GARCIA'S HINDSIGHT ON SOUTHMOST TAX OFFICE: 00-00

 

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

It was only last February 8 that current Brownsville Independent School District board member – and now one of the two candidates in a runoff election for Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector – Eddie Garcia told the host of the Brownsville Tech podcast Daniel Salinas that the expenditure to bring a satellite tax office to the burgeoning Southmost area was a waste of $ 3million in "nothing ."

He told podcaster Salinas that incumbent Tony Yzaguirre had said at the groundbreaking that Brownsville's Chief of Police Felix Sauceda had offered more space at the police substation there, in the same space the tax office had occupied for the last 11 years. Instead, Yzaguirre said that the county needed a larger office and that the commissioners court was already in the process of building a satellite facility across 30th Street where the water tank sat next to Cromack School.

This is about the only issue that Garcia has raised against Yzaguirre in this runoff campaign other than his "quality, not quantity" mantra which he repeats at every opportunity.

Well, events tend to come back and bite you in the butt, and this time it is no different. Turns out that if Yzaguirre had stayed at the small office at the police substation, which the police department also shared with the city's municipal court, the county's satellite tax office would be out on its ear.

That is exactly what happened after the county vacated the substation office and moved into the new tax office a block away and set up for business some three months ago. 

On May 1, Rene De Coss, Presiding Judge of the Municipal Court, wrote Yzaguirre that as the need for police services increase in the area, the space occupied there by the municipal court was needed by the P.D. and they needed to go.

"The services provided by your Southmost Tax office are essential to many of our residents, and we believe that integrating our operations would create a centralized hub that maximizes convenience and accessibility for all...We kindly request your consideration in providing a small dedicated space within your premises fpr citizens requiring assistance with municipal court matters," De Coss wrote Yzaguirre on May1. "This arrangement would allow us to continue serving the needs of our Southmost community effectively while fostering a seamless relationship."

The very next day, May 2, Yzaguirre requested County Judge Eddie Treviño and the commissioners court place an item on the May 7 agenda to consider the city's request. 

"I have looked at operations at our Southmost Tax Office Office and found that we have one of our employees in the reception area...(and) the area was designed (for future growth)and designed to have two individuals...It is equipped with an additional computer connection and an office chair," Yzaguirre wrote the commissioners court. "As you know, we had one of our employees in their current buildings for many years at no cost to the county. I recommend that we get authorization to provide a memorandum of understanding or an agreement...for this added service to the community."

This Tuesday, with District 2 city commissioner Brian Martinez present, the commissioners court granted De Coss' request immediately subject to approval of the county's legal department. 

City Commissioner Martinez told the court that he commended the court for "taking the initiative to bring integral services to Southmost," which lies within his district and that its establishment there would "result in convenience for the residents." 

And Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides said that spending money to provide services to an area that has long been neglected wasn't for "nothing." 

"You've been criticized (by Eddie Garcia) for spending $3 million for nothing,..This court doesn't go around spending money for nothing. We are glad that we can cooperate with our city partners and we are making full use of our new facility to provide services for our Southmost residents."