Val Verde County report updates fire station, sports projects, $4 million road gap

Crews are building Val Verde County’s new fire station on cleared land just off U.S. Highway 90 north of the Y, where U.S. 277 meets U.S. 90, and that site is becoming one of the county’s most visible signs of where public money is going next. County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. told commissioners the project remains active as the court worked through property details, after earlier county action to buy 2.8 acres from the City of Del Rio for $150,000.

The station is only one piece of a capital program that also includes two large youth sports complexes and a list of recurring projects that has stretched across Lausen Road, Escondido Estates, Cienegas Road, Long Park and the target range. For families, that means the county’s construction calendar is not confined to one corner of Del Rio. It reaches the roads children use to get to games, the fire response area near the highway split, and the routes residents take in and out of neighborhoods west and south of town.

The biggest pressure point is road work. Owens said Val Verde County is facing a $4 million shortfall in that effort, a gap that helps explain why road projects have been advertised, rebid and pushed through procurement even as costs climb. The Cienegas Road Project had an April 2 bid deadline, showing the county is still trying to keep paving and repairs moving. For drivers, that likely means slower timelines, more construction sequencing and a longer wait before some rough stretches are fully addressed.

The county is also trying to close a long-running water gap in Escondido Estates, the colonia south of U.S. Highway 90 east of Laughlin Air Force Base. Val Verde County had budgeted $355,000 for a pump station there, but the bid came in at just over $800,000, forcing officials to look for other funding. County records show the booster-station effort has been in motion since 2024. Owens said the water study for Escondido Estates has been completed and will be submitted to the state, a step that could move the project forward after a long pause.

Officials are also leaning on outside grant structures to keep similar colonia projects alive. The San Felipe Pastures booster-pump work is tied to TxCDBG CFC24-0012, and a county notice said the broader 2024 CFC grant request of $1 million covered Vega Verde Road Colonia, San Felipe Pastures and Comstock. In Precinct 2, drainage work tied to a Chapman Road flood-mitigation project and culverts along Lausen Road is aimed at reducing runoff and keeping access more reliable when storms hit.