CCRMA: A COUNTY SHADOW GOVERNMENT IN THE MAKING: A POWER GRAB OF TAXES FOR A NON VOTING ENTITY

By Juan Montoya
Few people noticed what happened last Tuesday during the Cameron County Commissioners Court meeting when they approved an action item to "approve the creation of a countywide transportation reinvestment zone."
The item was placed on the agenda by county administrator David Garcia who conveniently was out of town looking out for our interests and fighting the good battle against the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
In the meanwhile, the Cameron County Judge Pete Sepulveda and the four other commissioners were discussing the item with Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority financial officer Adrian Rincones. It was obvious that the majority on the commission were in the dark about what it would obligate the county to deliver. Sepulveda abstained from voting as he is the chief executive officer of the CCRMA.
The county's residents already pay the CCRMA. The CCRMA is funded by tagging on an additional $10 fee from every car registration paid to Cameron County.
For Fiscal Year 2014 the county paid $2,921,980 out to CCRMA on vehicle registration fees. For Fiscal Year 2015 year to date Oct. 2014 thru July 2015, the county has paid CCRMA $2,466,770.

The CCRMA projects that it will raise $1,652,954,462 from five Transportation Reinvestment Zones in Cameron County (That's $1 billion.) The CCRMA is allowed to take a percentage of any additional property values from land along their transportation improvement projects such as the toll road to the Port of Brownsville.

Now, with the entire county tax base at their command, this figure will probably be dwarfed in that time.
The Governor and the Commissioners Courts of county governments in any of the eight RMAs appoint directors for the agency. Directors of RMAs serve two-year terms and answer only to the politicians who appoint them.
The powers granted to the CCRMA under state law are extensive. Compared with TxDOT, RMAs have a virtual carte blanche on a number of important powers relating to transportation projects and facilities. In fact, the CCRMA is even able to build, own, and operate utilities. With tolling authority, bonding authority, building authority, and practically no voter accountability, the CCRMA is an ideal vehicle for a taxpayer funded, special interest feeding frenzy.

Although legal counsel has told us in the past that his $230,000 salary is paid by the CCRMA and not from the county, the salary schedule for the county judge's office shows that Sepulveda receives $64,062 which includes a supplement of 5,400 from another county fund.:Sepulveda, according to the county's legal counsel, has chosen not to accept the additional $64,062.
As incongruous as this set up might seem to the casual observer, the consequences of the setting up of the reinvestment zone are even more dubious.
According to the Texas Dept, of Transportation, "The local governing body designates a zone in which it will promote a transportation project. Once the zone is created, a base year is established and the incremental increase in property tax revenue collected inside the zone is used to finance a project in the zone."
Guess what?
The commissioners, in their wisdom, designated the entire county as a transportation reinvestment zone. Rincones was not shy about telling the commissioners that between 10 to 20 percent (no one is sure of the amount) the increment in taxes after the base year was set (2015) would go to the CCRMA to fund their projects.
If 2015 is set as the base year, then that percentage of any any additional taxes in the appraisal values of properties or any new industries coming to the county (read multi-billion LNG terminals) would revert ot eh CCRMA coffers.
Not that they don't need it. Between debt to state agencies and bond issues, the CCRMA is up to its neck in hock. It's latest financial statement shows that its liabilities exceed $123,980,559.
Under the Transportation Code, "Not later than the 30th day before the date the commissioners court proposes to designate an area as a transportation reinvestment zone under this section, the commissioners court must hold a public hearing on the creation of the zone, its benefits to the county and to property in the proposed zone, and the possible abatement of ad valorem taxes or the grant of other relief from ad valorem taxes imposed by the county on real property located in the zone.
"At the hearing an interested person may speak for or against the designation of the zone, its boundaries, or the possible abatement of or the relief from county taxes on real property in the zone. Not later than the seventh day before the date of the hearing, notice of the hearing and the intent to create a zone must be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the county.
The county must also "designate the base year for purposes of establishing the tax increment base of the county; (5) establish an ad valorem tax increment account for the zone."
In other words, if the commissioners decide to designate the entire county as a "regional transportation zone," a percentage of any increment in county taxes will go into an account with the CCRMA for that zone, in this case, the entire county.
Commissioner Alex Dominguez objected that the county would forego the 10 to 20 percent of future property taxes to the CCRMA for a period of 20 to 50 years.
"My problem with it is delegating, say 15 to 20 percent of what would normally be the county's general revenue to a non-voting entity," Dominguez said.
Pct. 4 commissioner Dan Sanchez had no problem with that because he said that the commissioners appointed the CCRMA board members. At least two, Horacio Barrera and Ruben Gallegos Jr. are from the Brownsville area.
Barrera is an attorney and law firm partner with Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez. He is the one who negotiated the purchase of the $2.3 million Casa del Nylon by the city from Abraham Galonsky in downtown Brownsville.
Gallegos is the son of Ruben Gallegos Sr., the founder of International Educational Services. IES is an outfit that provides boarding and educational assistance to unaccompanied illegal minors before they are sent north to the homes of relatives in other parts of the United States. In Judge Andrew Hanen's assessment, the government's payment to achieve this makes them no different than the coyotes who got them across the river in the first place.
These are the people that Sanchez says he trusts to take care of the hen house.
Public hearings on the commissioners actions is required by state law before they go into effect. Hopefully cooler minds will prevail which will protect the county taxpayers.