Dear Editor,
Last weekend I made a new friend. While I was out to dinner, a long-time resident of our town didn’t allow our prior non-affiliation to get in the way of an introduction; she politely asked if she could join me for a minute, sat down and offered me something I was grateful to receive — a piece of her mind.
Apparently it was something I said.
There is currently an item being debated at Marfa City Hall about whether or not property owners in Marfa’s “downtown” and industrial districts should be granted the right to use their property as both businesses and residences (example — having an apartment above a shop). I was advocating that the council adopt language that allows this to occur as a conforming use, and that this added incentive for investors of more modest means would allow old buildings to be used creatively in ways that add housing, thus allowing the taxing entities to raise more revenue from taxes and services. Because I presumed the mayor and council knew what I meant, since they pass the budget, I did not specify that I was speaking about raising tax revenue from NEW units, not raising anyone’s current taxes.
I understand everyone’s frustration with their higher property taxes. I recently served on Presidio County’s Appraisal Review Board. One of the most troubling of the common occurrences I encountered during the board’s tax hearings was listening to members of our community who could no longer afford to pay the taxes on property they and their families have owned here for generations.
There are two ways that the city can legally lower your taxes. First, the city can lower their expenses and pass the savings on to property owners via a lower tax rate (this is different from lowering your “taxable value.” The appraisal district is not legally at liberty to lower your value as a matter of discretion). The second way to lower everyone’s taxes is to generate new revenue in a targeted way that doesn’t increase expenses, which would allow the city to operate by collecting fewer dollars from each taxpayer. This comes from the idea that, for example, we only have one city manager, and so her salary would not increase because of adding a few new housing units … adding new taxable units to our rolls will allow each of us to pay a little less.
As a hypothetical example, let’s imagine the old Christopher’s store on El Paso Street being developed into several units instead of one giant store … the building has two entrances, meaning one entrance could be the entrance to a commercial enterprise, such as a cafe or shop, and the other entrance could be street access to a few one- or two-bedroom apartments.
Currently, according to the district’s latest numbers online, Christopher’s has an assessed value of only $156,710 despite being over 6,000 square feet. If the building were developed into productive units, each one- or two-bedroom apartment would be taxed at rates higher than the entire tax roll currently being collected by this building. Our taxes fund our school, the hospital, and our county — so increasing the revenue generated in our city helps those entities as well. In addition to the new taxes, each unit will pay for trash, sewer and utilities, and this will lower the administrative costs of these services proportionately for everyone. With new revenue being generated “downtown,” our local leaders can substantially lower our tax rate and give property owners some much needed relief.
Will this plan definitely work? It’s hard to say, but I argue that the city has had their current policies in place for many years, and yet we have arrived at this period of discontentment where housing is outrageously unaffordable and local legacy families are withering on the vine. We know what we are doing now isn’t working — it certainly won’t harm anything to try something new for a while downtown and see how successful it is. It could be just the thing we need.
Tony Georges
Marfa
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To the Editor,
The Rio Grande:
There was a time of joyful people who came and went from both sides. They crossed the Rio as they pleased, no longer, now the Rio cries. The crossings are like jungles, with danger, deceit, and lies. People suffer, and many times die. Much sadness, so the Rio cries. The want for Yanqui Dollars will be mostly the reasons why. They live for “It,” and die for “It.” The almighty “It” is why the Rio cries. Many live in anger and frustration. Evil players profit as days go by. Others couldn’t care less about it. How much longer must the Rio cry? Since January of 2021, many millions of illegal migrants crossed open U.S. borders. With them came a flood of illegal drugs. Thousands of Americans die each year from these drugs, and many U.S. politicians don’t seem to care. There was a time when outlaws threatened Americans, like cartels do now, who made the mistake of crossing the Rio Grande to attack New Mexico. Thousands of U.S. troops were sent to Mexico which put an end to it. So why isn’t this much worse state of affairs not being handled in the same way? Very much like the Mexican Federales, the U.S. federal government can also be seen as pathetically corrupt.
James R. Le Blanc
Fort Davis, Texas
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To the Editor:
On behalf of The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who contributed to Community Day and the high school art show this past weekend. In particular, I would like to thank the 19 student artists who created and displayed work as part of this year’s exhibition, I’d rather be in Marfa.
Congratulations to Ayden Alvarez, Antonio Borunda, Madison Cash, Esdras Flores, Tenessa Hinojos, Ximena Longoria, Eric Martinez, Samantha Martinez, Katana Melendez, Jose Muñoz-Bueno, Oscar Meraz, Austin Milligan, Kily Ortiz, Kiko Rosas, Andres Solis, Giselle Torres, Flavio Udave, Itzel Urrutia, and Asael Zubia. Thank you for sharing your work with us.
Thank you to Chinati’s incredible education department: Michael Roch, Pearl Hesselden, and Emily Fule. And thank you to the Marfa ISD team whose collaboration makes this annual event possible: Arturo Alferez, Griselda Hinojos, Kevin Klock, Adele Powers, and Brian Salcido.
Chinati would like to thank the Marfa ISD Parent-Teacher Organization for preparing and serving a wonderful dinner, and D.J. Prepney432 for providing the accompanying music. Many thanks to Amber Hinojos, Tenessa Hinojos, Johnnie Gomez, Rachel Gomez, Bianca Gonzalez, Rosela Rivera, Arturo Daniel Santos, Vianney Sylvana Santos, Mayra Torres, and Amy White for your time and energy.
Community Day 2024 was generously supported by Ben E. Keith, El Cosmico, Glazers Beer & Beverage, Jenny Laird, and Marfa National Bank. Additional contributions were provided by Bordo, Duncan Disposal, and Joey Benton and Silla.
Chinati’s educational and public programming is supported by the Prentice Farrar & Alline Ford Brown Foundation, the Cowles Charitable Trust, the Carl B. & Florence E. King Foundation, the Warren Skaaren Charitable Trust, #startsmall, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Union Pacific Foundation.
Caring for and sharing Chinati would not be possible without the contributions of our staff and interns, who work hard all year and who worked incredibly hard to make this daylong celebration possible. A special thank you to Sandra Hinojos and our facilities team for their seamless planning and preparation. All of us at Chinati look forward to welcoming you back soon! Admission is always free to Brewster, Jeff Davis, and Presidio county residents.
With appreciation,
Caitlin Murray, Director
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Editor:
The Marfa Saturday Market returns for its 18th consecutive year on Saturday, May 4, in a new location: 111 East Oak Street between the Marfa Country Clinic and the Marfa Public Library.
Regular vendors will be returning, new vendors will be participating, and we encourage more of both. When a change in City of Marfa policy midway through our last season made our previous location, the U.S.O. pavilion, irregular, the community responded: The Big Bend Sentinel, Cactus Liquors, Cochineal, Corte del Norte, El Cosmico, Larry’s Burgers, Marfa Spirit Company, and The Lumber Yard recognized the value of this Marfa treasurer and offered space to ensure the market continued. The vendors collectively settled on the more central library parking lot for a variety of reasons, but we are eternally grateful for this show of community support.
Bob Schwab, Malinda Beeman
Marfa
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Dear Editor,
The Rotary Club of Marfa would like to thank all of the sponsors, donors and golfers for their support of the 2024 Rotary Golf Tournament held on April 27. The event was a huge success raising more than $7,500 for scholarships for local students.
A big thank you goes out to Action Heating & Cooling, B2 Rock House Ranch, Barbara Love, Big Bend Coffee Roasters, Big Bend Sector MWR, Bill Bryant, Cactus Liquors, Carmen’s Boutique Hotel, City of Marfa, Cristina and Hector Mendez, Diane and Steve Parker, Virgie and Eddie Pallarez, El Muerto Springs Ranches, Fowlkes Cattle Co, Francis and Eugenia Wright, International Woman’s Foundation, Lilliana Fields, Livingston Insurance Agency, Livingston Ranch Supplies, Marfa Burrito, Marfa Chamber of Commerce, Marfa National Bank, Marfa Realty, Marfa Yards, Mary Baxter, Moonlight Gemstones, Planet Marfa, Hillary and Robert Summers, Skiles Properties, Susan Kirr, Rusty Martin, The Austinite Guest House, The Hotel Paisano, The Lincoln Marfa, Tom Jacobs, Vilis Inde, Trey Gerfers, Triangle Quarter Horses, Lajitas Golf Resort, Joe Williams, Virginia and Dan Platt, Para Llevar, Martha Bumpas, Mark Morrison, Patrick Daly, Dairy Queen, The Sentinel Marfa, Raba Marfa, Mona and Rudy Garcia, Marfa Rentools, Marjo and Larry Skiles, The Thunderbird Hotel, Margaret’s in Marfa, Josie Martinez, Jim Martinez and Jim Fissel. Special thanks to Nelly and Ernest Villareal for being great hosts and the Marfa High School cheerleaders for providing great food on the course for the golfers.
Dan Platt
Rotary Club of Marfa
