Reprint from the Progress Times - November 11, 2005
©Progress Times 2005 - All Rights Reserved

County Judge Seeking Second Term In Office

 

Incumbent County Judge Ramon Garcia on Tuesday, November 8, announced his intention to continue serving as Hidalgo County Judge. The announcement was made at a noon pachanga held on University Drive in Edinburg next to Garcia’s law offices at which over 700 persons were fed the traditional brisket, beans and rice meal. His campaign manager said over 1,100 people attended the noon rally.

“When you elected me as your county judge, I pledged to bring fiscal responsibility to Hidalgo County and to stop wasteful spending,” he said in his announcement. “Today, Hidalgo County enjoys its best financial shape in its 153-year history.”

Garcia said, together with Commissioners’ Court, the county has increased its annual budget from $87 million and has adopted a budget of $122 million without raising taxes.

“The fund balance, our emergency savings account, has improved from $600,000 to $12 million,” he said, adding the county’s S&P bond rating to an “A.”

The incumbent judge said Hidalgo County residents now have better services, better roads, more police, more health care, but no new taxes. “I ran for this position on a platform that stressed fiscal responsibility,” Garcia said. “I believed then, as I believe now, that we must live within our means and that we should balance our county budget without raising taxes. Prior administrations from 1990 to 2002 raised county taxes by 58.9 percent and the county has had nine tax increases.

“During my tenure as your county judge, I am proud to report that we have balanced our budget three years in a row and have not once increased taxes.”

Garcia said big steps already are being taken to make the county the best it can be, including:

- Proceeding with needed road projects. “We leveraged county funds totaling $12 million to make $200 million in improvements countywide,” he said.

- Fighting crime. “We built a new Juvenile Justice Center, funded an Adult Probation Building, and increased our sheriff’s budget.”

- Providing quality health care. “We created a Health Services District, funded our health clinics and significantly increased our Indigent Health Care Budget.”

- Saving taxpayer money. “We implemented an official budgeting system with better checks and balances, created a self-funded health insurance program, and carefully scrutinized all vendor contracts.”

Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Wilma have reinforced concerns for safety. The incumbent judge said, “To protect our families, we have taken steps to improve roads, drainage and infrastructure that will prevent emergency situations, and we’re working with state and federal officials to secure $325 million to fortify our levees and modernize local irrigation systems.”

Garcia pointed out that for the first time in many years the county has a healthy fund balance which can be relied on in the event of an emergency. “Hidalgo County is growing. As your county judge, I will continue to meet the challenges of unprecedented growth … and I will continue to do so with responsible management of county resources,” he said.

“I am a leader with a proven track record of business success, community service, experience and hard work to guide, plan and accomplish our goal of a better Hidalgo County now, and an even better Hidalgo County in our future.”

Garcia said in his first term he worked with county commissioners to lay the foundation for a safer, healthier and more vibrant Hidalgo County. “It’s been three years of hard work to meet the goals we set out to accomplish and our results speak for themselves,” he said. “Hidalgo County’s finances have never been better and our future has never been brighter.”

Garcia said it is no longer politics as usual in Hidalgo County. “It’s public service with fiscal responsibility,” he said, adding, “I’d like to continue down this road together with you - for our families, for our future.”