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Mayor Discusses State of the City

Posted on: Saturday, 21 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Matt Lynch, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

Jan. 21--HARLINGEN -- A tight budget, growing economy and ongoing capital improvement projects were among the subjects that Mayor Rick Rodriguez highlighted in his state of the city address Friday.

As he did last year, Rodriguez described the state of the city to nearly 100 Harlingen Rotary Club members and guests during a regular club meeting.

Rodriguez opened his speech by describing the city's economy, a subject that has come to the forefront during a number of city commission meetings.

Rodriguez pointed at an increase in building permits issued, growing population and an unemployment rate lower than the Valley average, as indicators that the city's economy is gaining strength.

"I have worked closely with the interim city manager and his staff who have held several meetings with developers planning two significant projects in town," he said. "All indications are that ground will be broken on both of these projects this year."

He would not name the retailers, but described them as a "home improvement store" and "national electronics, clothing and office supply stores."

Rodriguez also highlighted what he described as the city's "aggressive" annexation policy.

"By Feb. 1 of this year, we plan to annex 181 acres of property located on the east side of town which includes the Fruit of the Loom building and the immediate surrounding area," he said. "Within the next three years, we will annex an additional 3,146 acres or 4.91 square miles of land towards the west side of town where we expect the majority of growth to occur."

Rodriguez also highlighted the future of the I-69 corridor and the city's ongoing quest to relocate railroad tracks and a railroad switching yard to locations outside of the city limits.

"I plan to aggressively pursue the relocation of the switch yard from the downtown area," he said. "By doing so, this will effectively eliminate 90 percent of the congestion problems caused by the railroad in the downtown area."

Rodriguez went on to describe the city's tight budget for the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

"The challenge we faced as a commission was to adopt a budget that would maintain and improve the quality and level of services being provided to our customers, provide decent wages and benefits for our employees and allow for budget capital improvement projects to be undertaken while maintaining the same tax rate," he said. "Through lengthy budget discussions, we were able to adopt a budget that accomplished these goals and the tax rate was not increased."

Following the speech, Rodriguez said the city faces similar challenges to the ones it faced around the time of last year's address.

"They're basically the same, in that we need to provide infrastructure and position ourselves for growth," he said.

Highlights of Speech:

Here are some of the points presented by Harlingen Mayor Rick Rodriguez during his state of the city address Friday:

H Harlingen's unemployment rate is 6.2 percent, higher than the state average of 5.2 percent but lower than the Valley average of 9.5 percent.

H In 2005, the city issued 414 building permits for new home construction, with a total value of more than $41 million.

H In 2005, the city issued 64 permits for commercial structures for a total value of more than $20 million.

H The Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation created 260 new jobs, resulting in $8.91 million in capital investments.

H The Census Bureau estimated the city's 2005 population at 66,411, an increase of 8,847 residents, or 15.4 percent. The city's 2000 census count was 57,564.

H The total cost for the city's railroad relocation project is about $35 million.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

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Source: Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas)

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