(Ed.'s note: Responding to rumors that the staff at the Cameron County Tax Assessor's Office had failed miserably at certification exams administered by the State of Texas, El Run-Rrun sought out department director Eddie Garcia and Chief Deputy Laura Gonzalez and learned instead that for the first time in the department's history, more than 18 of its countywide staff had aced the tests and had achieved an upgrade in their certification from County Tax Office Professionals to Professional County Collectors.)
By Juan MontoyaFor the first time in Cameron County history, more than a dozen and a half staff members at the Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office have upgraded their certification status with the State of Texas and have passed their certification exams to become Professional County Collectors.
This comes only 18 months after Cameron County Collector Eddie Garcia was sworn in January 1, 2025 with a campaign promise that he would upgrade the services to the public. One of those steps to provide improved and efficient service to the public was to upgrade the skills set of its staff and provide professional direction to the county's main and countywide satellite offices, Garcia said. No one failed.
The course work required to gain the certification range from basic education Department of Motor Vehicles courses that can be taken online, to in-person instruction that required staff members to travel upstate like a course on Ethics for County Tax-Assessor Collectors.
Mandatory-Constitutional /Statutory Duty are also courses required and include Budget Planning, Public Records Release, Management and Retention, Title Fraud Training, Motor vehicle Sales Tax and Fee Collection, and one in Voter Registration and Chapter 19 Funds training.
Elective courses required can also include Fundamentals of the American With Disabilities Act (ADA) and Manufactured Housing and Boat and Motor Titling.
"And every time the Texas Legislature meets, there's always some change in tax laws that you have to take into account," said Chief Deputy Gonzalez. "You've got to keep up with the changing tax law, and we're making sure our staff is up to date for us to comply."
Garcia said that in his years of service in the U.S. Air Force, his decades as a police officer with the Brownsville Police Department, serving as an elected member of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District, and his service on many community and non-profit boards, he has learned that an inclusive culture plays a major role to achieve the goals of any organization.
"Youi have to make your staff feel that they are an important part of the overall effort of this office," he said. "It is important for everyone to have the education that they need because they are the ones who are making the contact with the public on the ground. We are making sure they have the necessary education to make that contact effective."
As a testament to this cornerstone of the Garcia tax office policy, a wall inside the main office is adorned with top supervisory employees from throughout the county.
Even though both Garcia and Chief Deputy Gonzalez have passed their PCC certification courses, state law requires them to have been in office for at least two years before they are granted their certification. Staff members who have been there two years have already acquired it, but they must wait another six months to receive theirs.
"We are sharing the education with our staff as well," she said, crediting Pct. 2 county commissioner Joey Lopez for pushing through the request for training funds for the tax office personnel. To lower travel costs, she said that instructors were invited to travel to Cameron County instead of spending county funds to send staff members upstate.
"Joey supported our requests and made the motion for the commission to approve the training and travel funds. They have been very supportive as far as they can. We want all our staff to have the PCC certification just like us."
For Gonzalez, it has also been rewarding that she is the first female certified chief deputy in Cameron County. A previous one served a short time before leaving the tax office for Joe Rivera's county clerk's office. She is also the first female chief deputy to gain certification from the state since the first county tax assessor-collector James G. Browne in the 1870s, until the administration of Tony Yzaguirre.
She is not done yet, she said. She is also vying for certification as a Professional Deputy Assessor Collector (PDAC) issued by the Tax Assessor-Collectors Association of Texas. In order to be awarded the title of PDAC, the member must have previously earned the designations of Professional County Collector and County Tax Professional with advanced courses in Leadership, Security, Team Building, and Texas Law Making.
"We've been here only 18 months," Gonzalez said. "But we are making sure to uplift our certifications and those of our staff, our team."
