DID COUNTY KILL PARKS GOOSE THAT LAID GOLDEN EGGS?

By Juan Montoya
In this month's meeting of the Cameron County Commissioners Court, a bare majority (3-2) voted to double the entrance fees to Isla Blanca Park to raise the $23-odd million dollars Parks Director Joe Vega said he needed to implement the master improvement plan.
About $16 million would go to improvements at Isla Blanca Park, $3 million to Andy Bowie, and another $4 million to E. K. Atwood Park. None of the funding included the RV sections of the parks.
Vega introduced Dave Gordon of Estrada Hinojosa Financial Consultants who recommended that the commissioners implement the doubling of the entrance fees from $5 to $10 per car. The increase would go into effect January 1, 2016.
Other fees that would be increased would be the 30-day pass from $18 to $36; the annual pass from $53 to $100; the Veterans Daily fee from $2.50 to $5; the Veterans 30-day pass from $9 to $18; the Veterans annual pass from $26.50 to $53; the Bus pass from $15 to $30 and the recovery fee from $5 to $10.
Already, residents in Port Isabel and South Padre Island are fuming over the increase since there was scant, if any, public input into the process. As it is, the so-called "master plan" is not set in stone and neither is the financial plan to issue the bonds. Even as the increase in fees goes into effect, it won't be until sometime after 2017 before park goers will see any visible signs of improvements.
"If we approve the increase today," Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez asked Vega, "how long would it be before we would see any improvements?"
"We're probably talking about two years...," Vega replied, explaining that there would have to be time to complete engineering and architects, bid specs, as well as the issuing and selling of the Certificates of Obligation.
"I agree with Joe that 24 to 30 months is reasonable." said County Judge Pete Sepulveda.
Dominguez pointed out that the increased entrance fees to Isla Blanca would raise about $70 million over the 25-year period it would take to pay off the COs. The COs would raise about $32 million in the first 15 to 20 years. Why not raise the fees incrementally and not scare off the customers so that the projections could be met?, he asked.
"You've got to take these numbers with a grain of salt," said Gordon. "These are just projections...Just like the master plan, this is somewhat of a living document.
Earlier Gordon had presented the overall financial situations saying that the past history of entrance fees were not trustworthy since they fluctuated over the years reviewed. Overall, the compounded annual growth rate was estimated at 5.7 percent over the past 13 years, Gordon explained.
Weather – such as Hurricane Dolly and unusually wet summers – also impacted the income from entrance fees, he said. After Dolly, entrance fees dropped by $360,000.
"It's not been  steady rate," he said. "It's been kind of up and down."
Gordon said that based on the first nine months of 2016, the $5 increased entrance fee would produce and additional $1.4 million for the parks and another $1.7 for 2017.
If the commissioners chose to issue the $23 Certificates of Obligation in August 2016, the debt service in the first year would be $1.612 million at an interest rate of approximately 3.18 percent. Currently, the debt service paid by parks is about $800,000 that declines to about $500,000 in 2031 when the COs mature.

Vega told the commissioners that he had spoken to the Texas General Land Office officials in Austin a week before and that they were "in favor" of making the improvements. However, he hedged when asked by Dominguez if the GLO had approved the increases to the entrance passes which could act to restrict public access to the beach.
"As long as they were justified..," Vega equivocated.
"I have gotten comments from the public tell me that they wouldn't mind if we charged them more if we had the amenities," Sanchez said.
Dominguez, however, told Gordon that he needed to explain to the community the reasons for the increases of the fees.
"We are one of the poorest communities in the country," he told him. "So, I need you to work with the people and prepare them...and explain why...get ahead of it before they turn on you and boycott our parks, because if they decide to boycott our parks, there goes your funding source."
Nonetheless, Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza and Pct. 4 commissioner Dan Sanchez urged the rest of the court to approve the motion to raise the fees and Sepulveda joined to approve.
Only Dominguez and Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides voted against the abrupt increase.