TONY MARTINEZ SINKS US FURTHER INTO DEBT

By Juan Montoya
Remember when Da Mayor Tony Martinez unveiled his grandiose plan to buy 25 percent of the Tenaska natural gar-fired power plant and pitch int to build it with private energy company Tenaska?
At the time he never said anything about heaping $325 million of debt on an already overburdened Brownsville Public utility Board ($200 million) , that rate hikes would be constant into the next six years, and that the bond ratings for the once-healthy PUB slide into "negative."
Instead, everyone on the city commission applauded and voted on the BPUB's request to issue the natural-gas bonds that would pay for construction of the 800 MW plant and a natural gas and a water pipeline from up the Valley.
 But even before the announcement of the plant's construction and PUB's "investment" in it, the city commissioners had already approved the rate hikes that would make the investment possible. No one – not one – commissioner spoke up against the massive debt being undertaken on the backs of the PUB ratepayers. And no one questioned how far down the road  it would be before the bond-rating agencies would begin to worry about the ability of the 80 percent of ratepayers in the nation's poorest city could stand the constant surge of rate hikes.
We tried, but to no avail.
We submitted a request for information from the PUB and instead received at least 14 pages in response from Davidson, Troilo, Ream and Garza, P.C. – attorneys for the city-owned utility – telling us that they'd rather not and that as a result of our request, it will be at least two months before the AG will have an answer to their objections.
Their local attorneys are listed as William Faulk III, Frank J. Garza and Lisa M. Gonzales.
"This Firm is general counsel for the Brownsville Public Utilities Board," the letter began.
Attached is a letter to the Texas Attorney General’s Office requesting a ruling on your Public Information Request to Nancy Tello of the Brownsville Public Utilities Board. Also attached is a letter to Mr. Greg Kelly of Tenaska Brownsville Partners informing him of the public information request.
"Generally, the Attorney General’s Office takes approximately two months to render an opinion. Once they have issued their opinion, we will forward you a copy for your records as well as immediately comply with any instructions we are given by that Office.
Thank you. Darlene M. Garcia, Legal Assistant to Frank J. Garza"
In a nutshell, the law firm echoed PUB's objections that they were challenging the release of the the agreement to the public because they plan to submit "factual evidence that the release of requested info would cause that party substantial harm."
BPUB CEO and General Manager John Bruciak said that PUB will pay for its 200 megawatts through a series of small rate increases over the next five years.

Those "small" increases (which by the way the Herald never reported until today's edition) were approved in December during a special meeting. They adopted upwards rate hikes that will see city residents pay a 36 percent increase in electric rates over the next three years, a 20 percent increase in water rates over the same period, and a 6 percent hike in waste water costs over two years.
Under the plan approved by both bodies, electric rates alone will go up by 14 percent by October 2013 and another 22 percent by October 2016.
And what does Leandro Garcia, PUB's chief financial officer say about this mounting debt? He said that the utility's financial adviser (who has a huge stake in the project in the form of commissions) will put together "the numbers" that will convince the Doubting Tomases that $535 million in debt for a utility serving the nation's poorest community is a good thing.
We're still awaiting the decision of the Texas Attorney General to learn the details on Tony Martinez's boondoggle. But even if we don't get the info, we are already paying for this insane incurrance of debt. Did anybody ask you whether you wanted to be encumbered by this? Did your city commissioner? Did the mayor?