COMMENTARY: EDC’s spending must be stopped

Joe Rodriguez is a San Benito resident, a local citizen watchdog, and a former candidate for the San Benito City Commission.

I have written several pieces about the apparent lack of transparency and open government in San Benito. One important piece I wrote was published here last September and titled “Res Ipsa Loquitor.”

The column concluded by asking: “What else are they hiding?” Seven months later, we all now know what they were hiding.

It was revealed that the EDC Director went over budget by $1 million. Did we get a comment or a real explanation from anybody at City Hall on why the EDC director was allowed to go over budget?

We received the standard, “We are now recognized by other cities in the RGV,” “We are the Soul of South Texas,” and my favorite, “Our Fund Balance is still $5-plus million.”

None explains why the EDC budget was overspent. Were the Mayor and company aware of it?

I have never been a proponent of appointing the same person to both the City Manager and EDC Director roles. Although legally permitted by the State of Texas, I am also opposed to City Commissioners serving on the EDC board.

Currently, three City Commissioners and the Mayor serve as EDC Board members. In effect, they vote on economic projects twice. With aye votes from Commissioners on the EDC Board (essentially a majority on the City Commission), passage by the City Commission is largely guaranteed. It is essentially a done deal.

On September 05, 2014, I penned a column for the San Benito News titled “Citizen’s View: The Case for a City PEG Channel.”

A few months later, with the help of the City Librarian at the time, the City of San Benito contracted with SWAGIT to videotape and archive all regular City Commission meetings.

Prior to the current EDC Director’s appointment, all general economic, business, and new development matters were discussed during City Commission meetings in open session and were recorded.

The City Commission voted via a Corporate Resolution (legally required) to transfer all economic development and summer concert discussions and actions to the EDC while retaining final approval of all expenditures, as required by Texas law.

Since then, all EDC economic development discussions have not been videotaped and are mostly held in Executive Session.

I know because I have attended some EDC Board Meetings.

Whenever the general Summer Concert Series discussions were on the agenda, the meetings were moved into Executive Session. These were not contract discussions; they were general discussions about which bands were performing.

When one person holds the “dual hat” of City Manager and EDC Director, there is less public accountability and transparency. It may look like “consolidated power,” reducing the number of people involved in critical financial decisions.

With fewer eyes on the process, there is a higher risk of “backroom deals.” Separating the roles of City Manager and EDC Director provides a system of checks and balances, ensuring that economic incentives are properly vetted.

The most significant risk is the lack of internal controls.

The City Manager typically oversees how public funds are spent, while the EDC Director often requests those funds for private-sector incentives. Right now, the City Manager controls all spending and what internal controls are followed.

If the same person occupies both roles, the natural skepticism and “due diligence” that should occur between the two offices disappear. This can lead to risky incentive packages with little independent vetting.

When one person leads both organizations, the oversight between the EDC board and the City Council is weakened, potentially reducing transparency and accountability.

As noted in some Texas contexts, a lack of strict, separate oversight can create opportunities for mismanagement or nepotism in development projects and other projects to attract tourists.

To the public, the EDC often feels like a “black box” where taxpayer money is given to private companies. When the City Manager—the person the public holds most accountable—is also the one brokering those deals, it can create a perception of “backroom politics,” even if everything is above board.

Combining the roles allows the city to offer a single competitive salary rather than two executive-level packages. This is often the primary driver for smaller municipalities, as it frees up budget for other staff or capital projects.

However, that is not what is happening in our city. The EDC base salary expenses have increased from a total (actual) salary of $191,924 in FY-2023-2024 to the current approved FY 2025-2026 salary of $272,500 (incl. $20,000 in OT).

Unfortunately, transparency in our San Benito local government is going from bad to worse.

The City won’t allow public viewing of the Proposed City Budget Detail until approved by the Commission.

The City illegally blocks public comments on some of their social media posts. The City approved the creation of a Municipal Utility District (MUD). However, the City has never publicly spoken about what a MUD is or does or what benefits the taxpayers will receive from a MUD creation.

The EDC director allegedly will not honor the Texas Public Information Act mandate that all information “readily available” must be promptly produced. The EDC will wait until the ninth or tenth business day, even when the information is readily available, before responding to a Texas PIA request.

On April 8, 2026 I submitted a Public Information Request (PIR) to the EDC for the readily available (formatted) document “City of San Benito Economic Development Corporation Adopted Budget FY 2025-26” adopted eight months ago.

I asked for EDC to email the existing formatted document to me. This past Wednesday, I was emailed an invoice for $45 for a copy of the document.

Under the Texas Public Information Act (PIA), public information that is readily available—such as finalized, existing documents—is supposed to be produced promptly, which means as soon as possible under the circumstances.

While “promptly” does not always mean immediately upon request, the law strictly prohibits unreasonable delays and requires that information be released without delay.

The EDC will not release the EDC-City issued email addresses (not their personal email addresses) of all EDC board members.

The EDC members are not legally recognized as ‘Public Officials’. However, they do make decisions involving spending millions of taxpayer (state and city sales tax) dollars.

Early voting has already started but I want to ask you “Do you feel better or okay with the EDC budgeting $900,000 and spending $1,758,139 for the Fairground Project aka the Summer Concert Series?” Have you benefited at all from such overspending?

Either way, the EDC Director received approval from the EDC Board of Directors and the City Commission to budget another $900,000 taxpayer dollars for another Fairground Project this coming summer.

I refer to this as SOP, “Spending Other People’s” money.

Based on my observation and on the line of questioning at the City Commission Meetings, City Commissioners Dr. Pete Galvan and Deborah Morales (who are both running for re-election) are inclined to stop the over-spending of taxpayer dollars when there is no real return-on-investment except warm fuzzy feelings from a summer concert where a performer is paid $250,000 (quarter of a million) for a 90 minute set including breaks or comedian George Lopez paid $80,000 for a comedy set.

I don’t know about you, but instead of overspending, I prefer some form of ‘tax relief’ and put some of that money back in our pockets.

Your taxpayer dollars paid for a website that has nothing but a contact page, The Soul of South Texas, in case you want to drop them a line.