Cleaner beaches are ‘on the House’

The Legislature has passed a bill that’s expected to pump thousands more dollars into routine beach cleanup and maintenance Port Aransas.

House Bill 2276, sponsored by State Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, was passed by the House and then cleared the Senate on May 26. The measure now awaits Gov. Rick Perry’s signature.

An identical bill, Senate Bill 1684, sponsored by State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, made it through the Senate but stalled in the House.

Port Aransas lies in both legislators’ districts.

The bills were written to allow Port Aransas to collect a rebate on some of the hotel-motel tax revenue that currently goes to the state. That amount has been estimated to be $334,000 per year.

The city has $1.4 million budgeted for beach services for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. About two-thirds of that is for cleaning the beach and maintaining a good driving surface in the sand, said City Manager Michael Kovacs. The additional money provided by the legislation – if it is signed by Perry – will translate to a cleaner beach that’s easier to drive on, Kovacs said.

“Definitely, as the Memorial Day crowd reminded us, it’s great to have visitors, but it’s expensive to maintain beaches to the cleanliness level people expect nowadays,” Kovacs said. “So, every effort we can make to make sure the beach experience is better by having a clean beach translates to happy visitors, and it’s good for locals, too.”

Several Port Aransans traveled to Austin to advocate passage of the hotel-motel legislation. They included Kovacs, City Councilman Keith Mc- Mullin and Ann Bracher Vaughan, executive director of the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce-Tourist Bureau. Georgia Neblett, former mayor of Port Aransas, also provided assistance.