FOR "DO NOTHING" GARCIA, THE UNKINDEST $75,000 CUT

By Juan Montoya
Apparently, the heat got to be too much for the board of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority and they passed their 2013-2014 budget minus a $75,000 salary supplement paid to assistant Cameron County administrator David Garcia.
But not to worry that poor Garcia won;t be able to draw on that beer money anymore, he still has a few places where he can collect his cash in the form of five departments in the county.
Garcia, being a man of many talents, can still draw a pretty penny from other departments in the county. He, of a charmed existence, has this (give or take a couple of bucks) at his disposal:

Planning and Inspection (asst.): $56,089

Veterans Bridge (Assistant): $16,222

Los Indios Bridge (Asst.): $16,222

Gateway Bridge (Asst.): $17,121

Total (County) $105,654

Now, losing a $75,000 piece of cash is not a nice thing, we're sure. But the question now is: What is he going to do now that he has to put in his time at doing something?  He won;t need to travel anymore as he did for the CCRMA. He might even have to (gasp) work for a change. We understand Arnold Flores, a former legislative assistant to the senator, has the legislative angle covered. Maybe we can build another bridge to give the man something to do. On the other hand, maybe he can continue doing what he does best: nothing.
Garcia's bloated salary has apparently irked some elected officials and judges who say that if the county can pay someone that kind of dough, why not them. A case in point is Sheriff Omar Lucio, who oversees some 500 employees and receives much less than Garcia or his boss Pete Sepulveda.
Lucio and some of the judges will go before the salary grievance committee to make their case for additional compensation. County commissioners, who have been aware of the double dipping by Garcia, Sepulveda and at least three other county employees with the CCRMA will be hard pressed to explain why they have been paying Garcia what to many seems exorbitant amounts of money while others – like Lucio with much more responsibilities – is not.
"The sheriff almost went through the roof when he found out what Garcia was getting paid," said a county staffer. "Even without the $75,000 from the CCRMA, he's getting paid more than all the commissioners, the county judge, and Lucio. That's been carrying on from administration to administration and no one has done anything about it. It could be that the time has come."