San Benito officials prioritize plans for spending

SAN BENITO — City officials have prioritized proposed projects that would be funded through a plan to borrow as much as $11.5 million, City Manager Manuel Lara said Monday.
Lara proposed city commissioners borrow money through the sale of certificates of obligation and general obligation bonds to fund one of the largest capital improvements plans in years.
Last week, commissioners voted to cap spending at no more than $11.5 million.
Under the city’s plan, officials would raise as much as $7.3 million through water rate increases, while the city’s general fund budget would repay the remaining debt, Lara said.
Don Gonzalez, a financial consultant with the firm of Estrada Hinojosa & Co., proposed that the city raise residential water rates from about 2 percent to about 3 percent to help pay the debt.
In addition, he also proposed the city raise water rates at mobile home parks and apartment complexes.
Last year, commissioners raised residential water rates to pay about $6 million of debt that would be incurred as a result of the proposed project, Lara said.
Officials ranked proposed projects according to their importance, Lara said.
“We are only going to do what is urgent,” Commissioner Celeste Sanchez said. “Absolutely we’re not going to increase taxes.”
At the top of the list of projects to funded through water rate increases is a $256,650 to control sewage odor that is eating away at buildings at the city shop on Stenger Street, Lara said.
“If we don’t do something, our buildings can corrode,” Lara said. “With time it starts deteriorating the metal.”
Second on the list is a $2.6 million project to build a sewer lift station with a 12-inch main sewer line to run about two miles to a lift station off Williams Road, Lara said. The project would include the repair of a 90-year-old tank used to treat sewage at the city shop, he said.
The third project is $629,000 to install three 75-horsepower pumps to  replace two 20-horsepower pumps at the Williams lift station, Lara said.
The fourth project is replacement of clay sewer lines and manholes in the oldest part of the city with an estimated cost of $2.49 million. This area runs across about one-fourth of the city, stretching east of Sam Houston Boulevard and north of U.S. 77, Lara said.
“It is urgent,” Sanchez said. “These pipes are 100 years old and they are caving in.”
Repairs to a clarifier, a storage tank for treated sewage, is the fifth project, and has an estimated cost of $428,450, Lara said. Officials haven’t determined the reason the acidic vapors that deteriorated the clarifier, Assistant City Manager Chuck Jalomo said.
Proposed projects whose debt would be funded through the general fund budget include a $3.1 million street improvements project, Lara said. Commissioners would determine the streets that would be repaired, he said.
The list’s second project is a $4 million proposal to improve drainage to drain floodwater in the southeastern part of town along Sam Houston Boulevard, McCullough Street, the railroad tracks and U.S. 83, Jalomo said. As part of the project, the city would install storm sewers in the area, Jalomo said.
Funded through the city’s general fund include the $404,655 purchase of 10 police patrol cars and two code enforcement vehicles, officials said.
Projects also include the $12,000 purchase of mowers for city parks, Lara said.
Officials also proposed the $320,300 repair of a leaky City Hall roof, Lara said. Sanchez suggested using a $500,000 insurance settlement to fund the roof’s repairs.