CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City leaders gathered Monday at Corpus Christi City Hall to discuss the 2025 budget, as multiple departments gave presentations regarding their financial needs and how it justifies public safety.
One issue that spurred intense conversation during the meeting was the topic of street infrastructure, specifically, how it would be funded in the future.
Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo said that one option is to use the one-eighth cent sales tax money known as the Type A fund to help bolster the residential street program.
"Fixing them and fixing them as fast as we can," she said.
The Type A fund is money that voters first approved in 2002, but it's now at risk after voters said no to Prop A last year. More than two-thirds of voters -- 69 percent -- said they did not want the money spent to support building a convention center hotel.
Now, Guajardo said that money could have other plans.
"Well residential streets are a need, it's what people are constantly telling us they want is their residential streets to be fixed," she said.
However, not everyone is on board with the idea. Corpus Christi At-Large Councilman Mike Pusley said that while he's in support of residential streets being fixed, he wants to make sure funds are being used reasonably.
"We're already putting $22 million into this street reconstruction program," he said.
Pusley said that transparency is another key factor to consider.
"And if we start going out and complicating this issue, now all of a sudden we're going to pull a switch, and tell tax payers we are going to do something different with sales tax than what we originally said we were gonna do," he said.
Guajardo said that if the decision was approved, funding for the American Bank Center would come from a different pool.
"Those buildings and such would be funded to full renovation and repairs through the general fund and hot funds," she said.
Conversations regarding the use of Proposition A funds will continue during Tuesday's regularly scheduled city council meeting.