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Edinburg specialized teams to address drainage, potholes and illegal dumping

2 years 5 months 2 weeks ago Wednesday, October 13 2021 Oct 13, 2021 October 13, 2021 11:32 AM October 13, 2021 in News - Local

Compared to last year's $129 million budget, the city of Edinburg is seeing almost a 30-percent increase in their budget this year.

"All this increase in budget was generally from revenue,” said Edinburg City Manager Ron Garza. “So, we are experiencing tremendous revenue growth."

With sales taxes doing well for Edinburg, Garza says that almost 70 new city employees are being added as a result, an increase he says is historic. 

READ ALSO: Hidalgo County DA files motion for jury trial in Edinburg mayor’s voter fraud case  

"We're trying to get to all of these extra priorities that residents have concern about without impacting our traditional operations," Garza continued.

Those extra priorities include operations like E-drain-burg, a four-person team of city employees focusing exclusively on the city's ditches.

"Basically it's just a widening," Garza said. "It is an excavating and widening all of our city administered ditches."

Also being addressed are potholes and illegal dumping, with small groups of city employees working in collaboration with the city's 311 center.

"The good news is that that crew of four is designated to do nothing but that project," Garza said.

RELATED: City of Edinburg names new police chief  

In just a matter of days, the city will swear in a new police chief. Former Arlington assistant police Chief Jaime Ayala will be entering the department as 11 new police officer positions open up. The city’s police force now sits at 174.

"Our police chief is coming from a department that's nearly four times as large as the one that we have here, so that's a great vantage point, great perspective measuring and assessing if we have the adequate numbers," Garza said. 

The small-grouped positions are expected to be permanent. 

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