GIVEN MARTINEZ'S PERFORMANCE, DOES CAPTAIN BOB HAVE A CHANCE?

By Juan Montoya

The City of Brownsville, enmeshed in a knotty budget crunch that has administrators looking skyward for relief, has conceded that it is living beyond its means.

Even with the usual transfers from the Public Utilities Board that has averaged some $10 million annually, it admits it cannot balance this coming year's budget without hacking off still more services or even (gasp) raising property taxes.

During the last city commission meeting, the city administration admitted that the projected $88.3 million budget they passed last year bloated to some $97.3 million in expenditures, ending the year with a $9 million shortfall over their projected revenues.

Assistant City Manager for finance Pete Gonzalez said downtown businesses had felt the downturn in the local economy after the Mexican business thy had grown accustomed to over the years had dried to a trickle. Further, with the cuts in funding from the state and federal governments, the burden for funding road projects and infrastructure usually paid by those entities had been thrown on the backs of the local taxpayers.

"We can't continue to go to PUB every time we have a need for funds," he said. "The violence in northern Mexico has dried downtown business to a trickle. Nobody wants higher taxes, but the money is going to have to come from somewhere."

Already, in the first months of the Martinez administration, he has resorted to the time-honored formula of generating funds without going to the taxpayers for a vote: the issuance of millions (in this case, $5.2 million) in certificates of obligation. And even though commissioner Ricardo Longoria argues that the debt will not increase property taxes, there is no arguing that the local taxpayer will still bear the load.

"It's a shell game," said a longtime city critic. "You can say we won't pay for it, but then again, isn't it us who end up paying for everything whether it's disguised as higher utility rates or sales taxes?"

This has made some local residents year for the return of Robert Sanchez, a local businessman and past chairman of the PUB. He also sits on the board of Cameron Works.

Sanchez has made a bid before for city commissioner, only to be turned down at the polls by the voters.

Now, given Martinez's abject performance, some think he might be looking more attractive to local residents.

"As soon as Martinez came into office the first thing he did was to incur millions in more debt for us to pay," said Casa Linda Subdivision resident Jorge Reyna.

"Capt. Bob has two flourishing restaurants, employs local people and generates millions for the local economy. What the hell, let's give him a try. He couldn't mess things up anymore than they are."