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Prop A details. -
Kaufman
Early voting is ongoing in Jefferson County and, among other things, area residents are being asked how they want their tax dollars used in relation to the Sabine-Neches Waterway Channel Improvement Project, which could be completed within six years if a proposition on the ballot passes.
Sabine-Neches Navigation District (SNND) Deputy Director Matthew Kaufman explains, if voters check “FOR” Proposition A on their ballots under the SNND section, it will be full steam ahead on the deepening project that will take the channel from 40 feet to 48 feet and allow more cargo through the Sabine-Neches Waterway, thereby generating more local jobs and infusing more money in the Southeast Texas economy sooner rather than later. Even better, Kaufman described at a Golden Triangle Business Roundtable (GTBR) meeting on April 19, it won’t cost taxpayers a single cent more than they are already paying.
“If you live in Jefferson County, you pay taxes to fund our navigation district,” said Kaufman, adding that property taxes increased six cents in 2014 to assist SNND with specific needs. “Those six cents… have been committed to the deepening. That’s been a lot of cash flow (that has gone to) the engineering and some construction up to this point. Now, the Corps of Engineers has received a little over $109 million, and we need to match that. So, the corps will… receive their 60% funding and do the work. And, then, we’ll have to (fund) our share of that (which is 40%).
“What this (proposition) allows us to do is to use the funds that we get on an annual basis to go out and get a loan so we can do that work. That’s what Proposition A does.”
Essentially, said Kaufman, Proposition A gives SNND the ability to be more flexible with funds already allotted to the district. Under the current rules, SNND would not be allowed to use the funding from the six-cent tax previously mentioned as collateral for a loan to fund their 40% match needed for the Army Corps of Engineers to continue working on the massive project, estimated at $1.4 billion.
“All that language that goes in there can sometimes make it confusing, so we want to make sure that we’re very clear on what this does,” Kaufman said, breaking it down to basics. “What Proposition A does not do: It does not raise your taxes. What it also does not do: It doesn’t give us the authority to create a new tax. What it does do: It allows us to use our current tax revenues to get a loan to pay for the deepening project.”
SNND is not advocating for or against Proposition A, but rather providing important information to the community, Kaufman further explained at the GTBR meeting.
Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick says he supports Proposition A in SNND’s Special Election. During Commissioners Court on April 26, Branick said the proposition would ultimately allow the district to save money because of the low interest on loans it could get from the Texas Water Development Board.
“Members of the Sabine-Neches Navigation District can’t go out and advocate for this, but members of this court can,” said Branick. “It would not result in any increase in taxes, does not create or authorize any new taxes. It just allows them to take a portion of the taxes that they currently receive to dedicate to the repayment of some loans they have planned through the Texas Water Development Board that would lower interest rates and actually make the project cheaper as opposed to going through a bank.
“It’s actually benefiting the taxpayers, so I am strongly in support of that.”
The Sabine-Neches Waterway is a source of approximately 375,000 jobs, according to the Perryman Report, and home to two U.S. strategic seaports – the Port of Beaumont and the Port of Port Arthur. Numerous manufacturing, refining and petrochemical companies utilize the channel, which links to an extensive energy pipeline system connecting nearly every state, reports SNND.
Prior to the ongoing project, the last improvements to the Sabine-Neches Waterway were completed in 1962, about 60 years ago. Since then, more ships use the channel and many vessels have grown significantly in size and weight, requiring a larger channel to accommodate them.
Early voting in the May 7 Constitutional Amendment, Special and Joint Election ends May 3.
– Sharon Brooks