Dear Editor,
Last week’s Sentinel had a story about Presidio County’s tax rate and the agreement that the director of the Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District had made with the previous Commissioners Court regarding a tax swap. This was intended to be a way to prevent any additional tax burden upon the ratification of the Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District’s ability to levy and collect taxes.
In the interest of providing the public with an explanation, I wish to provide my opinion on the matter. It is correct that the PCUWCD was operating under a subsidy from the county up to the point that Rod Ponton challenged their operating procedure. Without going into too much detail, once the dust settled and the PCUWCD opted for an election to allow themselves to collect a tax, it was agreed by the commissioners at that time to engage in a “tax swap.” This was to be in the amount of the then county subsidy ($50,000/year) to the PCUWCD. This was used to help garner support for the authority to become self-sustaining. I personally advocated in favor of allowing the district to collect a tax; I also publicly supported the concept of a tax swap in that amount.
Unfortunately, the reality is that Commissioners Court cannot afford to honor the pledge. The gravity of the effects of inflation and a multitude of new state unfunded mandates requires us to exercise our due diligence in collecting our maximum increase of 3.5% (without a possible rollback election) on existing non-exempt property within the county.
Anyone keeping even a lazy eye on inflation can understand that a 3.5% revenue increase does not keep up with even the lowest of cost increases. Our experienced rate of inflation between the 2022 and 2023 budgets was upwards of 8.5%. Between FY 2023 and 2024 it has decreased slightly, but our experienced actual inflation rate looks close to 5.5%. FY 2025 looks to be about the same. The county judge and commissioners have not received any increase in salaries for the last two fiscal years. This year ALL elected officials opted for no raises in order to facilitate small raises for county employees instead (glaring exception: Justice of the Peace Dina Jo Marquez, who filed a grievance after salaries were set and received a $5,000 salary increase).
As leaders we are trying to do our best to work within our means at all times.
Our adopted budget in 2023 included deficit spending of just under $478,000. This comes out of our cash reserves, which have been carefully accumulated and guarded over the years following the days of the courthouse telephones being shut off for lack of payment (2011). If the county had granted the full tax swap amount to the PCUWCD of $111,562.00 requested by the director we would be experiencing a deficit of just over $415,000 for this fiscal year.
Our increase in property tax income over last year (capped at 3.5%) amounts to $179,195. This trajectory is not sustainable even without granting the tax swap, as 3.5% does not keep up with inflation. Assuming zero new costs, even that impossibility means we’re losing money in real dollar value every year.
It is true that within the complexity of the task of finding things to cut and curtail in our budget, I did not even remember the tax swap until we were far into the depths of creating this year’s budget. As much as I wanted to honor the $50,000 tax swap that was promised by the previous Commissioners Court and supported as well by me publicly, my duty to restrain our budget deficit has made that not possible.
To this same point, the board of the PCUWCD quickly discovered the myriad hidden expenses of administering a public entity. The expense of internal and external auditors, and of all the processes the auditors check takes time, money and expertise. None of this comes cheap. I commend the PCUWCD for getting their initial approved budget down to merely $111,562.00. It should not be lost on any discerning member of the public that this number is more than double the cost of running what was essentially functioning as an independent county department, and all governmental entities deal with these burdens.
I’ll wrap up by stating that I would be derelict as a commissioner to forgo a maximum tax rate when that tax rate does not even keep up with the bare bones increases in expenses the county experiences. It might not be my problem today but doing so would bring the county that much closer to insolvency. How would we feel about that?
My apologies to both the PCUWCD and the public for not being able to deliver what we all wanted. Last week’s article quoted me as saying “Commissioners Courts are not committed to obligate future Commissioners Courts and this is exactly why.” It should have read “permitted” in place of “committed,” because it is prohibited by state law. I can promise you that I, for one, will not make this mistake again.
In the interest of keeping this letter succinct, I have edited this from a much more detailed version that can be found in the “blog” section on my website www.beebefortexas.com
Sincerely,
David Beebe
Commissioner PCT 4
Presidio County
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To Marfa,
Thank you very much for voting me as Grand Marshal for the Marfa Lights Festival. It is truly an honor and pleasure to receive the support of the community and serve as your representative in our favorite weekend celebration of the year.
I want to thank the Marfa Chamber of Commerce for the hard work they do keeping our festival going year after year, rain or shine. I also want to thank all the volunteers, sponsors, musical groups and vendors who help make this a great time every year. Marfa Lights weekend is a time for all of us to get together and enjoy friends, family, neighbors and visitors, and this tradition is extremely important for all of us.
I want to especially thank Yosdy Valdivia from Presidio, who painted my portrait for the festival. I never thought anyone would have painted a picture of me, and her painting is wonderful! Once again I would like to express the great honor that you all have given me. I cannot express how much I love this community and how proud I am to represent Marfa. May God bless you.
Sincerely,
Primo Carrasco
Marfa, Texas
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Dear Editor,
On behalf of the Blackwell School Alliance Board of Directors, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the outpouring of support we have received throughout the Blackwell School National Historic Site establishment process.
This past weekend’s ribbon cutting event is a true testament to the power of community and the collective spirit that lives in this special place. The list of people to thank is endless — every action, contribution, and word of support for Blackwell over the last two decades has fueled the light of this newly minted beacon of American history.
First and foremost, we’d like to thank the Blackwell alumni of past and present whose strength and resolve have written a new chapter in the eternal story of our community and our country. We are especially grateful that Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and National Park Service Director Chuck Sams were here to witness the transformative power of this designation in service of diversifying the National Parks portfolio.
Thanks to: Primo y Beebe, Mariachi Santa Cruz, Marfa ISD Ballet Folklorico and student volunteers, The Tip Band, and Gabe Chavarria for the wonderful entertainment; Angel’s Restaurant, Big Sandy, Bordo, and Mark Scott and Kaki Aufdengarten for feeding the masses; Border Patrol for serving as our colorguard; Buck Johnston and Camp Bosworth at Do Right Hall for our reception venue; local media for helping promote the weekend’s festivities; Socorrito Mena for Lotería; Marfa Public Library for crafts; and especially to Martha Stafford, who dedicated so much of her time and efforts to help make all of this possible.
Special thanks to our nonprofit partners and their teams for their ongoing financial and administrative support — the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Park Foundation. And we appreciate all the National Park Service employees who came from near and far to help us christen this site that they will now steward.
The love for Blackwell was felt so deeply this weekend, and we can’t wait to see what lies ahead for this national story that will now forever be told from this special place in our backyards. Thank you to everyone for everything — gracias, gracias, gracias.
Sincerely,
Daniel O. Hernandez
President, Blackwell School Alliance
