Mayor ‘imagines’ a different approach to master planning

An $870,000 contract to develop a “comprehensive master plan” is a luxury our city can’t afford, the mayor said this week while still recognizing the need for planning at a more reasonable cost.

Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. said that he supports the plan’s concept, but, “right now, as we speak, we have a (projected) budget deficit.”

About 60 percent of the city’s roughly $113 million budget goes to public safety, 13 percent to pay debts, leaving 27 percent for operations and to meet “quality of life” issues, such as new recreation venues.

Not including new personnel requests, equipment purchases and special projects with a price tag of $41 million, the city is projecting a $1.4 million deficit for the new fiscal year that begins Oct.1. Finance Director Pete Gonzalez said Wednesday that no money was allocated for this project this fiscal year.

“It’s hard to address those things we can imagine and want,” Ahumada said. “On the practical side, with the city doing it itself, it can budget and plan within its means.

“As much as we want to imagine all things good,” he said, “how are we going to pay for it?”

Speaking against an expensive contract already signed for “Imagine Brownsville!” Ahumada this week asked commissioners to consider alternatives for developing the 10-year plan to address city growth and improvements.

He said the city cannot afford to keep the contract but he doesn’t appear to have enough backing from commissioners to go in a different direction.

His suggestions include having city staff develop the plan internally, or partnering with the University of Texas at Brownsville-Texas Southmost College to develop the plan in exchange for $100,000 in scholarships from the city.

“Maybe if ‘Imagine Brownsville!’ had a provision regarding pet needs, he would support it,” former mayor Eddie Treviño Jr. said Wednesday, commenting on Ahumada’s demonstrated support of pet-friendly initiatives. “There is no reason why he can’t include that.”

Treviño is the author of the “Imagine Brownsville!” concept, a plan that was approved unanimously under his leadership, including thumbs up from four commissioners now serving under Ahumada. Treviño’s understanding Wednesday was that funds already had been budgeted for the project.

Commissioners Charlie Atkinson, Ricardo Longoria Jr., Edward Camarillo and Carlos Cisneros voted with Treviño to contract the Ambiotec Engineering Group in late 2006 as consultants on the project that the ex-mayor calls imperative to show investors and state and federal legislators that the city is preparing for the future.

Treviño said he planned for “Imagine Brownsville!” since he took office as mayor in 2003 but “politics kept preventing it from moving forward.” Its launch was announced in March, just prior to his departure from office.

Five months since the plan went public, the first in a series of community input sessions were held this week. The last of four workshops is from 6 to 8 p.m. today in the Rivera High School gym.

Meanwhile, Ahumada stood nearly alone on the limb for rethinking the plan at Tuesday’s meeting, except for support from Commissioner Leo Garza who thought other government bodies could help pay for the project.

“It’s all the city,” Garza said, asking how much money the Brownsville Independent School District and other governmental entities would contribute.

City Planner Ben Medina said Wednesday that the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp. is contributing $170,000 to the project, the Greater Brownsville Incentive Corp. is giving up to $250,000, and the city’s general fund will absorb $450,000, which would be budgeted over a two year period.

Community Development Block Grant funds could be tapped for cost overruns, Medina said.

“Why would we expect others to pay?” Commissioner Anthony P. Troiani asked. “This is our plan,” and one that would bring in larger investments that could infuse the city’s tax base without raising taxes, he said.

The commission proposed a .04 percent tax increase at the same meeting to meet the projected deficit in Gonzalez’s proposed budget that calls for the allocation of $145,000 from the city’s general fund for “Imagine Brownsville!”

A budget amendment was not made this fiscal year when the contract was approved, nor have invoices been presented, he said.

Ambiotec has not collected any money on the contract. “We haven’t had deliverables yet,” Medina said.