Omar,Omar: Where Art Thou? DA going after bonds
Tue, 2016-04-05 20:37
News Staff
Million-dollar fugitive
By G. Romero Wendorf
With a million-dollar-bond on his wanted head, former Hidalgo County District Clerk Omar Guerrero is still MIA. And the county still hasn’t collected the money. What gives? With a multi-million-dollar new courthouse waiting in the wings, surely county coffers could use the money.
While standing inside the nearly empty Hidalgo County courthouse two Fridays ago (it was nearly empty last Tuesday morning as well, and Wednesday afternoon, too), I was left wondering how much the new approximate $150 million county courthouse will really end up costing county residents. And that’s not even including the approximate $135 million in interest built into the multi-year bond pay-out (county’s estimate), much to investors’ delight.
If the city of Edinburg invests $30 million into its construction (not yet a done deal), which would include infrastructure improvements downtown, more good news for bond investors: approximately $15 million in interest to be had off of the backs of Edinburg residents.