Spending OPM, Act I

COMMENTARY:

By JOE RODRIGUEZ

Since I read about the City of San Benito’s plan to launch a $1.6M project to turn the fairgrounds into a musical mecca, I immediately thought the City was biting off more than it could chew.

Cameron County tried to fund an arena by putting a proposition to the voters, but the proposition was narrowly rejected by the voters.

San Benito’s proposal is slightly different, but in San Benito’s case, it was never presented to the voters, but proposed by the EDC-led City Manager, Fred Sandoval.

After watching the latest Dolcefino Media Exposé “Abuse of Power,” I became even more intrigued.
I issued FOI request for the Feasibility Study for Entertainment Venue reportedly authored by the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley’s Data and Information Center.

Also included in my email is a reminder to the City Administration Department that a FOI Request for information that is readily available must be released promptly as dictated by the Texas FOI Act and not 10 business days or more.

Taxpayers may also want to note the City Commission meeting for June 18, 2024, agenda item #5, where the San Benito City Commission approved a proposal for “Professional Services” with Carpe Nox Entertainment (the same company on the latest Dolcefino Consulting Media video) for the San Benito Outdoor Music Venue Feasibility Study in the amount of $15,000 taxpayer dollars.

Of particular interest to me was the discussion of an Economic Impact Study, an environmental study addressing any flooding issues, which are prevalent in San Benito, and a Workshop regarding the Feasibility Study. Unless I missed it, I searched the City Commission agendas and did not find any scheduled workshops regarding the subject matter since June 2024.

In my career experience as a Business & Systems Analyst with some major airlines and insurance companies, I contributed to and read many Feasibility Studies.

What is a Feasibility Study? As in any business or political subdivision such the City of San Benito, the stakeholders (citizens/taxpayers) must be protected from any major investment such as the $1.6 million the City is projected to invest in the proposed Entertainment Venue.

A feasibility study assesses the potential for success of the proposed entertainment venue project by defining, in detail, the projected costs and benefits before proceeding. Any potential issues and/or problems that could arise in the project must be outlined in detail. Also Included in any feasibility study is a “Business Plan.”

Having said all that, I have obtained the “Feasibility Study” I requested from the City of San Benito. It is a five-page document that costs the taxpayers $15,000 or $3,000 per page.

This is nothing more than an Executive Summary with estimated projections. There is no outline of the human resources needed, project schedule, or financing requirements.

There is no multi-year cash-flow analysis. A cash flow analysis focuses on an entity’s available cash to cover operating expenses, pay down debt, and reinvest in expanding a business. Will the City have the financial resources to maintain the entertainment venue in the future?

The City of San Benito is considered a non-profit that is not in the business of making a profit. The revenues and expenses of the City must balance out. An ROI or Return on Investment analysis must also be presented in detail to justify the taxpayer investment dollars expense.

The bottom line, IMHO, is that the City of San Benito should stay out of the major entertainment venue and focus on the streets and the failing infrastructure that is causing main water breaks on a weekly basis and major street flooding after one inch of rainfall or more.

I firmly believe the taxpayers of San Benito would rather see the City address these issues before investing in an entertainment venue at a cost of $1.6 million in taxpayer money. There are too many unanswered questions to be investing this kind of taxpayer dollars into a project with so many unanswered questions.

Sorry, but I am just not getting a warm-fuzzy feeling about this major taxpayer-funded investment until a real “Feasibility Study” is conducted and made available to the general public.