The folks over at city council are having one of their special meetings today.
The first item on the agenda is:
Not a single item on the list is a necessity yet things that we need like road repairs are not on the list.
Notice that they are planning to issue $80 million in certificates of obligation.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Apparently $2 billion-plus in debt is not enough for this city’s “leaders.” Let’s go for $3 billion!
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Why think small? Let’s double down and make it $4 bil. That will get us another one of those top rankings we love so much.
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Exactly and every time these Silly Council people get on TV, they “justify” all the waste, tax, spend, tax some more, with “Oh this is what the PEOPLE want”. What PEOPLE, who are they, where are they?? What taxpayers, HOME OWNERS in El Taxo are stupid enough to vote THEMSELVES constant, ANOTHER tax INCREASE?? Apparently all the “Wants” come from the “Idle RICH” or “Friends and Family” contractors of local politicians in El Taxo. There is no industry, jobs, economy in El Taxo and yet the politicians keep wanting, building “Tourista attractions”. The ONLY thing that “attracts” people to El Taxo, is that the Interstate goes East and West.
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Where is Mayor Margo?? Doesn’t HE have a JOB to help, look after the PEOPLE of El Taxo? These City Council nutjobs are out of control. Just another lie, deny, deceive, hide meeting. BILLIONS$$$ in DEBT, no way to pay it, but THEY will keep increasing TAXES. Tax, waste, spend, tax some more. El Taxo, the next city to be, BANKRUPT.
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Nope. That’s why we have a City Manager making hundreds of thousands in El Paso. Everyone can “Pass the buck” and NO ONE (especially the Lawyer) is responsible.
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This issue was discussed on last night’s10:30PM KVIA Extra TV program. Like many of the comments posted on this blog forum, callers to the program were concerned about taxes, plus the city’s lack of cost control on QOL projects.
The three city officials on the program were trying to paint a rosy picture, but callers and email comments to the show were upset and certainly not buying the official rationales provided.
From what I could observe those officials did not get just how upset taxpayers are. This was apparent when they kept saying ‘we voted for these projects and deserve these things.’ That’s now apparently the official line, and was ‘forcefully echoed’ by a companion news clip comment from council member Brown.
It is now time for either a ‘recall’ or ‘tax rollback.’
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I didn’t even watch the program because I knew with three “it’s what we deserve “ propagandists it wouldn’t be worth the time.
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Is it just me or did anyone else notice that they want $10M to build City Conference Centers? Why? They do NOT take input when it does NOT suit them, they make decisions behind closed doors, they pay people to lie to us (City Attorney)….
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They are also building a media studio. I guess that is so they can spew the “its what the people want” propaganda from city-owned facilities. Not sure why, between the Times and the local TV stations they have media puppets doing their bidding. KVIA will occasionally do a “what were they thinking” story but then they turn around and give 30 minutes of KVIA Extra space to the local propagandists to carry water for whatever waste of money the City has decided the “the people” want.
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Don’t know why they want a “Media studio”. The politicians in El Taxo are more camera shy than a politician on a “Perp walk”. But then again, it’s “Something the “People”, (whoever they are), “wants for THEM” Maybe if they had just used the EPISD line “It’s for the children”, would have been more clear as to how, WHY, WE are being screwed by the POLITICIANS, AGAIN. El Taxo, California. Broke, bankrupt and still it’s tax, waste, spend, tax more and LIE about it all. .
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Last night, one of the local stations did a long segment saying that El Paso has the lowest cost of living in the nation and that people here can live comfortably on $30K per year. It was a real everything-is-good cheerleading piece. So I guess the council members don’t really need those raises that they are contemplating giving themselves.
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What the media did not mention was that:
1. Detroit was 2nd on that list of places with the lowest cost of living.
2. A legitimate study shows El Paso has the 2nd highest effective tax rate across the 50 states.
Detroit is 1st with the highest effective tax rate
El Paso has the highest effective tax rate in Texas. Houston has the lowest.
Legitimate Study link
https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/other/50-state-property-tax-comparison-study-2
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It was typical Chamber of Commerce economic development brainwashing. They said the ranking was based on the comparative cost of “essentiaI necessities.” I doubt property taxes were even in the equation of the study they quoted since owning a home is not a necessity. I can name lots of things that are more expensive here than in other cities.
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Good point about home ownership.
Here is a good report on Cost of Living in EP is only a little less but coupled with low wages it really is not so much.
You know things are bad when Joyce Wilson sounds like the voice of reason.
In the Feb 2018 story about a study on low wages in El Paso Wilson stated
“We just need to continue to push the point that you can’t say ‘it’s not expensive to live here,’” Wilson said. “That’s not true. It may be a little less expensive, but if your wages are substantially lower, there’s a net deficit.”
Here is the story link and some highlights comments regarding the report
What is going on with wages?
Report shows exactly how much lower El Paso paychecks are.
By Aaron Montes / El Paso Inc. reporter Feb 26, 2018
http://www.elpasoinc.com/news/local_news/what-is-going-on-with-wages/article_7d1bd20a-1a59-11e8-ab78-3f151517ed52.html
It’s no secret wages in El Paso are among the lowest of any major U.S. city.
The cost of living is lower in El Paso than other similar cities but not by much, according to the report.
The cost of living in Tucson, Las Cruces, San Antonio and Albuquerque was less than 6 percent higher than El Paso. Those numbers raised some eyebrows at the board meeting, with some questioning why El Paso’s cost of living isn’t lower.
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