November 26, 2005 — City Commissioner Carlos Cisneros is asking if he and other elected city leaders can continue to collect a string of benefits that the City Charter does not address.

He is the latest city leader to request clarification on health and other benefits that have been extended to elected leaders, using an IRS designation that says they are “city employees” for tax-withholding purposes but does not address compensation outside the charter provision.

In its compensation provision, the charter calls for a $10 per-meeting-attended stipend, at a monthly cap of $50 per commissioner and the mayor.

Health and life insurance benefits, a city-paid cell phone and laptop computer and car allowance for city leaders are not covered by the charter but are also not prohibited by it, city officials maintain.

In Cisneros' case, the city perks are in addition to a county-paid gas card and 2003 Ford F150 pickup that are available to him as Cameron County Commissioner John Wood's assistant.

He has taken the pickup to his house, “but it was just parked there,” he said. “I don't even want it,” but he was told it came with the county job.

The Texas Attorney General's Office advises that, with the exception of school teachers, retired teachers or retired school administrators, state employees “or other individuals who receive all or part of their compensation directly or indirectly from state funds” and who are not state officers, can serve on the governing boards of cities, towns or other local governmental districts, provided they don't get paid.

This means that Cisneros can serve on the City Commission, collect a city meeting stipend and a county check, if it's not funded with state dollars.

County Auditor Mark Yates and County Budget Officer Xavier Villarreal said that some state funds are co-mingled with county funds in the general fund, which pays for salaries, including Cisneros'.

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