EDINBURG, RGV - Hidalgo County Commissioners Court has agreed to pay $1 million to the descendants of the grantors that originally allowed the county to build its courthouse on the courthouse square in Edinburg.
As a result, Hidalgo County will still have title to the courthouse on the square, should Commissioners Court decide to build a new courthouse at another location.
Without buying out the ‘reverter clause’ in the deeds to the current courthouse, Hidalgo County would not have had title to the millions of dollars worth of investments it has made on the courthouse square, if a new county courthouse were to be built elsewhere.
The original grantors were the Looney Family of Edinburg.
Hidalgo County Judge Ramon GarciaAt its last meeting, Hidalgo County Commissioners voted unanimously in support of a motion to buy out the ‘reverter clause.’ Before the vote was taken, Hidalgo County Judge Ramon Garcia asked the county’s legal counsel, Steve Crane, to explain what was happening. “How much time do I have, Judge?” Crane joked. Garcia responded: “The story began in 1908.” Crane said the Judge was close, that the story actually started in 1909.
Before then, the Hidalgo County seat was in the city of Hidalgo.
“This is somewhat of an historic occasion for Hidalgo County,” Crane said. “The courthouse, when it was originally deeded to the county contained what is known as a ‘reverter clause.’ What that means is, if the courthouse was never utilized as a courthouse, Hidalgo County would no longer own it. It would revert back to the original grantors.”
Crane explained that “this has been somewhat of an issue” for Hidalgo County ever since 1909.
“We really don’t own it fee and simple. So, it is historic. We have reached an agreement to acquire the ‘reverter clause’ so that Hidalgo County will own this property, fee simple.”
Garcia then asked Crane how much the acquisition of the ‘reverter clause’ was costing the county.
“One million for the ‘reverter clause’ and closing expenses of roughly $14,000,” Crane answered.
Without Garcia asking Crane to explain what was going on, the vote could have been taken with little information provided to the general public.
“And if we don’t do this, whether or not we build the courthouse, if the courthouse is ever moved to another location, at that point all the property that is on the courthouse square…” Garcia said. “… is no longer the county’s. It goes back to the original grantors, or the descendants of the original grantors,” Crane said, finishing Garcia’s sentence.
After the unanimous vote, Crane made another point. “The public should be aware that there is a possibility that any lender of funds to the county for constructing a new courthouse might consider whether or not there can be an interest issue because of the ‘reverter clause.’ If it were still in existence it might affect the amount of interest or risk expense to the lender on that property.”
In other words, Garcia said: “There would be a cloud on title.”
Crane repeated the legal phrase: “A cloud on title.”
In a later interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Hidalgo County Commissioner Joseph Palacios explained the significance of acquiring the ‘reverter clause.’
“Most people will not know that downtown Edinburg was on a reversionary clause in regard to the land that the courthouse sits on. Reversion meaning, if we were ever to relocate that courthouse and it were not used for courthouse purposes, then we relinquish our rights to that building,” Palacios said.
“It is kind of hard to digest that as a business man or woman, to say that in all these years we invested millions and millions and millions of dollars, all to say now we are just going to move away. The commission decided to pay out the reversionary clause to the original owners, so losing the title is not an issue any longer. This change allows for a lot more to be discussed. Do we continue, do we build on it, do we look at other options?”
Another way of putting it, Palacios said, was: “Now it will belong to the taxpayers of Hidalgo County. A couple of weeks ago, had we decided to move, we would have lost that opportunity. We have successfully mitigated that issue so now it is a non-issue. It is good for Hidalgo County. When you are looking at investing that amount of money into a courthouse, we had to do what we had to do to ensure we did not lose the asset.”
Palacios’ district – Precinct 4 - includes Edinburg. He said he hopes and believes the new courthouse will stay in downtown Edinburg. He pointed out that as vice-chairman of the Hidalgo County Metropolitan Planning Organization he has been able to get $20 million to improve mobility and drainage for downtown Edinburg.
“I am not an advocate of moving the courthouse. I believe, at the end of the day, it has been there all this time. Edinburg is a beneficiary of having the courthouse, of being the county seat.”
