Some of you are aware that our water utility owns and operates a golf course in northeast El Paso.
I can’t see how it makes sense for the water utility to be in the golf business with our money.
How is the golf course doing financially? Are they losing money and thus making us pay higher water fees to subsidize it? Are they making a profit and should that money be used to contribute to the city general fund?
According to the water utility’s 2012 annual financial report:
During the year ended February 28, 2006, EPWU acquired a municipal golf course and has contracted
a managing agent to operate the facility. The assets, liabilities, and results of operations are included
in these financial statements as part of the Water and Wastewater Utility.
No way to know
The water utility has chosen to combine the golf course numbers with their water and wastewater operations. We cannot see the detail. It looks like something is being hidden here.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
So submit a TORA and ask them to see the golf financials. That said, shouldn’t this belong in the Parks Dept?
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Jerry – A big part of my problem with the City of El Paso and local government entities is that we the taxpayers shouldn’t have to take time from our private sector jobs (which generate the tax revnue) to go through the gyrations and cost of filing open records requests. If we had honorable people in government who respected the taxpayers, they would simply provide that kind of information without being forced to do so. They know exactly what they are doing when they withhold information. They WANT a less informed constituency. I’m sick and tired of the games played by local government. Despite what some say, it’s not this bad in all cities.
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I agree 100%, but even if we find inappropriate accounting procedures or fraud, as taxpayers we do not have the authority to make these local government officials accountable for their actions. People who commit fraud know that our federal government does not have the manpower to combat so much corruption in our City. Unfortunately, we pay the price.
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Real – there is an urban movement afoot (not here) internationally called Open Data. After leaving the broadband program as its manager, I traveled to the UK where I attended a conference of the Urban Systems Collaborative, a group I had been following for a year or so. That us where i learned of this international initiative.
It is about government exposing its data online, searchable and accessible to everyone. It isn’t hard to do, either. Wouldn’t it be great if all the city’s emails, internal financial reports, POs, invoices, etc. were online (not modifiable) for you to search and study? No need to file TORAs, just click and search. What if we had had Wilson’s emails from MS for that CC meeting in 2012, the ones where she literally downloads the legislation from their legal pimp for CC to enact. Maybe we could have made a difference if everyone knew how the she had corrupted the democratic process sucking up to Paul and Woody. No where for the mordidacrats to hide.
What a way to generate citizen activism and involvement, too. Well, probably not here where no one gives a sh*t and the paper just prints press releases from city hall.
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No doubt, they are combining the numbers to avoid scrutiny. Whether to be in the golf course business with public money is one issue (there have long been municipal golf courses); not being transparent is another, bigger issue. It’s impossible to properly consider the first question without sufficient information regarding the profit or loss of the operation.
As a public entity, not a private sector entity, they should be required to be more forthcoming. There is a pattern here. Hiding things seems to be standard operating procedure for local government organizations. The seem to think they are immune from accountability to the taxpayers. This really needs to stop.
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