Cameron County leaders tout job growth, drainage, road to SpaceX, and new South Padre Island bridge

Cameron County leaders gathered on Thursday inside the Texas State Technical College Cultural Arts Center in Harlingen to share the state of the county address, highlighting job growth, infrastructure investment, and a firmer financial footing for the county’s budget. 

Cameron County’s general fund balance hit $52 million this year, which is 152 days of cash reserve, up from 90 days. 

“We’re inching up to double our required balance,” said Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. during the event. 

The county has also lowered its property tax rate for three consecutive years – in part because this year alone, it estimated it would collect 8.34% more in property taxes due to increased value on the tax rolls. 

He also highlighted the “astronomical growth of jobs” over the past few years. Cameron County added 17,729 jobs between September 2021 and September 2025. 

Some of that growth is attributed to companies like SpaceX, which employs upwards of 3,200 workers in the county, but also Houston-based NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project, which supports thousands of construction jobs for the $30 billion export terminal at the Port of Brownsville. 

“We’re talking to so many other different companies at the moment,” Treviño, Jr. said about economic development efforts beyond LNG and SpaceX. “I’d like to be able to tell you more, but I can’t. But we’re hopeful we’ll be able to do that in the near future.” 

But with that growth comes traffic, said Cameron County Commissioner Sofia Benavides, who represents Precinct 1.

“We never expected SpaceX to come in and just grow so fast and so much,” Benavides said. “But along with that comes the problems with traffic congestion. Those of you that go to the Island, or to Port Isabel or are trying to get there into Brownsville, we know you’re experiencing a lot of traffic congestion.” 

To address the change, two notable roadway projects are underway in Cameron County. 

Such as the 14-mile-long widening project of Boca Chica Boulevard, which leads to SpaceX, and the construction of a second causeway connecting the mainland to South Padre Island. A third project is still in the works, but it would open up much more of Cameron County for economic development, said Eddie Treviño, Jr.

Boca Chica Boulevard, otherwise known as State Highway 4, was “never designed to move thousands of people to and from their work”, he said. “These are good problems to have. We need to continue to push for the expansion of State Highway 4 because of the number of jobs that are now associated with that.” 

The second causeway to South Padre Island would cost between $700 million and $1 billion. 

“It’s going to double or triple the size of the island, but what in my mind. is just as important is the development of a new state highway from the second causeway all the way to Edinburg,” he said. “It will open Northern Cameron County for development that right now is not available.” 

Cameron County Commissioner David Garza, who represents Precinct 3, touted the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority’s planning and budgeting for roadway infrastructure projects as a $2 billion system. 

“We have identified projects for this county through 2065. All of these projects are totally funded,” Garza said. 

Officials noted several significant investments in drainage across the county to address flooding, and that water access remains an issue. 

For example, Cameron County Drainage District No. 6 was created in 2021. Since then, the drainage district has earmarked $1.4 million from American Rescue Plan Act funding to build a pump station at Tio Cano Lake, an area of the county that has struggled with flooding for decades. New water pumps designed to divert water from communities in La Feria and Harlingen, as well as to widen the Adams Garden Ditch in La Feria, will cost $13.5 million and are expected to be completed by 2030.