Publisher’s Note: On April 2, 2021, Texas Border Business published a release sent by the office of Texas Senator Juan Hinojosa titled: “Senator Hinojosa Files SB 2185 to Dissolve Hidalgo County Water Improvement District No. 3.” On April 3, 2021, McAllen Mayoral Candidate Othal Brand, Jr. reached out to Texas Border Business requesting an opportunity to respond to Hinojosa’s press release.
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MCALLEN – A few weeks ago, a local state senator told our local paper that the Texas Legislature files unconstitutional bills all the time.
We also know joke bills are filed, designed purely to allow a lawmaker to grandstand.
Such is the case with a local legislator’s latest futile attempt to kill off the Hidalgo County Water Improvement District No. 3 (HCWID No.3).
The district’s general manager and chairman, Othal Brand, Jr., noted that this is the fourth time the Rio Grande Valley state senator has tried his illegal power grab.
“The first three times his legislation went down in flames. We are confident the same fate awaits this latest piece of thuggery,” said Othal Brand, Jr., chairman of the board of Hidalgo County Water Improvement District No. 3.
Twice before, the senator’s anti-water district bills have died in committee. The one time his legislation miraculously made it to the Governor’s desk, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it.
Following that veto a state audit was requested of HCWID No. 3.
“They brought down six or eight people and spent six months investigating us. The only thing they could come up with was, quote, ‘weak management’ because the water district did not have a three-inch ream of policies and procedures for an office staff of two people. No misappropriation, no money missing, no $2 million that the senator and others were telling the governor was missing. They made that up,” Brand said.
Under the senator’s bill the water district would be swallowed up by the City of McAllen. HCWID No. 3 believes it is telling that the senator did not include support from the City of McAllen in his news release about the latest power grab. The McAllen City Commission has not even met to consider the matter.
“McAllen city commissioners have been silent to this issue. They are not in unison. We know there are city commissioners that do not want this bill, that know we do a good and reliable job of delivering water to our city.”
HCWID No. 3 supplies water to the City of McAllen at 29-plus cents per 1,000 gallons of water. The City then sells that water to local residents at anywhere between $1.35 and $1.65 per thousand gallons. As a result, McAllen PUB is the biggest money maker of any department in the city.
“Our rates are better than Third World countries pay. I received a study last year from the U.N. showing water costs from around the world. We are a fifth to an eighth or more of what those costs are in Third World countries,” Brand said.
Brand said the reason irrigation districts in the Valley can supply water so cheaply is the farmers. “They keep it cheap because they are the ones using 80 percent of the water coming out of Falcon Dam,” Brand said.
Of the water HCWID No. 3 pumps out of the Rio Grande, two thirds is consumed by McAllen residents and one third by 18 local farmers. These farmers each produce enough food for, on average, 164 people, according to the U.S. Census.
“The City of McAllen cannot do this job as efficiently as the water district. Just look at cities in the Valley that draw water directly from the Rio Grande themselves. They charge more. The value we give to the citizens of McAllen is beyond compare. The Valley has the cheapest water anywhere in the state of Texas,” Brand said, proudly.
HCWID No. 3 has been a great steward of taxpayer money, investing in state-of-the-art equipment that is the envy of other water districts. This includes a water pump positioned above the height of the levees, thus ensuring the pump station is never flooded.
For three months following the floods caused by 2008’s Hurricane Dolly, HCWID No. 3 supplied 98 percent of all the water consumed in McAllen. This was because, during the floods, two other local water districts could not reliably supply water to the city.
“I will never forget a conversation I had with Pilar Rodriguez, when he held a leadership position with the City of McAllen. He said, ‘Othal, are you going to be able to get us water?’ I said, ‘Pilar, tell everybody to put their heads on their pillow and sleep well tonight.’ McAllen did not miss a beat,” Brand recalled.
HCWID No. 3 also came through for McAllen residents during the recent freeze. It provided the majority of the drinking water to McAllen because other districts were hamstrung by inconsistent power from the electric companies.
“Reliability is so important. We were the only reliable water source, and the only water district with totally uninterrupted power, thanks to our backup generators. No other district had backup generators. The City of McAllen was so confident of our supply during the freeze they sold water to four other entities that either did not have enough water or no water,” Brand explained.
Brand said the senator’s anti-water district legislation is bad for agriculture in general. “This is a slippery slope for other water districts. They know they will be next on the chopping block if this bill becomes law.” Asked why the local senator keeps filing these bills, session after session, Brand said: “I guess we are on his bucket list.”
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Senator Hinojosa Files SB 2185 to Dissolve Hidalgo County Water Improvement District No. 3
