CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — A South Texas state senator is pressing the Nueces River Authority to explain its finances, questioning whether the agency can keep operating long enough to deliver a major water project that communities across the state are counting on.
State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, whose District 20 covers the Corpus Christi area, sent a letter July 2 to Eric Burnett, president of the river authority's board of directors. He laid out a list of concerns and asked the board for written answers.
Hinojosa wrote his concerns grew out of two sources: recent KRIS 6 News reporting on the agency's finances and the authority's own bank statements, which he requested June 2 and received June 16.
Much of Hinojosa's letter cited a July 1 KRIS 6 News investigation into the authority's finances. KRIS 6 reported that the agency's money for its planned seawater desalination plant and pipeline could run out by the end of August.
At the June 25 board meeting, board member Dan Suckley said the agency was "conceivably" out of money "at the end of August in desal," and Chief Financial Officer Robin Murray did not dispute it, saying it was true unless more payments came in.
Two years ago, the authority pledged to develop a $6 to $7 billion seawater desalination plant that would pull water from the Gulf of Mexico and pipe it as far as 200 miles inland to cities and water districts across South and Central Texas. The region is in the middle of a serious water shortage, and planners expect it will need roughly double its current supply within a decade — a gap the authority's Harbor Island project is meant to help address.
In his letter, Hinojosa pointed to a basic problem KRIS 6 reporting had documented: the authority has been spending far more than it takes in. He noted the article's finding that several steady revenue sources had ended or been frozen, including a utilities contract with McMullen County, a watershed education contract worth more than $100,000 and a Texas Department of Agriculture colonia planning grant, a loss of about $150,000.
The senator also flagged the reporting's finding that, with that income gone, the agency had leaned on the one fund still holding money: the non-refundable fees cities and water districts paid to reserve future water from the plant. Those fees have covered general operating costs, including most of Byrum's salary, and the CFO wrote in April to executive leadership that monthly expenses were outpacing revenue and a transfer from "desal and desal OA (overhead allocation) will help."
Some of the customer payments the agency is counting on are now late or in doubt. At the June 25 board meeting, deputy director John Chisholm told the board that of three customers billed and unpaid, one was "possibly coming," and that of the other two he did not know.
KRIS 6 reached out to nine entities with desalination contracts expiring before Aug. 31. The Spring Hill Special Utility District, located in Seguin, said last week it will renew its contract. The contract for East Central Special Utility District, west of San Antonio, expired two months ago; the board has not decided whether to enter into a new agreement, said General Manager Brandon Rohan. He said they see the challenges with the project, but also see the challenges with water supply availability, adding they are scheduling a meeting with the NRA this month.
Three others declined to comment, writing that the renewal had not yet been presented to their boards. Another said it has not yet received an invoice. The remaining three did not respond to requests for comment.
Hinojosa's letter also cited the reporting on weak financial planning. Last month, Suckley told staff he had waited more than a year for a full-year cash flow projection and received only a three-month snapshot at the June meeting.
"These are serious issues, and as a State Senator with direct interest in the agency's financial stability, I would appreciate the Board's assurance that they are being addressed with urgency and transparency," Hinojosa wrote.
What the senator found in the bank statements
Separately, Hinojosa said his own review of the agency's bank records raised concerns. He wrote that of the eleven accounts the authority provided, several are restricted to specific purposes and cannot reasonably be used for general operations, among them the Leakey-related accounts, an SB 8 regional flood planning account, a Green Lake Drainage Project account and an SB 1 Coastal Bend account.
The General Operating accounts and the Harbor Island desalination construction account offer more flexibility, Hinojosa wrote, but the money in them is limited relative to the agency's salary and operating obligations. Based on recent activity in those accounts, he estimated that combined salaries and other recurring monthly expenses — payroll taxes, vendor and contract payments, software, fleet, lease and debt service — are running at a pace those accounts could not sustain for more than a few months without new revenue.
Hinojosa asked Byrum or Murray to provide a written response that includes a full breakdown of the agency's monthly recurring costs by category and fund; a plan to keep the desalination fund and other accounts from running dry, including a contingency plan if expected state or federal money does not arrive on Byrum's timeline; and a clear, written accounting of exactly what funding the agency has requested from state or federal government — by whom, to whom, in what amount and in what form.
He also asked whether the agency's current contracts — including its lease with the Port of Corpus Christi and its engineering agreement with Lockwood, Andrews & Newnan — carry early-termination penalties, and how much the authority could owe; for the full-year cash flow projection Suckley had requested; for copies of the monthly financial reports the board began requiring in May; and whether the board has considered borrowing to bridge any shortfall.
Bryum told a public audience in April that a $2.5 billion “big ask” had been made to President Trump and that a funding announcement for the NRA desalination project was weeks away.
Last month, after the board meeting, Byrum told KRIS 6 News the agency was still waiting. He said a White House meeting was now three to four weeks away and that some money was available this year, with the remainder coming over the following three to four years.
When KRIS 6 News contacted the White House and could not confirm any request had been made or received, Byrum told KRIS 6 News the NRA had not made the ask; it was the Port of Corpus Christi Authority that made the request when the president visited in February.
Port CEO Kent Britton previously told KRIS 6 News that is also not accurate. He said Port staff met with U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright the night before the president spoke and not with Trump directly. “During the visit port staff discussed several infrastructure projects, critical to growth and economic development in the region, including water resources. But no formal requests were made at that time,” Britton said.
He said no official request has ever been made by the port for $2.5 billion tied to the NRA’s Harbor Island Project.
“There is no guarantee of any money amount from the federal government,” Britton said. “The port is advocating for all desalination solutions in the region.”
When pressed about his earlier public statements, Byrum said the NRA had made its needs known through trips to Washington and conversations with members of congressional appropriations committees. He could not confirm anything had been put in writing.
Hinojosa wrote that he still supports building the desalination plant, but he reminded the board that the authority's core mission is the conservation and development of the Nueces River and the region's broader water resources — not any single project. Based on the news reporting and the financial records he reviewed, he wrote, that mission may have taken a back seat to the Harbor Island project, to the point of putting the agency's day-to-day operations and its restricted accounts at risk.
"I would encourage the Board to ensure that the desalination project's ambitions remain in line with what the agency can actually afford, and with its responsibility to the communities it was created to serve," Hinojosa wrote.
