This story has been updated.
When Enoch Jones built his farmstead in 1856, the engineer installed a large cypress storage tank filled with water pumped from a nearby river and created the first indoor plumbing system in the region.
The “Castle on the Medina,” as it’s known in Von Ormy, is believed to have had the first flush toilet in the state, as well as a bath and shower.
But it wasn’t until recently that the municipality that built up around the farmstead was approved for modern-day sewer service.
It’s the kind of infrastructure development that has for years bypassed this southwest corner of Bexar County — leading to economic instability and a volatile government body in Von Ormy.
In September, Bexar County commissioners approved an agreement between the county and the City of Von Ormy that provides funds for the design of regional sewage infrastructure that will serve about 400 households.
The $3 million grant from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was championed by Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores and supports the planning, acquisition and design of the system to make it shovel-ready.
When the commissioner met with the residents of Von Ormy, they told her sewer service was their greatest need.
“They all said sewer,” she said. “Because without sewer, it’s hard for us to grow and we want to grow, we want development, we want economic development.”
In addition to money from the county, another $1.25 million has been secured through the federal government’s allocation for community projects from the fiscal year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
The full project cost to service the entire town of Von Ormy is $14 million, making it more critical than ever for the city to overcome ongoing impasses over things like its governance and budget.
City Administrator Valerie Naff said the prospect of sewer, a service other parts of Clay-Flores’ precinct are still waiting on, is very exciting. “We really need it. Von Ormy has been kind of left out of that for forever.”
No new taxes
Named after Norbert Von Ormay, a Prussian count who moved his court to the area in 1880, Von Ormy is a 2-square-mile city that lies between the Medina River and Loop 1604 West along the Interstate 35 corridor.
Incorporated in 2008, Von Ormy has a population of about 1,200 with a median age of 37, according to Data USA. In 2021, the median household income was $33,000; the median property value was $64,000, and the homeownership rate was almost 77%.
Von Ormy is a Type C General Law municipality that is governed by a mayor and two city commissioners.
Under Type C, Texas statutes are vague when it comes to their roles and responsibilities. But Von Ormy’s city attorney interprets the rules to mean the mayor cannot make a motion during meetings or vote unless there’s a tie.
Businessman and Houston native Casey Homer, age 33, was elected mayor in May. He succeeded Sally Martinez, who served for six years following Von Ormy’s early years as a “libertarian experiment,” when a previous administration sought to avoid big-city taxes and regulations.
Commissioners Sammy Martinez and Ramon Guzman Jr. also serve on the city board. Neither responded to a request for comment. Naff was hired in April just prior to the election; the position was unbudgeted.
Homer has been at odds with all three over governance issues, balancing the 2023-24 city budget and taxation.
The board recently considered a citizen-led petition to let voters decide if Von Ormy should become a Type A General Law municipality. If approved, the board would have five alderman seats and a mayor, and give greater clarity to their roles.
The commissioners voted during an October meeting to take no action until the signatures could be verified.
Budget hearing
One of the city’s most lingering and contentious issues — the city budget — was taken up by the board on Nov. 3.
That meeting came only after several previously scheduled meetings were canceled or discontinued due to the amount of public notice given and space requirements for public comments. Without a ratified budget, the city has ostensibly been shut down for weeks despite a board budget workshop held in July.
At the recent budget hearing, the board passed a published budget by reviewing it line-by-line against a budget previously proposed by the city administrator. Amid frequent interruptions by people attending the meeting and the mayor trying to maintain order, several changes were made to reconcile the two.
Homer pushed a discussion about payroll tax and city salary/wages to the final item. When it appeared there wouldn’t be enough money in the budget to pay the city administrator a salary of $65,000, the board returned to looking at the budget line by line, shaving off about $21,000 in expenses.
Commissioner Guzman suggested taking the remainder from the capital improvement budget for Naff’s salary, which the mayor declined to do because it would have put upfront payments for the sewer project in jeopardy.
The budget eventually was balanced and approved without funds to pay the administrator. The board then discussed the issue at a special meeting on Friday, in which they passed a budget with expenses exceeding anticipated revenue.
“We are now entering into another year where we’re going to have a six-figure plus deficit because we are spending more than our revenues are making,” Homer said. “What that means is if we can’t plug that hole of creating $300,000 in additional revenue between now and the end of this fiscal year, we have no choice but to have a tax.”
The board also discussed the city administrator’s contract in executive session and, without taking any further action, adjourned the meeting. A letter from the mayor to Von Ormy citizens said that depleting the capital improvement fund into negative numbers, by over $30,000 to “balance” the budget and pay the city administrator, places the city “in a desperate financial situation.”
But none of the city’s recent differences stand in the way of the sewer project, Clay-Flores said. “Because that’s something I’ve been working on since I got here. I think as a community they are in agreement that they want sewer, that they want economic development.”
But how they get there has had the city in turmoil.
‘Confronted with circumstances’
Homer moved to Von Ormy in 2020 when he acquired Ridge Crest, a manufactured home community and one of several such developments he owns throughout the state.
He now lives in the community with his two English bulldogs as he works to upgrade Ridge Crest, adding high-speed internet and repairing streets.
“When I tried to look at how to expand that community, I realized the long road to attaining sewer and started getting involved in 2021,” he said.
Von Ormy has struggled to attract revenue-generating business while other cities along the Interstate 35 corridor in that region have swelled as the trade route grew busier in recent years. “The big limiting factor has been sewer,” Homer said.
The city also does not have a property tax, something residents have staunchly opposed. Homer noted that while taxable property values are generally low in the small town, as the city grows, it might reconsider the need for a property tax.
But without much business, sales tax revenue, which accounts for the largest percentage of the city’s revenue, isn’t sufficient for the city’s needs.
Homer wants to close the $8 million funding gap for sewer by developing new revenue sources such as establishing a city impound lot and working to attract commercial development.
Clay-Flores said there are developers interested in Von Ormy, the kind that would also help fund infrastructure. The county’s funds plant the seeds to get it going, she said.
Early on, the board voted to deauthorize Homer from doing any kind of economic development on behalf of the city, like working to attract Dollar General stores, which he had been doing since before being elected. He was reauthorized in September.
“One thing we really want to attract is a grocery store,” he said. “We have sewer coming in but not every business needs sewer, so finding those that can operate on septic in the near term is my first focus.”
So far, Homer has made little progress on that front, and the confidence he once had in his ability to lead the city is waning.
Service in the Marine Corps taught him effective negotiation tactics and how to find a middle ground.
“But now I’m confronted with circumstances that I’m a bit surprised with [and] I haven’t been as effective at working together with the board or some of the city’s voices as I would have liked,” he said.
