Benavidez: We had to look twice to make sure our 22.5 percent increase in sales taxes was correct

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas – The Rio Grande City Economic Development Corporation and Rio Grande Valley Partnership recently co-hosted the Rio Grande City EDC Commercial & Investment Tour at UTRGV Starr Campus.Rose Benavidez, president of Starr County Industrial Foundation, gave updates on the projects her group is currently involved in. These include building an industrial park near the Starr-Camargo International Bridge that will feature cold storage facilities.“This is the first of its kind and even before the walls are up, there's already a need to double its size,” Benavidez said.Benavidez pointed out a couple of unique features about the Starr-Camargo bridge.“I know many of our sister cities in the Rio Grande Valley have ports of entry, but not many of them have the ability to do unified cargo inspection or to be able to handle double axles,” Benavidez said. “(At Starr-Camargo) you don't have to have your product inspected in Mexico and then inspected in the U.S. These joint inspections happen on the US side. Once the products are inspected, (the trucks) are free to go.”Benavidez also spoke about the importance of the energy sector in Starr County.“I do want to share a little bit about the energy sector because it has been an important component in us growing our complete tax base, not only our sales tax, but just our general ad valorem tax base, which we rely heavily on,” Benavidez said. “And so in the last five years $3 billion - and that's billion with a ‘b’ -  of investment has come into this community in solar and wind projects with another 1.5 billion still pending. That doesn't take away from the fact that this community continues to be a beacon for our oil and gas industries because that is historically what this county was and will continue to be known for.”Benavidez said that in the last year and a half, about $80 to $90 million of commercial development has occurred in Starr County. She also spoke about a big increase in the county’s tax base. “’We’ve spent the last week actually looking at this and trying to check every day to make sure it wasn't an error but from 2020 to 2021, Starr County saw a 22.5% increase in sales tax from year to year. And that is also a 47% increase from 2012.”After the presentation, guests were invited to take a tour of the city on the Bessie III Trolley and see first-hand the activity in Rio Grande City.The Rio Grande Valley Partnership Commercial & Investment Tours are held monthly throughout the Valley and are open to real estate agents, land developers, and investors to learn about the retail and industrial opportunities of the host city.Editor’s Note: Here is an audio recording of Benavidez’s presentation at the UTRGV Starr Campus:Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.