Frontiers and Gosar: Board must say whether it will sue over municipal levy on federal works

On September 5, 2026, El Nuevo Día reports from Washington, by José A. Delgado, that the conservative group Frontiers of Freedom backed the demand by Republican Rep. Paul Gosar (Arizona) that the Financial Oversight Board say, by September 15, whether it will challenge in federal court — before Judge Laura Taylor Swain — the municipal construction levy on projects financed with federal reconstruction funds. Frontiers called the levy “an illegal tax on federal public funds” and criticized Governor Jenniffer González Colón’s “silence.” Gosar, in an August 18 letter, also sought audits or data on how municipalities spend those collections and cited the allegation that one municipality diverted about 4 million dollars of that levy toward its police force. An allegation of diversion in Gosar’s letter is not an audited theft finding in this piece.

Mayors Federation president Gabriel Hernández (Camuy) answered Gosar on August 27: if Congress wants to exempt federal funds from certain taxes, that policy must come from federal legislation, not the Board, because municipal services do not disappear when a project carries federal financing. El Nuevo Día recalls Act 215 of 2024 — an exemption for works administered by agencies, with a carve-out for contractors — and that Board executive director Robert Mujica has warned since 2025 that, in light of PROMESA, municipalities lack authority to apply that law to energy works with federal funds.

What remains is the September 15 deadline for the Board, Frontiers behind Gosar, the Mayors Federation response, Act 215, and a no to turning the 4 million allegation into a theft verdict. A reader who wants Delgado on the 5th has the El Nuevo Día URL at the foot. This is not original reporting.

Fuente: El Nuevo Día. https://www.elnuevodia.com/corresponsalias/washington-dc/notas/grupo-conservador-promueve-que-la-junta-fiscal-acuda-al-tribunal-a-impedir-impuesto-municipal-a-proyectos-federales/