County Judge Cascos and Mayor Martinez At Odds Over Brownsville's Strip Annexation Money Grab

Mayor Tony Martinez

Several years ago our neighbor approached us with a petition to block Brownsville's attempt to run a 750 yard wide strip up to Arroyo City, then include that small town in its tax base.  The rationale for annexation of so-called urbanized areas is usually that the city is already providing services, but not receiving the appropriate revenue from taxation to cover those services.

That is a hard case to make when cities like Brownsville use a strip or shoestring annexation method.  Certainly, a burning house in Arroyo City would be totally consumed by the time a BFD truck arrived from a station 30 miles away.  But, of course, the small town is already served by a volunteer fire department and constables from the county.

While disingenuous Mayor Martinez does not acknowledge it, the sole reason for such annexations is revenue or potential revenue.  Why else would Brownsville claim a narrow strip of land along Hwy 100 out to the potential location of the second causeway across the Laguna Madre?  Martinez says he will not yield to complaints from the mayors of other cities in Cameron County that claim Brownsville is infringing on their expansion opportunities with these strip annexations:  "If they think I'm going to bow to political pressure, they've got another thing coming. . . . They're barking up the wrong tree if they think I'm going to jeopardize the growth of Brownsville."

County Judge Carlos Cascos sees Brownsville's greed as problematic for other cities in Cameron

County Judge Carlos Cascos

County:  "What I see Brownsville doing is strip annexation despite whether they can provide services. . . . .You have smaller cities stifled.  Every city has the right to control its own destiny."

Living, breathing, historical proof of Brownsville's hypocrisy is the colonia that is Cameron Park, located a few blocks from Commissioner Jessica Tetreau's family car wash, the H.E.B. Plus and just across the street from the Brownsville Event Center.  A bill co-sponsored by State Representative Rene Oliveira and State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. includes a provision that force Brownsville to include areas like Cameron Park adjacent or surrounded by the city's incorporated areas before venturing into the extremities of the county to annex.

Mayor Martinez counters that Brownsville simply bypassed Cameron Park for the colonia's own good because it would have hindered the colonia's qualification for other funding.  Should Brownsville finally annex Cameron Park, the city would inherit 30 to 40 million dollars already invested in infrastructure.