In 2006 El Paso had what was called a “100 year storm” and our city suffered damage to streets and property because the water could not drain as it should have. The cause was said to be poor maintenance of our drainage system and lack of funding to build facilities. Those are city responsibilities.
The city stepped up to the plate and used the situation as an excuse to charge property owners more money. Charges were imposed that were to be dedicated to solving “our problem”. Prior to this the funding for any efforts the city made came out of the general fund. When the new charges were put in place we did not see a corresponding decrease in the city budget — the new charges were just a new tax.
Last year in Money down the drain we saw that the city was charging land owners about $15 million a year and was only spending about $7 million of the fee for operating expenses (including bond costs). The remainder was being used for bond costs and transfers to the city.
Lifting the boat
Last week we had another of our summer gully washers. This one has been characterized as a 250 year storm. Get ready to pay more money.
The 2014 financial report for the water utility shows that the drainage fee has reached $15.8 million each year. Of that residential customers pay about $6.2 million and businesses pay around $8.9 million.
According to the report they spent about $3.9 million on actual maintenance. Another $1.7 million was spent on “general and administrative” costs and $1.3 million on “indirect cost allocation”. Indirect? How about directly to cover other expenses not directly related to water drainage — in other words subsidizing the city. These people are spending $3 million a year in administrative costs to provide $3.9 million in service.
Don’t be surprised to hear city officials talking about the need for more money to handle water drainage. They will tell us that they cannot control the weather and now that we have had a 250 year event we need more money to handle the next record setter.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
My thoughts exactly!
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My questions are where did the funds come from BEFORE we started collecting Storm Water Drain fees? And WHAT maintenance costs are there for maintaining existing projects, many of which are holes in the ground?
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The funds came from the city general fund. When they imposed the fee they did not reduce our taxes.
Brutus
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Brutus you know that, I know that… and yet taxes don’t go down or services increase… meanwhile the EPWU Director is the HIGHEST paid employee on the rolls… well, unless you count former Deputy City Managers paid to NOT work!
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Don’t forget that Ms. Wilson is still drawing her salary while not working; and even then starting October 1 will have a very nice pension from us for the rest of her life.
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We’re getting hundred year rains every eight years, and our rainy day funds are being spent when the weather’s fair.
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Brutus, your close, but you have no idea really how worthless of an Entity that the storm water has been since it’s creation. In the flood of 06 none of city workers(street department) knew how to turn on the pumps to decrease the level of the holding pond under the Spaghetti Bowl so instead of letting the freeway be washed away they let the gates open and flooded the Saipan area. I know much of this from a friend of mine who has a business in the area. He said his parking lot was empty and when they released the gates to flood Saipan that water came up Durazno and flooded his place again(it had flooded earlier). Later the city found out that they could have turned on the pumps from downtown. I guess the engineers at the street department didn’t know this , but I’m asking why not ? Later, Wilson sees she needs to cut the budget(street department cleanup of the flood was not an option) and forces the Storm water Utiltity down our throats and to council. Council passes it with approval from Archuleta and the PSB board. Later we find out a board member sold equipment to the utility(Teran). Archuleta acted like he was unaware of this and may have been , but did nothing about it(or couldn’t). If memory serves I believe the bidding process had been changed from one form to another so I’m not sure if Teran had a monopoly on the bid or not. No one at the Times was gonna dig that’s for sure. Also I believe the CPA Financial officer retired from EPWU about the same time that this happened too, but I cant confirm that nor do I know if it had anything to do with it. He had been there 30 years. But again, nobody at the Times would check on it. I always believe Wilson wanted the Storm water Utility to fix the streets, but Archuleta knocked that down, but guess who he hired to run the new Utility ? I believe he hired the Engineer from the City street department as the head man. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s correct. Ok, back to last years flood. The City, not the Utility actually paid for the new fields, park, and retaining pond that replaced the demolished homes in the Saipan area. Remember when we had the flood last August when the Utility let the Saipan lake go over rock walls and completely cover the fields ? My friend told me the Utility either wouldn’t or couldn’t get the pumps on or didn’t turn them on while the lake was filling up. He said he saw their new 4 wheel drives parked there as late as 10 at night. Just sitting there, I guess waiting for the pumps to turn on themselves. They should turn on the pumps when it gets to the halfway point of the lake ahead of time, but they never do it(maybe a float ?). This year when the Durazno area had the big rainfall my friend said he and a buddy were cleaning the drainage tunnel that leads to the big tunnel that goes to the river and while they were wading and working a Stormwater official shows up and they asked him when he was going to turn on the pumps. He replied he didn’t have the key to get into the pump house. Later he said he was gonna try and get them to turn it on remotely. He said he knows the pumps at least came on by the next day due to the level, but there was already damage to the Rock walls and other things. Guess who is gonna pay to repair that ? Does anyone realize the Utility goes around and collects a fee and makes businesses fill out a Storm water evacuation plan and they cant even get pumps turned on ? I will continue with more later, but I need to work.
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So instead of building a house maybe we should build an ARK.
Do not ask the city as it would take them more time than to fix up Alligator Plaza Park or Country Club Road..We Need it Now !!!!!!!!!!
PS> can Hyundai’s float ?
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Since time immemorial, El Paso has been relegated to inept, incompetent city and county government.
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Here ya go Brutus, http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_26623926/flooding-problems-continue-central-el-paso
The biggest problem in this area is that EPWU doesnt clean the damn drains for the ponding areas along the gateway at Copia and Piedras. If they would clean them before the rains start and check to see if they are clogged up again once a week during the rainy season then this would be much less of a problem. Im sure they will claim its not their job, but actually TXDOT. But they are Stormwater. TXDot built the freeway, but maintenance of the draining systems should be EPWU for what we are paying them.
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