Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Board to resurvey residents

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Sunday, July 4, 1999

Board to resurvey residents
Ingleside on the Bay seeks sewer funding
By Stephanie L. Jordan
Caller-Times

The Texas Water Development Board plans to resurvey Ingleside on the Bay residents next week to see if the town meets the requirements for a grant designed for economically depressed areas.
   Although the board surveyed the city in November 1995, officials decided to reassess the information the city provided with its original application for a loan under the Economically Distressed Areas Program.
   City officials hope to qualify for a $2.6 million grant that would pay for a sewer system to replace the septic systems now used by the 260 homes nestled on the bay north of Ingleside.
   "I think we'll still qualify for the grant," said Ingleside on the Bay Mayor Alfred Robbins. "Sixty percent of the residents fall below the income level needed, and now we have a higher percentage of retirees living here than when we surveyed the area before."
   Board workers will conduct door-to-door surveys on Wednesday and Thursday to determine if the annual income of the residents meets the requirements of the grant.
   "We have to get enough to build (a sewer system) or we'll get nothing," Robbins said. "It's all or nothing. We can't afford to build it an other way."
   But one opponent of the proposed grant said that even if Ingleside on the Bay qualifies for the money, they shouldn't get it.
   "If this money is for truly poor people, then truly poor people should get it," said Helen Zahn, who lives in a rural area between Odem and Edroy. "I don't have any sympathy for them. I don't think this money should go for people who aren't really, really poor."
   Zahn said she has visited the community and said most people would agree that Ingleside on the Bay does not appear to be an economically distressed area.
   "Those people have indoor plumbing. They have nice cars and boats," she said. "I couldn't even afford a mortgage to live out there. I wouldn't feel right taking money intended for people who really need it."
   Results of the survey should be given to the development board by July 13, said board spokesman Leonard Olson.
   In April, the water board's finance committee voted to approve the grant, but board officials decided that the 1995 survey did not provide enough detail in its information.
   The 1995 survey asked residents their income, but in $10,000 ranges, Olson said. This next survey will be in $5,000 increments, and will mirror the surveying done by the Census Bureau.
   "People don't want to tell you exactly how much money they make, and this makes it easier to determine the income level," Olson said. "Should this have been caught earlier? Yes. It should have."
   Requirements for the grant include:

Having a per-capita income at least 25 percent below the state average

Sewer services that do not meet the minimal needs of the residents.

Inadequate financial resources to provide services.

Unemployment that was 25 percent above the state average for the most recent three consecutive years.
   The development board can determine if the city should get all or part of the grant.



Staff writer Stephanie L. Jordan can be reached at 886-3724 or by e-mail at Jordan @ caller.com

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