GOWEN READY TO VOTE HER EX-HOME A CITY TAX EXEMPTION

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

In today's meeting of the City of Brownsville Commission, Rose Gowen will vote on giving a seventh year of historic tax exemption to the new owners of her recently-sold house while continuing to splurge millions in tax dollars to her pet project of criss-crossing the city with hike and bike trials to address obesity, diabetes (fill in the banks), etc.

She accomplished that through a 100 percent tax exemption based on the historical designation of her home on 155 Calle Anacua in Brownsville's posh Rio Viejo Subdivision appraised at a value of $368,491 in 2018 for the last six years. Now, we are learning that the Gowens have sold their home to unnamed buyers who inherit the tax-free status. If you notice, the name and property values and taxes due to the city have been blanked out in the agenda packet.

It's a lot easier to sell a home with a historical designation because one of the best selling points is not having to pay city taxes and only half of school district taxes. 

The 100 percent exemption on the home means she paid no taxes to the City of Brownsville, Brownsville Navigation District, Cameron County, and Texas Southmost College. She, like everybody else, have to pay taxes to the South Texas ISD.

In fact, since 2017, the year she was reelected to office and until the sale, the Gowens paid zero taxes to any of the above-named governmental entities and districts.

Gowen's historical exemption capped her taxes at$3,921 on a taxable value of $334,992, or 56.94 percent after their homestead exemption that reduced the taxable value to $158,684.

The Gowens wanted – and the Texas Historical Commission approved – a historical plaque for...their home.

Was it built in the 1800s? The early 1900s perhaps? Maybe at the turn of the Century?

No, it was actually built – although not by her or her family – in 1961. Since the plaques are limited to structures with historical significance that are more than 50 years old, this one – already on the National Registry in the category of "ethnic heritage" for historical sites – barely squeaked through with 58 years. When the plaque was granted it was 56.

And what is the historical significance of the Garcia House? According to the 26-page narrative accompanying the National Registry application, it was the single-family domestic dwelling of Estela Cueto and Martín Enrique García, and is of Southern Colonial style domestic architecture.

Of course, this can be said of a whole lot of homes in Brownsville, and in fact, there are many of much older than this one. But the narrative relies on the house's "Ethnic Heritage" qualities. It states that it meets that criteria because it demonstrates how the South Texas cattle rancher and Brownsville civic leader and businessman, Martín E. García, and his wife, Estela Cueto García, contributed to the perpetuation of a social identity through domestic architecture that affiliated them with other elite South Texas ranching families, several of whom were also of Mexican descent.

But that's not all. The houses' association with the Mexican-American ranching "elite" makes it a noteworthy example of Brownsville homes where the Good People lived. In fact, some of the artifacts in the house, the narrative continues, came from the homes of the likes of Frank Yturria and other notables here.

The García House incorporates material salvaged from the house that M. E. García’s maternal grandparents, Felicitas Treviño-Domínguez and Francisco Yturria-Navarro, whose homes were built in Brownsville about 1854, the narrative states.

There's more.

"Especially associated with this period was the construction of houses for the Valley’s Anglo-American elite, often employing Regional American house types, such as the California Monterrey suburban house type, to continue to suggest through architecture a connection to the border’s Hispanic heritage."

In other words, the home deserves a historical plaque because Good People live there and Good People still live there today. Well, she is a Zavaletta (with two Ts or one?, we forget) after all.
It's funny how these folks feel like they are entitled to be treated like the Anglo-American "elite" and expect that the taxes of the "little" people be at their disposal.

In fact, this penchant for listing their properties as historical extends to the Harry and Reba McNair residence on 39 Sunset Drive which is listed at an appraised value of $350,828 and also was 100 percent exempt from city, BND, TSC, or Cameron County taxes.

And the McNair family did not pay city, BND, TSC, or Cameron County taxes on their three warehouse buildings on E. Fronton with an aggregate appraised value of $441,871, unlike their neighbors who did.

In fact, they were able to finagle getting a city commission vote to change the historical name of El Fronton Street to the McNair Family Drive.

But it's not only the Gowen and the McNairs who have shifted the burden of city taxes to the lesser mortals. There are others like former mayors Trey Mendez, Tony Martinez, etc., See, if you are a part of the Good People you can have your cake and eat theirs, too.