City of Eagle Pass Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 Holds First Inaugural Board Meeting
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2025
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The inaugural City of Eagle Pass Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 (TIRZ) Board of Directors meeting was held on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at the City of Eagle Pass City Council Chambers with only five of seven Board members present, establishing a quorum of its inaugural Board meeting.
The inaugural Reinvestment Zone No.1 Board meeting was chaired by City of Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas, Jr. with Maverick County Judge Ramsey English Cantu attending together with City Council Member Mario E. Garcia, Maverick County Commissioner Olga M. Ramos, and Empire Industrial Park, LLC (real estate developer) representative Sonia Valdez-Junfin.
The first agenda item tackled by the Reinvestment Zone No. 1 Board was the “nomination of Chairman for Eagle Pass City Council consideration for 2025; selection of Officers.” City of Eagle Pass Bond Counsel Juan Aguilera of San Antonio, Texas advised the Board members that the City Ordinance adopted by City Council in 2024 creating the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 requires three members from the City of Eagle Pass, three members from Maverick County, and one member representing the real estate developer, Empire Industrial Park, LLC. Aguilera added that the City Ordinance requires the Mayor to serve as Chairman of the Board during the time the initial Board is serving.
According to the City Ordinance, each year the City Council shall appoint one member of the Board to serve as Chair for a term of one year that begins on January 1 of the year following that person’s appointment. The City Ordinance also states that if the City Council does not appoint a Chair during that period, the Mayor is automatically appointed to serve as Chair for the term that begins on January 1 of the following year. The City Ordinance further states that the Board may elect a vice-chair to preside in the absence of the chair or when there is a vacancy in the office of Chair. The Board may elect other officers as it considers appropriate.
When Mayor Salinas called upon Agenda Item No. 1 as the Chair of the Board stated that he only has two months remaining as Mayor and is not a good candidate for the Chair position. County Judge Cantu declined to be nominated for Chair because he stated he already had too much work. City Council Garcia and County Commissioner Ramos noted they had plenty of work and shied from being named Chair of the Board. Judge Cantu quickly raised the point that the Mayor was only serving as Chair for the initial meeting, misinterpreting the City Ordinance which provides the Mayor serve as the initial Chairman of the Board during the time of the initial Board is serving. No one corrected Judge Cantu’s interpretation. Thus, Judge Cantu nominated the real estate developer representative Sonia Valdez-Junfin to be Chairman of the Board subject to the City Council’s approval of her nomination as Chairman.
The Board then nominated City Council member Garcia as Vice-Chair and County Commissioner Ramos as Secretary of the Board. Judge Cantu made the motion to nominate Valdez-Junfin as Chair subject to City Council approval and to select Garcia as Vice-Chairman and Ramos as Secretary. Garcia seconded the motion and the motion was unanimously approved 5-0. Valdez-Junfin’s nomination as Chair now has to go before the City Council for its approval to become final for the term of one year, contradicting the express language of the City Ordinance that the Mayor shall serve as the Chair of the initial Board’s term. City Bond Counsel did not raise any objection or correction to this motion.
City of Eagle Pass taxpayers will recall that the City Council approved the third reading of the City Ordinance creating the City of Eagle Pass Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 on May 7, 2024. As part of the TIRZ, the City will provide the real estate developer of Empire Industrial Park a significantly low ad valorem appraised value and waive collection of up to tens of millions of dollars for the next 50 years, while Maverick County also will do the same for the same amount of period (50 years). One local taxpayer called the City approval of the TIRZ Ordinance as the largest transfer of public wealth in the history of the City of Eagle Pass.
With the City of Eagle Pass currently in the middle of a contested City Council election featuring the positions of Mayor and two City Council places, the next elected City Mayor should have the privilege to preside as Chair of the City of Eagle Pass Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone for the initial term of the TIRZ Board of one year. The initial TIRZ Board seemed to be uncoordinated and Mayor Salinas himself stated that the Board members had not had any time to discuss the nomination of the Chair and Officers. It clearly appeared that at least some Board members had not read the City Ordinance and were not prepared for the inaugural Board meeting. In no way did Valdez-Junfin seek the nomination of Chair of the TIRZ Board, but rather was nominated by default because none of the publicly elected City and County officials wanted the responsibility of being the Chair of this extremely critical City-owned legal entity known as the City of Eagle Pass Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1, which has the legal authority to issue tens of millions in bonds to pay for the development and reimbursement costs of the infrastructure and public utilities to the multi-use real estate development and industrial park within the city limits of Eagle Pass. Valdez-Junfin is to be commended for her initiative to serve the City of Eagle Pass Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 Board and co-founding this projected $1.7 billion multi-use real estate development.
The Eagle Pass City Council will now have to deal with this dilemma at their next City Council meeting and will need better information and preparation than the inaugural Board meeting members. While this project has strong potential to bring many benefits to the City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County during the next 50 years, the City taxpayers will have to support the growth of the City fiscal budget due to the increased number of city employees to provide municipal services to this 2,276 acres development within the city limits. The costs of any tens of millions of bonds which may be issued on behalf of the real estate project will be borne solely by the purchasers of real property within the development, not the taxpayers. But certainly the City will have to hire more personnel, equipment, vehicles, and tangible things to keep up with the city’s growth as a result of this development.
