EDINBURG, RGV – Bobby Villarreal, executive director of Hidalgo County, says the Hidalgo County Courthouse has outlived its useful life due to gas leaks, flooding, mold and 70-year-old pipes.

Ramon Garcia, Hidalgo County judge, and Villarreal highlighted the needs of a new courthouse to the McAllen Economic Development Corporation (EDC) earlier this year.

The Hidalgo County Courthouse was built in 1954 with four courts. Garcia noted the population of the Rio Grande Valley was about 160,000 during that time. Today, the population of Hidalgo County is about 900,000 with only 24 courts.

“In this next Census, we believe we are going to hit the million mark,” Joseph Palacios, a Hidalgo County commissioner said. “We believe at the end of the day, the demand is there. We are having the population growth. We are having the needs of an expanded courthouse. But, we are going to work. We are going to build what we need. We are not looking at building what we want. We need to build what we need and to ensure, at the end of the day, that it is a fair and equitable decision regardless of what we build [and] well within our capacity of financing it.”

Today, the courthouse is approximately 111,000-square-feet and the 24 courts are not all located within the courthouse. Garcia said two are located in the annex building, five are located at temporary mobile homes, one court is located in an alley west of the Hidalgo County Courthouse and a court of appeals is located at the old administration building. The main hallway in the courthouse is used by prisoners, victims, witnesses, judges and jurors. Garcia said because of this, there is no security. However, the new courthouse will be larger and more secure.

“The new facility [will be] 370,000-square-feet, will house all the courts in one building and will also provide space for 10 additional courtrooms that we feel will hopefully take us to the turn of the century without having to do this again,” Garcia said. “The new facility will also have separate and more secure facilities for holding and transporting prisoners. Security is a big part of the new [courthouse].”

Villarreal said there are five things a county government is supposed to do and have: law enforcement, a judicial system, secure storage of important records such as birth certificates, death certificates, real estate records, etc., build as well as maintain roadways and manage the health and safety of the community. With the issues such as power outages, gas leaks, flooding and molding, it puts the courthouse’s core functions at risk.

“We believe that the need is clearly there,” Garcia said. “It’s time to do it. We really can’t afford to kick it down the road and let someone else worry about [the courthouse] 20 years down the road. The time is right and we feel like we need to begin and have started towards the construction of this new facility.”

The estimated cost to build the new courthouse is at most $150 million. Garcia said today’s interest rates are very similar to what the interest rates were back in 1954 when the current courthouse was constructed. During the last legislative session, a bill was passed increasing the filing fees and is generating about $1.7 million per year and will go towards the payment of the construction of the facility, Garcia told the Rio Grande Guardian.

“The City of Edinburg is contributing $30 million through the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation because of the impact that the new [courthouse] is going to have in Edinburg,” Garcia said. “The city is also going to be building a structure for parking just across the street.”

According to Edinburg EDC’s press office, 50 percent of the $30 million will come from the City of Edinburg and 50 percent will come from the EDC.

The City of Edinburg and Hidalgo County recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to demolish the Hidalgo County Courthouse and construct a new one. Edinburg Mayor Richard Garcia said changing the face of the city’s downtown fits in with Edinburg’s master plan of revitalizing the downtown square and servicing the people of Hidalgo County.

“As one of our councilmen mentioned, we started on this in 2013,” Richard Garcia said. “Here we are, 2017 is just a few weeks away and we have finally ironed out a lot of the wrinkles. We are very happy with the way it has evolved. … [The new courthouse] is another one of the important things happening in our city and it is important for the people we serve in this county.”

Palacios said the next 12 months will be spent value-engineering, addressing off-site and on-site utilities and ensuring that at the end of the day there is synergy amongst the infrastructure within the courthouse and downtown Edinburg area. A project manager has already been selected and the remaining phases is the architect and construction manager.

“We are looking for all of them to work together to get a guaranteed maximum price of the courthouse to ensure that we can go back to our taxpayers and ensure no tax increase. We are going to finance it well within our capacity and have a successful project,” Palacios told the Rio Grande Guardian.

Editor’s Note: Reporter Steve Taylor contributed to this story from McAllen, Texas.