YEAR IN REVIEW: Cameron County works for balanced budget

For Cameron County, getting the dollars and cents to add up proved to be a challenge.

The 2011-2012 fiscal year budget was a demanding test for Cameron County Commissioners Court as it worked to develop and finalize the budget for the new fiscal year, which started Oct. 1.

Commissioners Court faced a projected $3.1 million shortfall in revenues in the upcoming budget when the court found itself trying to balance a $72.3 million budget.

In September, the court approved a two-cent increase in the property-tax rate. It also hiked international bridge tolls.

Later into the new fiscal year, the court also adopted increases in inspection fees.

As reported, County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said the county had to pay for bonds Commissioners Court approved in June for county projects, pay back money pulled from the Road and Bridge Fund to balance budgets from previous years, and replenish county reserves.

The court touted that cuts had been made to the budget, including eliminating car allowance for non-elected officials, decreasing the amount of contribution the county paid for employees’ health insurance, raising the pedestrian and truck crossing rates at the international bridges and reducing the food contracts for inmates because of the reduction in inmate population.

The court said that it did not have the authority to implement a sales tax as a way to balance the budget as opposed to raising property taxes.

A stream of elected public officials who requested salary increases either abandoned their requests given budgetary constraints or due to public sentiment in view of the dire economic situation that the county found itself in.

But that was not the only challenge the court faced – particularly when it dealt with one of their own.

A situation proved to be a very uncomfortable for all members of the court, particularly for Pct. 2 Commissioner Ernie Hernandez Jr.

His brother-in-law Roberto Cadriel, it was claimed, was able to get a job with the county after an employee took the employment test for him because he allegedly could not pass it. Hernandez said he didn’t know anything about it.

Cameron County didn’t address the possible legality. The city of Brownsville Police Department didn’t think it was the agency that should handle it. The situation was bounced to Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos where the case is pending.

And, as officials aligned themselves, the county’s realignments were in disarray.

Confusion abounded on Cameron County Commissioners Court that eliminated the Pct. 4 and 7 constable posts, and also did away with two justices of the peace when it realigned precincts to equalize them based on population and to realize savings.

“It can get complicated," Roger Ortiz, administrator of the Cameron County Election and Voter Registration Department said at the time.

The court also eliminated the corresponding JP 4 and 7 positions, but the political backlash resulted in reinstating the justices of the peace posts.

Of the consolidation initiative and the logic behind it, Hernandez, who was involved in the process, said: "There was no real rhyme or reason except that we decided that we were going to merge, and it was basically the large fish eating the small fish."

Also making news in 2011:

- Commissioners Court considered hiring more jailers to man more beds at the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito as a way to address the high cost of housing inmates elsewhere. The county now is spending slightly more than $200,000 a month to house inmates in Zapata and Brooks counties. The Commissioners Court said that if the money were used to hire 17 to 24 jailers, a pod that contains about 128 beds could be opened at the detention center, adding to its present capacity.

- Commissioners Court in June selected former Brownsville municipal Judge Kip V. Johnson Hodge as the new justice of the peace Pct. 2, Place 2. Johnson Hodge filled the position left vacant by the passing of JP Tony Torres. Torres held the position for about 20 years until he was defeated in 2004. He ran for the position again in 2006 and held the office until his April 22 death.

- With the county facing budget issues in July, the decision to spend $2,450 on two portraits of Cameron County District Clerk Aurora de la Garza and County Clerk Joe Rivera came under fire. The portraits were to be hung in the inside the San Benito County Annex Building that was named after the longtime elected county officials and dedicated earlier this year. The Commissioners Court voted 3 to 2 in favor of paying the invoice. Commissioners Sofia C. Benavides, Hernandez and Dan Sanchez voted in favor, while Cascos and Precinct 3 Commissioner David Garza voted against.

- The first section of South Texas’ first toll road opened in March, providing some motorists with a quicker alternative to reach their destination. The Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority opened the new SH 550 Toll Road overpass, which crosses over the intersection of Paredes Line Road, and Union Pacific Railroad near Brownsville. While SH 550 Toll Road is geared toward commercial traffic since it will link up to the Port of Brownsville, the destination of many tractor-trailer rigs, other motorists may use it as well.

- The Commissioners Court approved an interlocal agreement between South Padre Island and the Laguna Madre Water District. The agreement includes the construction of a mixed use of retail, office, entertainment, food service and hospitality facilities. The agreement called "Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone" is said to be a $12 million project that would be comprised of vacant land and some substandard and blighted structures throughout the Island. The proposed zone would include the existing South Padre Island Convention Centre and the right of way of Laguna Street between Marlin and Swordfish.

- Cameron County has a new chief emergency officer following the resignation of Johnny Cavazos, who held the position for about four years. Cavazos resigned in April for personal reasons; his replacement is former Rio Hondo Police Chief Humberto Barrera Jr. Barrera served as police chief for about a year before resigning from the position to take a job with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office.

- Commissioners Court voted to rename the Highway 48 Boat Ramp after ICE Special Agent Jaime Jorge Zapata. Zapata, 32, of Brownsville, worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was killed in February in Mexico in an attack by members of the Zetas drug cartel while driving along Highway 57 in the state of San Luis Potosí. Cascos placed the item on the agenda. Cascos learned that Zapata and his brothers loved to fish and thought renaming the boat ramp would be a nice gesture for the county.