ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL OF SELF-INCORPORATION AS A SOLUTION TO ROADWAY MAINTENANCE IN TEXAS COLONIAS

Abstract

Colonias are communities that lack basic infrastructures such as water, sewer, and paved roads and that are located within 100 miles of the US-Mexico border. They are generally found in unincorporated areas, and the literature, as well as policy makers, have extensively called for their annexation as a solution to solve the infrastructure issues. This paper examines selfincorporation as an alternative to annexations as cities have consistently avoided colonias when they expand through annexation. The paper has two focuses. The first one consists of analyzing the economic and social aspects of a colonia to determine whether they resemble the ones of a typical city. The second focus consists of determining whether a colonia can mobilize the essential resources to finance infrastructure and run as a city. The study found that a colonia can raise enough revenues to maintain its infrastructure, but whether it can effectively run as a city remained unanswered as it requires more studies that take into consideration the complexities of city management.