HARLINGEN: The Port of Harlingen needs more money. Citing higher operating and infrastructure costs, port officials are seeking to reinstate a port tax on homeowners that would hand it an extra $1 million a year. At a meeting of the Harlingen Economic Development Corp. earlier this month, officials at the port made their pitch seeking a resolution of support to present to the Cameron County Commissioners Court to bolster their case for the operations and maintenance tax.
“The port business is highly competitive, and being able to do this allows us to stay relevant, one, and be competitive and able to bring in new industries and businesses,” Port Director Walker Smith told the economic board. The tax hike, if approved by county commissioners, would be paid by residents in the Rio Hondo Independent School District, the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District and southern Willacy County.
The tax would amount to two-and-a-half cents per hundred, so on a hundred-thousand-dollar home it will be $25 a year. The Harlingen EDC voted unanimously to approve the resolution of support for the tax. The tax has been on the books for years, yet was only invoked in the 1940s and the 1980s. “We did it again 1989,” said Alan Johnson, chair of the Board of Port Commission. “We had to put it back into effect because we had such declining infrastructure.
“We only kept it in effect for about seven years as I recall, and then put it back at zero because our fund balances were enough that we didn’t need to do it, and we felt badly about taking money out of taxpayers’ pockets, so we set it at zero,” Johnson said. Of the 18 ports in the Texas Ports Association, 13 currently have local tax support and one is supported by a city, Harlingen port officials say.
Even though the Harlingen port has annual gross earnings of around $1.2 million, net operating revenue is only $14,000, which isn’t the kind of financial position that allows port officials to borrow much money, or service any debt if they did. So 20 years after the operations and maintenance tax was revoked, port officials find themselves in the same boat, or in this case, barge.
