At Wednesday’s Coffee with the Mayor, Mayor John Cowen Jr. walked residents through Brownsville’s newly adopted FY 2026 budget—$253 million and balanced—while keeping the property tax rate at $0.603504, the same as last year.
Mayor Cowen noted the City Commission approved it unanimously on September 2. He emphasized that the City’s share is less than 30% of a typical Cameron County property tax bill, with Brownsville’s property taxes per capita the lowest in the Rio Grande Valley.
The mayor kept the focus on where the dollars go: Public Safety leads the way at 52.3%, followed by General Government at 23.3%, Culture & Recreation at 8.8%, Public Works at 7.9%, Public Health at 2.9%, and Transfers at 4.8%. “Think of it as investing in the basics that keep the city safe, responsive, and moving,” he said.
He also previewed what’s next: a $215.4 million FY 2026 CIP—$148.4M from debt and $67.25M from grants—backed by the City’s $150M 2025A Certificates sold Sept. 4, 2025. The headline project is a $70M Public Safety Complex breaking ground this month with Megamorphosis Inc., consolidating Police, Fire/EMS, the EOC, and IT/Cybersecurity; $7M was allocated earlier, with the balance from 2025A proceeds.
Regarding city streets, the plan sets aside $47.9 million for full reconstructions across FY 2025–FY 2027 and $1.18 million in FY 2026 for mill-and-overlay work on corridors like Old Highway 77, Coffee Road (Phases I–II), Old Alice Road, Ringgold Road, and Sunrise Blvd. Drainage improvements continue, with Texas Water Development Board projects ranging from the completed West 17th St. improvement to Impala Ditch and Four Corners Detention now in design.
The Mayor said the City is expanding USGS monitoring of resacas and launching a new 24-acre park/drainage project on Robinhood Dr. that blends flood-mitigating ponds with amenities like pickleball courts, trails, and a splash pad.
Mayor Cowen said beginning this fall, the City’s new agreement with Republic Services will lower the monthly cost of a single trash cart from $23.24 to $20.30. If you opt for trash + recycling, the combined rate is $25.79. Two-bin households will see their total drop from $30.97 to $27.11 in Oct. 2025, and then to $25.79 in Jan. 2026 as recycling rolls out.
Cowen broke down what residents get for roughly “60 cents per day” in City property taxes. Fire responds to Priority One calls in under 7 minutes on more than 13,000 calls. EMS responds in under 6 minutes on more than 24,600 medical calls. Police respond to Priority One calls in under 6 minutes on more than 115,000 calls for service a year. Your libraries are open 3,744 hours per year per branch, with a collection of 260,000 physical items and 74,000 electronic titles.
Public Works is keeping pace behind the scenes: more than 800 miles of roadway maintained, over 600 potholes filled, 123,000 square feet of asphalt failures repaired, and more than 50 streets milled and overlaid in FY 2024, with additional work already underway in FY 2025.
Looking down the road, the City is advancing a 10-year Parks, Health & Recreation Master Plan and a 5–10-year Downtown Renaissance Master Plan to guide smart growth and future investments. Brownsville has also entered a 12-month exclusive negotiation period with the United Soccer League to evaluate professional men’s and women’s soccer and a stadium-anchored entertainment district at Brownsville Sports Park.
If you missed Wednesday’s Coffee with the Mayor, keep an eye on the City’s channels for updates and the next chance to grab a cup of coffee and ask questions.
