Three months ago, local officials were happy to hear they would receive $25 million in federal funds to reimburse Bexar County for some of what it spent developing the Mission Reach project on the San Antonio River.
But earlier this month, they found out the size of that reimbursement had shrunk drastically. In its 2019 fiscal year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to reimburse local governments only about $4.4 million for the Mission Reach, according to its 2019 work plan.
“That was a bit of a balloon-deflater,” said Darrell Brownlow, chair of the San Antonio River Authority board of directors, at the board’s December meeting Wednesday.
The Mission Reach was the massive redesign of the San Antonio River on the South Side that turned what was basically a drainage channel into functioning wildlife habitat and park space. A concrete trail lined with public art connected the city’s Spanish colonial missions. Work began in 2008 and was completed in 2013.
Bexar County contributed $126.5 million to the project, said Brian Mast, the river authority’s manager of intergovernmental relations. Most of the county’s contribution came from a voter-approved bond in 2008.
The City contributed another $6.5 million, along with $4.7 million from the San Antonio River Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with the river authority, Mast confirmed. The San Antonio Water System provided another $6 million in funding for utility relocations, according to an online fact sheet.
Of the $126.5 million contributed by the county, $61.3 million was eligible for reimbursement from the Corps, Mast said. Since 2015, the Corps, whose budget is set by Congress, has paid back $30.8 million, not including the $4.4 million in fiscal year 2019.
Another roughly $26 million remains to be reimbursed, Mast said.
Mast said he isn’t certain what caused the decrease in the reimbursement figure but there’s a good chance the reduced funding came down to the change of a single word in an appropriations bill from “and” to “or.”
Mast and river authority Assistant General Manager Steve Graham said the new language in the appropriations bill allowed the Corps to allocate more of the $25 million to other communities instead of to San Antonio alone.
The Corp’s work plan for fiscal year 2019 includes more funding for Buffalo Bayou and Cedar Bayou in the Houston area, among other areas in Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, an instrumental figure in developing the Mission Reach, said local officials didn’t want to wait on federal funding to make the project a reality.
“If we’d waited on the feds, do you think we’d ever have got the south end of the river done?” Wolff said in a phone interview Thursday. “What’s happened in this town is all the money’s gone to the north and the south has always got screwed, and we were determined not to let that happen.”
The change in funding surprised local officials when the Corps released its work plan. In September, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo), whose district includes parts of eastern and southern Bexar County, had issued a press release announcing the $25 million in funding
The river authority held an event October with Cuellar, U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Helotes) and House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Committee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) thanking them for their work on the funding.
On Friday, a spokesperson for Cuellar shared an Oct. 23 letter signed by Cuellar, along with five other San Antonio-area Congressmen, to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.
The urged Mulvaney to have the Corps reimburse Bexar County for its share of the Mission Reach, along with providing $1.1 million for engineering and design funds to help restore the Westside Creeks.
In an emailed statement, Cuellar said he has worked hard to secure $35.2 million in total reimbursements from fiscal year 2016 through 2019, “increasing recreational and economic benefits of local waterways in San Antonio.”
“Unfortunately, due to an increase of reimbursement projects in fiscal year 2019, according to the [Corps] when contacted by our office, more funding was allocated towards disaster relief for affected areas,” Cuellar said. “I will continue to work to secure funding through the appropriations process, as I have in the past, to ensure that Mission Reach receives the reimbursements it deserves.”
Sad that nobody was monitoring the appropriations bill to identify the change. Watching our federal government work makes it unsurprising that the change to the appropriations bill was made. Hopefully the Rivard Report will be able to get an explanation for the change.
Rivard Report won’t even ask Wolff/Cisneros/Nirenberg to justify their claim that San Antonio has moved beyond rail, instead choosing to parrot the assertion that somehow the solution for San Antonio is more cars.
If they won’t even challenge the powers that be on issues that matter, I highly doubt they’ll put much effort into where a few million went missing on the Mission Reach.
Aaron, I share your concerns. The RR seems to be a PR publication for the city instead of a publication that digs deep to find the stories that matter to the taxpayers.
Sounds like someone else at the Federal level wanted to quietly reallocate money for their other priorities while avoiding the public scrutiny of a formal allocation or outright budget increase, and saw this little basket as easy and convenient pickings. Our Congress at work with their slippery word games.
Nelson Wolf is absolutely correct . As long as I can remember , at least as far back as the mid 50’s when I was in high school , the north has ALWAYS gotten the biggest share of the public money largesse . To be frank even now — just look and ask how many southside and westside streets could have been repaired and how many miles of safe side walks could be built with the money that will be used to build a “land “ bridge over Wurzbach Parkway which I suspect will be used very little by humans and animals. I suppose it is all about the number of potential and actual voters and the number of donated political contribution dollars that count in politicians’ minds – so poor neighborhoods that do not generate enough political dollars and votes will never get needed services .
This whole project(s) of “restoring” the environmental elements and recreational benefits of the west side creeks, the Mission Reach, the northern Riverwalk ,etc. is really iffy when you put it on a scale weighing it against using national Federal taxpayer funds for a necessary, protecting lives and property-type projects. Our SA projects, as much as we love them, are just icing on the cake. I would make an educated guess that all or most of our projects were done originally with Federal funds/CoE design, etc. I know the deep trench on the south SA river was CoE – you can look at it and see their “design stamp” all over it.
This happened on a CoE project I toured in ’94 near Orlando, FLA on the Kissame River where the CoE had been paid millions back in the fifties, I believe, to take the curves out of the river so it would not flood adjoining croplands and put the river into a deep, straight ditch into the Everglades. By the 90’s everyone, incl the CoE realized and admitted that had been a very bad idea to destroy the river, so the CoE got hundreds of millions more to “un-screw” the Kissame River. Talk about job security! Anything sounding familiar yet? If the Fed dollars were so crucial to this SA project, the politicians should have waited until it was a sure thing and not jumped the gun. But, rightfully, it is a SA and Bexar “feel good” project and we should pay for it – not with Minn, CA, Neb, or NY tax dollars. But, very likely, it was quietly considered part of a legacy of a perennial local politician and time was running out, so the green light was given to the construction. But, in fairness, it probably turned out for the best for all of us who also are Federal taxpayers. Spend tax money wisely first on NEEDS and if any surplus, then give fair, wise consideration of funding “wants
What a short memory Bexar County has! I remember when the river was widened south of the city in the 1970’s to straighten it out and for flood control. Now the County wants the Feds to reimburse it for “beautifying” the river. Give the federal taxpayers a break! Why should we in Bexar county expect the Feds to quickly reimburse twice. No wonder Bexar county has the highest debt of any county in Texas