Tres Lagos homeowners press for transparency and caps; commission approves 2025 PID service and assessment plan

At a public hearing Tuesday, several Tres Lagos homeowners urged the McAllen City Commission to change the Tres Lagos Public Improvement District (PID) 2025–26 Service and Assessment Plan, citing perceived developer exclusivity, limited homeowner oversight, and insufficient maintenance funding. After the hearing and staff responses, the commission approved the PID service and assessment plan for 2025–26.

Why this matters: PID assessments can create recurring costs for homeowners in a defined district and can affect how maintenance and public improvements are funded and administered. Residents asked for clearer procurement rules, published reimbursements and sunset caps so that long-term costs do not fall disproportionately on early homeowners.

What residents said Jeffrey Earl, attorney for the Tres Lagos developer, told the commission that "there is no proposed rate increase" and reviewed development progress and projected captured values. He said the debt-service assessment is not paid by homeowners under the current structure and summarized recent construction and commercial activity in Tres Lagos.

Michael Skiba, a Tres Lagos homeowner, urged changes to the plan's definition of "developer" to avoid exclusivity, requested competitive bidding and third-party certification for reimbursed work, and asked for a public, running ledger that shows reimbursements and remaining caps. He challenged the low proposed lakes-management and parks budgets and asked that operational dollars be tied to published KPIs (weekly lake and park litter sweeps; 48-hour post-storm inspections; monthly KPI dashboards) and for competitive maintenance procurement with measurable penalties.

Luis Espindola, a resident, said the PID currently carries roughly $9,000,000 in ongoing maintenance and criticized the possibility that homeowners would shoulder costs for large capital items. He requested a sunset cap for M&O charges at 2030 unless renewed by district homeowners, a tiered opt-out for optional services, hardship relief for seniors and veterans, and a per-parcel cost calculator and independent audit.

Jolene Roth said she did not receive notice of the hearing and that spreading assessments only to Tres Lagos homeowners is unfair because many McAllen residents use the parks and amenities.

Staff and developer responses Jeffrey Earl reiterated that the maintenance and technology assessments would not increase this year and reviewed development milestones, captured value overperformance and the $132,700,000 invested to date. Michelle (city staff) said the city requires public bidding and engineering acceptance for public infrastructure projects and confirmed that invoices and supporting documents are submitted to the city finance and engineering departments and are available via public information request. City staff also noted that Hidalgo County Appraisal District controls assessed values and that assessed-value increases can raise owner bills even when rates fall.

Commission action After discussion and public comments, the commission approved the Tres Lagos PID 2025–26 Service and Assessment Plan. Commissioners also noted resident concerns and encouraged continued communication between the PID board, management and homeowners.

Ending The commission also approved a reappointment and other related TIRZ/PID administrative items later in the meeting; staff said details and public records on reimbursements are available through formal requests.