The link below will take you to a city web page that solicits your input about next year’s budget:
http://www.elpasotexas.gov/omb/chime-in
Please give them your thoughts.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak
City of El Paso debt=$2,670,400,000, county and school district debt=$1,600,000,000. Total $4.27 billion. Your share $19,350
elpasospeak 
As is always the case, streets and saving money are the last things on the list. Here is what that page says.
“Your input is essential in continuing the vision for El Paso to have safe and beautiful neighborhoods, a vibrant regional economy, and exceptional recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities.
Want to improve quality of life, public safety, or streets? Maybe you have a suggestion on saving the city money?”
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I thought today’s topic would be how the City of El Paso has determined that everyone’s property is “undervalued” and would be meeting with CAD to fix that situation. They literally mean to increase taxes by increasing property values, while they “explain” that property values are artificially low and that what they are doing is great. Look for this to occur for the next few years so they don’t have to actually increase taxes, then when that becomes an issue with voters they will again start raising taxes.
The El Paso City Council, specifically past administrations, have spent a tremendous amount of money as well as having pushed for lots of bond issues to “improve the quality of life” for El Pasoans and to give the two wealthiest families an almost-free stadium in which to house their hobby team. The problem with spending money that you borrow is that it has to be paid back and it costs money to borrow money.
El Paso will, at some point in the next 20 years, file for bankruptcy. The current trajectory of spending vs income is unavoidable.
They cannot legitimately attract business because the tax base is far too high and the only businesses so far coming here have received tax breaks. This puts the onus of paying for everything on El Paso homeowners. Wages have been stagnant and will remain so.
In fact, I predict wages will decrease over the next 10-20 years because the largest employers in El Paso are taxing entities. This cannot sustain, and so as these entities will necessarily have to cut their budgets, the taxpayers in El Paso will have fewer jobs and the remaining jobs will pay less money. No company of any size will be coming here no matter how many ballparks and stadiums they give the Foster’s/Hunt’s. So no new jobs plus fewer existing jobs means that fewer El Pasoan will have to pay more money to keep making payments for less services and increasingly higher municipal debt payments.
And for all this the Cooks and Escobars of El Paso will expect you to vote them into ever higher offices. After all it isn’t their fault people “want” more debt.
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Thanks Brutus.
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So will we learn the results of this Polling?
It would be nice if Life in El Paso was less Taxing…
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And “streets” is code for bike lanes. They lump them all together–so if you vote for streets you vote for bike lanes. Kind of like the vote on the baseball stadium (do you want the money taken out of HOT tax or regular tax)?
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