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MISSION MAYOR NORIE GONZALEZ GARZA DEFENDS CITY FINANCES A MONTH BEFORE THE RUNOFF

2 days ago
8 min read

MISSION, Texas. One word. That is how Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza describes the financial condition of the City of Mission today.


"Improving would be the word that I would use," she said.


The Mayor sat down with The 956 Report podcast for a 37-minute interview that covered a credit downgrade, a negative general fund balance, a late audit, the Cimarron Country Club deal, drainage, data centers and a city manager's office that has been shared by two people for more than a year.



The timing matters. Gonzalez Garza finished second on Nov. 3. Unofficial results show attorney Rick Salinas with 7,477 votes, about 35 percent, and Gonzalez Garza with 5,233 votes, about 24 percent, in a six-candidate field. The runoff is Dec. 12. Early voting runs Nov. 30 through Dec. 8.


Here is what the mayor said, in her own words, and how it lines up with the public record.


THE GROWTH CASE


Gonzalez Garza has lived in Mission all her life. She said the city had about 14,000 people and four elementary schools when she was growing up. She put the population today at "almost 100,000." The 2020 Census counted 85,778 residents, and more recent Census Bureau estimates put the city at roughly 87,000.


She opened her first real estate office on Shary Road when it was two lanes. She became Mission's first woman mayor in 2022 after serving on the school board, the planning and zoning commission and the city council. She said the milestone is not what matters to her.


"As long as you're doing the right thing and a good job, that's what counts," she said.


Her lead argument is sales tax. She said collections have grown 19.2 percent over four years and are up 5.2 percent so far this year compared to last.


"That basically says that our businesses have the confidence in Mission to come in here and build and invest in the city of Mission," she said. "So that's not a little number."


She said Mission's edge is simple. "We actually have the land to grow." She pointed to the west side of the city and the Anzalduas International Bridge, where she said the city is looking forward to commercial traffic, "hopefully by the end of the year." She said warehousing and cold storage companies are already showing interest.


Asked how many jobs the city's announced economic development projects have actually created, she gave a number. "We're looking at probably 500 jobs, you know, give or take." She described them as higher-paying and professional jobs meant to keep young people in the Valley.


"They don't need to go to San Antonio. They don't need to go to Austin for a better paying job. They can stay right here," she said. She has four children. Three came back to the Valley.


She also said Valley leaders now think as a region when they compete for state and federal money. "What's good for Mission is good for McAllen. It's good for Edinburg, good for La Joya, and vice versa."


THE DOWNGRADE


On June 25, S&P Global Ratings lowered Mission's general obligation debt rating to BBB+ from A-minus. The mayor said City Hall saw it coming.


"That actually was an expected change in our rating," she said.


Her explanation centers on the city's municipal golf course at Shary. She said the course was not self-sustaining, the city subsidized its operations starting around 2010, and the amount the course owed the city kept growing on the books. By 2022, she said, that receivable was over $3 million.


"Realistically, we knew that that debt was not going to get repaid, not the way the golf course was going," she said.


She said auditors recommended reclassifying the debt, the city showed half of it as being repaid, and the change hit the fund balance.


"It wasn't that we necessarily lost money. It was just a reclassification of a receivable that caused that change," she said. "We just had to bite the bullet and move forward with it."


For the record, S&P's own notice says the rating was lowered "on weak reserves" and lists the outlook as stable. The agency said it could consider a positive rating action if Mission posts timely audits, among other conditions. S&P also lowered the rating on the Mission Economic Development Corporation's sales tax bonds the same day, to A-minus from A.


The mayor said the golf course has turned around. She said the Mission EDC invested more than $1.5 million in a lighted night golf operation branded Starlight at Shary, and that its revenue will sustain both night golf and the original 18 holes. She said tee times can only be booked four days out. "It is always booked." She said a city administrator told her the course took in more than $10,000 in a single day.


THE GENERAL FUND


The 956 Report asked how the general fund ended up roughly $2.6 million in the negative when a city requirement calls for about $10.8 million in reserves. The Progress Times reported the $2.6 million figure when the city's latest audit was released.


Gonzalez Garza said that was the picture at the end of the last fiscal year. She said the new numbers are almost final.


"We're looking to have a positive $2 million," she said. She called it a preliminary number and said she plans to publicize it as soon as it is final.


She added a caveat of her own. "Part of that 2 million is the reclassification of a million and a half from that golf course fund," she said. "Technically it is a loss, but it's not like we actually lost cash."


She described the roughly $10 million reserve target as a self-imposed requirement. She said the city has stayed current on its obligations.


"We've never had an issue with meeting payroll," she said. "Has it been tight? Yes, absolutely."


Her opponent sees it differently. Salinas told ValleyCentral last week that the city is in the worst financial position in its history under her leadership. Gonzalez Garza rejected that on the podcast.


"There's a lot of rhetoric out there that it's the worst it's ever been," she said. "That's absolutely not the truth."


THE LATE AUDIT


The mayor acknowledged the city's last audit was delayed. She blamed major changes in the finance department and a transition from tracking expenses on Excel sheets to dedicated software. She said the software is fully in place, reconciliations are done, and the next audit should be finished earlier than required.


"I'll be the first one to say that we've had some challenges, but we've met them," she said. "Every challenge is an opportunity to get better."


She credited Andy Garcia, who oversees finance as one of the city's two co-interim city managers.


CIMARRON


The city and the Mission EDC bought the shuttered Cimarron Country Club in 2025 for $5 million. The EDC sold it this year for $2.5 million.


"So yes, we bought it for five, we sold it for 2.5 million," the mayor said. She called it "an incentivized sale."


She gave three reasons for the purchase. First, drainage. "A lot of people don't know this, that the lakes at Cimarron are part of our infrastructure for our drainage system," she said. She said there had been talk of covering and developing some of those lakes, and that the system affects hundreds of acres upstream and downstream.


Second, property values. Gonzalez Garza is a real estate broker. "I actually was seeing the values decline in that area because of the neglect that was happening at Cimarron," she said.


Third, control. She said the sale carries deed restrictions that run with the property and bind any future buyer. The buyers must spend at least $10 million of their own capital, and the country club, golf course and drainage system must stay in place. She said the contract includes clawback terms.


"If they don't, then the city of Mission actually takes back the property," she said.


She said the new owners have their renderings and final golf course design ready and hope to break ground on the course at the first of next year. She estimated an 18-month project.


WHY NOT RAISES?


The 956 Report asked about the council's September vote on police and firefighter salaries, which the question described as a unanimous vote to keep pay unchanged, and how that squares with millions spent on projects like Cimarron.


The mayor said the money comes from two different pots. She said economic development projects are funded by a half-cent sales tax that must be spent on economic development and cannot go to salaries. She argued the projects grow the tax base, and that a bigger tax base pays for operations.


One note from the public record. News reports on the 2025 purchase describe city money in the deal. KRGV reported the city loaned its EDC $5 million, with half to be repaid. The Progress Times reported the city and the EDC each put in $2.5 million.


NO PERMANENT CITY MANAGER


Mission has run on two co-interim city managers since September 2025. JP Terrazas handles public works and engineering. Garcia handles finance. The mayor did not pretend the setup is clean.


"It is confusing," she said.


She said the city advertised the job and received 13 applications. Each council member has a copy. The council has not sat down to review them. With the runoff weeks away, she said the decision should hold.


"Being so close to a new administration, I think it's probably best just to wait," she said.


DRAINAGE


The mayor said the city has completed seven drainage projects in four years, with two second phases in the works. She singled out a partnership with Mission CISD that put detention ponds on school property in already developed areas where no new development was coming to help pay for drainage.


She said the city saw heavy rain this past week. "We experienced no flooding," she said. She said the same was true in the two major rain events before it.


DATA CENTERS AND AIR


Are data centers coming to Mission? "That's not in our radar," she said. She said she does not know enough to hold a firm opinion, but pointed to water and the power grid. "I don't think we're ready for that here in the city of Mission, in my opinion."


On air quality, she said Valley leaders should use their relationships in Mexico to talk about more than economic growth, including "our quality of life, which includes clean air." The American Lung Association's 2026 State of the Air report ranked the Brownsville-Harlingen-Raymondville metro second worst in the nation for year-round particle pollution.


THE BOTTOM LINE


The mayor's case comes down to direction. She concedes the audit was late, the money has been tight and the co-manager arrangement is confusing. She says the trend line is up.


"We're on track and we're going to get it done," she said.


Three things will test that. The final fund balance number she promised to publish. The next audit, which she says will be early. And whether dirt moves at Cimarron at the first of the year.


Voters get their say first. Will Mission's runoff turn on where the city's finances have been, or on where the mayor says they are headed?


Quotes in this report are taken from the podcast recording and have been lightly edited to remove filler words. The full interview is available now.




SOURCES


The 956 Report podcast interview with Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza, November 2026

Progress Times, audit and credit rating: https://www.progresstimes.net/?p=86182

Progress Times, Cimarron sale documents: https://www.progresstimes.net/?p=86188

American Lung Association, State of the Air 2026: https://www.lung.org/media/press-releases/fy26-sota-national-release


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