Tuesday night, Brownsville city commissioners voted to approve the purchase of security cameras at the cost of $480,000.
Brownsville public officials say the move is necessary to improve safety in downtown Brownsville.
Brownsville District 4 Commissioner Ben Neece says 40 cameras will be installed throughout six blocks in the downtown area.
District 2 Commissioner Jessica Tetreau was the only one to vote against the agenda item.
Tetreau tells CBS 4 that while she is for the cameras, she not for how they will be funded.
Tetreau said since Brownsville is so close to the border, the cameras could have been federally funded.
“I didn’t vote for them because the half a million dollars they spent on them should have been used for drainage,” said Tetreau. “The money that was taken was from drainage, street improvement. It was just money that was laying around.”
“Now, that money wasn’t taken from the road improvement fund or anything. These were taken from funds that had already been allocated on previous purchase orders that never reached out,” Neece said.
Brownsville officials believe having cameras downtown will increase sales tax, because more businesses will want to set up shop if they know they’re safe.
According to Neece, cameras should be installed by the end of the year.
