County gives feds access to land

Cameron County Commissioners on Tuesday voted to give the federal government access to property owned by the county for the proposed border fence.

However, there are some stipulations, which include allowing the county to video tape the areas to be surveyed prior to the actual work being done.

Commissioners Court opted to grant access to the federal government rather than fight the issue in court.

Voting to grant the federal government access were County Judge Carlos H. Cascos, commissioners Sofia C. Benavides, David A. Garza and Edna Tamayo. Voting against was Commissioner John Wood.

Twelve county landowners have already been sued by the Department of Homeland Security, who won a court order to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers temporary access to 10 of the disputed areas through July 23.

County leaders, however, did not respond to a letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dated Dec. 7 seeking access to its land. This is the same course of action many property owners followed, before they were named in the lawsuit.

The federal government allows property owners 30 days to comply with requests or face litigation.

In other business, Commissioners Court also opted to purchasing additional equipment for various county departments, but the issue did not come without debate.

Cascos said although he knows some of the equipment is needed, he’s concerned about the county taking on additional debt, without knowing if the county can afford it.

He pointed out again that the county still has to figure out how to fund two new state district courts that will cost the county about $1.4 million.

Some of the items on the list include 12 patrol cars for the constables and sheriff’s department as well as bulletproof vests for constables and deputies.

Also on the list was a new computer server for the county, which was described as being held together with “band aids.”

Wood said the county has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the deputies and constables who patrol the county and urged the county to buy the bulletproof vests.

Budget officer Xavier Villarreal said he doesn’t know how much revenue the county will be receiving, but did acknowledge there would be another drop in bridge revenue, which has continued to spiral down.

“This is going to be one of the most difficult budgets we will ever have” to work on Villarreal said, referring to the fiscal year 2008-2009 budget.

After some discussion, Commissioners Court decided to purchase equipment requested by the sheriff’s department, constables and tax office, but it tabled buying some $292,110 worth of equipment for the computer center.

Commissioners Court also voted in favor of using excess passport revenues to pay for additional help and overtime for the District Clerk’s Office to help process the documents.

The District Clerk’s Office is currently processing passport applications for passports and passport cards for area residents.

The office will have a passport fair on Saturday and already has 300 individuals signed up for the event said Eric Garza, criminal department supervisor for the District Clerk’s Office.

As of January, the District Clerk’s office had already collected more than $165,000 for passports and $29,985 for passport pictures.