in regards to the Owassa project. The city annexed us here about three years ago under the understanding that we were going to be provided with all of the utilities. … We’re still pending most of those things.”
Anaya explained the City of Pharr has provided him with water for the last 30 years, and he pays his bill to Pharr.
“We do not have water service from the City of Edinburg,” he said.
Anaya told the mayor he hopes the council can find a solution.
Mike Mesa, a consultant for local cities, voiced his concern regarding the amount of money spent on drainage projects.
“I see you’re wanting to issue bonds for $30 million, $20 million for drainage,” Mesa said.
He explained his concern is that when he tallies up the project costs, the city will spend $19.5 million.
“I’m developing projects in two local cities, and the engineers on those projects are telling me, those estimates, you need to raise by 10 to 15 percent at the most,” Mesa said.
He asked the councilmembers if they would be able to complete the drainage projects with $20 million.
“I cannot stress this enough, that you get your staff to apply for [state] grants,” Mesa said.
He suggested the city apply to grant programs by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
During the meeting, Molina also asked about taxes.
“Are we increasing taxes, for the record?” Molina asked.
“No, we are not increasing tax rates,” replied Ascencion Alonzo, the city’s director of Finance. “The vote will be on September the fourth.”
During the second public hearing on the proposed tax revenue increase, Fern McClaugherty spoke against the hike.
“You see how the public is hurting, and our thing with the tax rate is, you could lower it, one penny, half a penny, or something,” said McClaugherty, a member of the Objective Watchers of the Legal System.
As reported Aug. 24 in The Rider, although the 2018-2019 proposed tax rate will remain at $0.6350, if adopted, it will increase property tax revenues by 4.03 percent over the effective tax rate. The property tax revenue increase is attributed mainly to property value increase, new improvements and new annexations.
