No movement on Prison WWTP
On October 30th, Dilley’s city council authorized the commencement of proceedings for a $7 million dollar loan to build a new wastewater treatment plant that would exclusively serve the Dolph Briscoe prison.
However, nearly two months have passed since the authorization vote without the required notice or public hearings, which means the city may be exploring other options to solve the prison’s sewage problems.
The loan and wastewater treatment plan were first reported in this November 8th article: COUNCIL SILENT As Members Vote On Water Rate Study, Initiate Steps To Borrow $7 Million For New Prison WWTP
Pritchard & Abbott will appraise STFRC next tax year
After a year-long debate over the property value of CoreCivic’s South Texas Family Residential Center, the Frio County Appraisal District will hand appraisal duties for the detention center property to the district’s contractor, Pritchard & Abbott, for the new tax year.
The move will not affect the budgets of the city of Dilley or the appraisal district, as the cost will be covered by the existing contract between the appraisal district and Pritchard & Abbott. Pritchard & Abbott typically appraises industrial, mineral, and utility accounts in the county.
A change in appraised value of STFRC could affect the revenues of the city of Dilley, Dilley ISD, Frio County, and the Frio Hospital District, among others…
The decision was announced in the first Frio County Appraisal District meeting after this series of articles about the issue was published: Dilley Voted to Adopt This Year’s Property Tax Rate. Has CoreCivic Been Paying Their Fair Share?… Part 1 of 3
Frio Hospital District Appoints New Dilley Board Members
After a county-wide vote to annex the non-hospital district portion of Frio County (including Dilley and nearly all of Frio County Precinct 4), two board members from the region were appointed to the existing seven member board.
Jason Surles and Norman Martinez were sworn-in on December 21.
Dilley opens the spending spigot: City employees earn raise, new vehicles for police and utilities
At the end of September, Dilley councilmen Sabino Mena Jr. and Gilbert Eguia boycotted a meeting to prevent a raise in property taxes. If there was any concern about city’s revenue after their brash move, such worries may have been proven unfounded. The council amended the budget to spend an additional $500,000 this fiscal year, and will still have reserve to spare.
At the November 15th council meeting, city administrator Rudy Alvarez explained that the city had a reserve account for the 1990 prison revenue bonds. Those bonds were paid off two years ago with $270,000 left over in the city’s prison bond reserve account. Alvarez explained that the money must be transferred to the city’s general fund account.
With those funds now cleared for general spending, in addition to revenue sharing income from CoreCivic, the city approved:
- The first across-the-board raise to city employees in three years. $2,100 annually for full-time employees and $1,000 for part-time
- Five new vehicles for the police department
- New vehicles for the utilities department. Alvarez noted that some vehicles are 10-years-old, and one is 18-years-old.
According to Alvarez, most cities seek to have three months of cash flow in reserve. Even after these expenditures, Dilley will have 5 months of cash flow.
Mic’d
Dilley residents have one less excuse to stay home during city council meetings. The city council is now rigged with microphones and speakers, making the deliberations easier to follow.
Increased Election Notice
The city of Dilley posted a link to “election filing date info” in big, bold, red letters on the front page of the municipal website.
According to the deadline notice, city council candidate filing will open on 1/17/18 and end on 2/16/18.
-written by Jose Asuncion.
Jose received an MFA from University of Southern California in 2008, a BA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2003, and currently lives in Dilley, TX, home of his grandparents.