The city is proposing the creation of some new Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZ).
Basically when the city creates a TIRZ they allow a special fund to be setup that takes the increase in property taxes that occurs over time and dedicates the increased money to projects within the boundaries of the TIRZ.
Out on the westside of El Paso there is a 3,900 acre area of land that is undeveloped. I believe that the city currently owns the land and as a result it generates no tax revenue.
If the city creates the TIRZ and then sells the land any increase in property tax revenue could be set aside to be spent on improving the land, the money would not go into the city general fund to help pay for city services.
From the Texas Tax Code chapter 31:
Sec. 311.005. CRITERIA FOR REINVESTMENT ZONE.
(a) To be designated as a reinvestment zone, an area must:
(1) substantially arrest or impair the sound growth of the municipality or county designating the zone, retard the provision of housing accommodations, or constitute an economic or social liability and be a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use because of the presence of:
(A) a substantial number of substandard, slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures;
(B) the predominance of defective or inadequate sidewalk or street layout;
(C) faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness;
(D) unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
(E) the deterioration of site or other improvements;
(F) tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land;
(G) defective or unusual conditions of title;
(H) conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other cause; or
(I) structures, other than single-family residential structures, less than 10 percent of the square footage of which has been used for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes during the preceding 12 years, if the municipality has a population of 100,000 or more;
(2) be predominantly open or undeveloped and, because of obsolete platting, deterioration of structures or site improvements, or other factors, substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of the municipality or county;
(3) be in a federally assisted new community located in the municipality or county or in an area immediately adjacent to a federally assisted new community; or
(4) be an area described in a petition requesting that the area be designated as a reinvestment zone, if the petition is submitted to the governing body of the municipality or county by the owners of property constituting at least 50 percent of the appraised value of the property in the area according to the most recent certified appraisal roll for the county in which the area is located.
The undeveloped land is not blighted.
This is simply a giveaway to the people who buy and develop the properties.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Wow. I still remember when the cost of new streets, sewer and water lines, and other necessary “improvements” were recovered by the developers when they sold all the new homes. So, now the City is going to make the whole idea of development risk free for the builders.
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According the newspaper story, the developers will still pay for those things — streets, water, sewer, etc. It’s all the “extras” that are required in this area that the TIRZ will pay for. That includes not developing the arroyos, lots of open space, and more.
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AND the City is going to encourage development on the mountain, on both sides…ruining the one truly unique feature of El Paso that attracts visitors! (Anyone think they will be coming to ride the Trolley through Bed Pan Alley?)
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Thank you Helen. You made my day. That is hilarious.
Maybe we can name it the Bed Pan Express
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Except that it will be a Slow Mo train!
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Ah yes, but Developers make Campaign “Donations”, BUY politicians. And THEY don’t pay TAXES to HELP the city, people. Just leeches on TAXPAYERS. What good does it do to bring, create, start up a Business in El Paso? ONLY the Businesses, POLITICIANS, Developers BENEFIT. The baseball field that politicians FORCED the taxpayers to BUY, case in point. Where is the BENEFIT, PROFIT to residents, TAXPAYERS?? It’s a BURDEN, nothing more.
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The fuzzy math CFO went straight from the city payroll to the payroll of a developer before moving to another taxpayer funded job.
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The “City” is so concerned about sprawl yet they force taxpayers to subsidize the worse type of sprawl possible for El Paso which is building up the mountain.
The geological features alone qualify the mountain as the one true historic landmark for the entire city.
The reason the PSB bought the mountain property to begin with was to protect the mountain from development.
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Well the NEXT thing will be, if the local POLITICIANS are PAID-OFF enough, they will allow the DEVELOPERS to blow up the mountain so that their MULTI-MILLION$$$ boondoggle, trolley cars can cross the mountain. Like SAN FRANCISCO, you know. With POLITICIANS and DEVELOPERS, the idle RICH here, EVERYTHING has a price. Blow it up, tear it down.
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First it is sad because the west side is really our best open space for horseback riding, hiking, etc. It doesn’t need the zero clearance lot development that has been going in there. Once the land is built out, we lose an attraction that actually made us unique.
In California developers had to compete for available space–they had to provide parks, utility connections, landscaping and even roads in their communities. The municipalities selected the winning developer based on the amenities they were building into the community and there was a lot of competition for prime real estate. Here, a handful of developers control the housing market and the local politicians. I only hope that folks refuse to buy in TIRZ developments (since under that scheme they actually end up paying extra property taxes). In that event, there actually would be developer risk and perhaps less of an incentive to build tract after tract of tiny homes on tiny lots.
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This are is the first area in El Paso to be zoned for Smart Growth, which means more parks, more open space, more mixed use, a walklable community, etc. The city maintains that this zoneing designation (which Susie Byrd fought hard for) will be more expensive to develop. In order to attract developers to the site, the City feels it has to come up with funding to pay for some of those ammenities or no developer will buy it.
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Lying lying lying greedhead liars.
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Tom in El Taxo, Developers, Contractors actually have only TWO “Needs”. Politicians, Public Officials that will GIVE them OUR MONEY. In return the Politicians, Public Officials get Campaign “Donations”. And US?? Well we get tax INCREASES and PAY for whatever THEY bought..
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The people that run the city of El Paso are only concerned with profit. Poor design and total disregard for the human beings that live here. Our ” leaders” are limited to inept solutions and need to be replaced by qualified people that are not just motivated by greed. The citizens need to be involved and vote.
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Excellent comment. About the only “Profit” in El Paso is from BIG business, the idle RICH, FOR the POLITICIANS at election time. THEY blow-off MILLIONS$$$ for a little trolley, but nobody even rides the buses. Got to have a trolley, dozens of splash ponds, bicycle lanes, new buildings for BILLIONAIRES$$. But THEY can’t fix streets, traffic markings, pay the Police to be on the streets, create JOBS, put people to work, CUT taxes, PROVIDE for the PEOPLE of El Paso. “We got to be like San Francisco, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, so people will come HERE, to see the trolley and El Taxo will be rich, rich, rich”. We get “Carpetbaggers” from outside of El Taxo to “Manage the city”, the Mayor is just a “Bench warmer” and the “Outsider” is paid 100,000$$$ to do the MAYORS job of running the city. But WE have to pay BOTH of them. Have been here more than 25 years and NOTHING ever gets better for the PEOPLE. For the POLITICIANS, it’s lie, deny, deceive, tax, waste, spend, tax some more.
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No one seems to have noticed, but the city is pouring a lot of new concrete for non-Brio bus stops.
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