Garza: Edinburg’s double digit growth continues unabated

3 months ago 109

EDINBURG, Texas – The City of Edinburg is in the third quarter of its fiscal year and still the numbers show its economic growth is in double digits.

These are unchartered territories for the Rio Grande Valley’s fastest-growing city and with the growth comes growing pains. City leaders are having to move fast to make sure the infrastructure is in place to handle the growth, such as new roads, water and wastewater.

Mayor Ramiro Garza and Edinburg Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Raudel Garza (no relation) have been discussing the growth recently. Mayor Garza talked about it in an interview with the Rio Grande Guardian at a recent event at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Edinburg. Driscoll has invested $100 million on the eight-story facility. It will mean 700 new jobs for Edinburg.

EEDC’s Garza spoke about his city’s growth in an interview with NewsTalk 710 KURV.

“Our city continues to grow rapidly. We are now in the third quarter of our fiscal year, and everything is still in double digit growth here in our city,” Mayor Garza said.

“We are seeing some challenges trying to keep up with that growth. But we’re investing quite a bit in a lot of infrastructure. We have about $90 million worth of improvements that we’re doing as a city. Roads, infrastructure, we’re expanding our wastewater treatment plant. We’re planning a new water treatment facility. All that is to take care of the rapid growth that we have in our city.”

Mayor Garza added: “We’re still seeing a lot of homes being built in our city. A lot of multifamily (homes). We’re also seeing a lot of commercial businesses locate in our city. So, the trend continues, and we’re busy trying to keep up with that. But we welcome it and we look forward to what’s up ahead for us.”

Asked about the latest construction numbers for commercial and retail developments, EEDC executive director Garza, told KURV: “Well, for Edinburg specifically this year, year to date, we’ve got 4,400 permits that have already been issued that through April. That’s one thousand than last year at this time. In just residential homes, new homes, last year at this time we had $36 million worth of new homes being built. We’re at almost $60 million in new homes. So, we’re almost doubling in the first four months of the year.”

EEDC’s Garza was also asked to give an update on sales tax revenues.

“Retail and sales tax numbers: I mean, we’re at six percent growth over the last year. So that’s a very, very solid growth. And we’re going to see a lot more growth, I think, over the next few months. We’ve still got back to school coming up in the fall and everything like that. So, there’s a lot of good numbers coming up our way.”

Garza added: “Edinburg continues to grow. Our unemployment rate, we’re at four percent this month, for April 2024. So, we’re tied with McAllen for the lowest unemployment rate in the Valley.”