Elrichboy over at elchuqueno.com nailed it again.
He wrote about how our city budget has had a surplus five years in a row yielding $44.6 million.
We thank the city manager for generating the savings.
The five year streak also makes us disbelieve his constant claims that we need tax increases.
Unfortunately our city council will come up with ways to spend the surplus funds instead of using them to pay down our enormous debt.
Before the city continued their spending spree with $161 million of bonds in January of 2019 the cost of debt service was $110 million a year.
They budgeted $193 million from property taxes that year.
Yes 57% of our property taxes went to debt service in fiscal year 2019.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
It’s easy for Tommy G to claim savings of $44.5 million when you stick it to property owners with an unabated continuation of tax increases, particularly this last year. He deserves no thanks and should be shown the door to another naive city which will endure his sleight of hand math.
This is nothing more than robbing Peter (El Paso taxpayers) to pay Paul (city administration that isn’t competent enough to balance the budget).
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Thank you Jud, I agree, there is no basis for applauding TG for budget surpluses! He is part of the corrupt machinery, indeed a key component….note, for example, the report this weekend in the El Paso Inc that construction will begin on the Great Wolf lodge by I-10 – Gonzalez was a major proponent of this monstrosity, which includes massive subsidies to Great Wolf and a land swap that benefits one of the richest people in the city. Maybe his next gig will be at the Great Wolf company?
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Right you are Helen. The GWL is nothing more than a front that enables the city to pull off what I call the Dumbass Reat Estate Deal of the Decade that only benefits Foster and a handful of other power players.
Check out my expose video on that topic posted Nov. 2018 shortly after it was announced…
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Tax, waste, spend, tax some more. That is all the El Taxo POLITICIANS, Public Officials know. “WE can ALWAYS increase taxes”. 44 MILLION$$$$$ “Surplus”??. THEY can always put up more of the stupid, driver distracting “sexy” lights. Maybe paint the side walks GOLD DOWNTOWN or around the Mountain Star, Foster ball park. Their little ball field hasn’t bled enough from home owners, taxpayers and it will NEVER be paid for. Maybe they could just go really crazy and blow-off that $44 MILLION$$$$ on cleaning up the city, fixing streets or as a last resort, PAY Police, put them on the streets to ENFORCE traffic LAWS, patrol neighborhoods.
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I love that guy.
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Why does anyone want to live or do business in a city that is bragging about padding its budgets and ripping off taxpayers?
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The city might have spent less than it took in, but were expenditures greater than or less than budgeted? Coincidentally, $44,000,000 happens to be the amount of cash that we taxpayers are going to have to pay to Great Wolf if the State of Texas rejects its application for state subsidies. Gonzalez and city council promised Great Wolf that the city will cover it with cash payments. It made that promise knowing full well that the application will most likely be rejected. So instead of giving the surplus back to us or paying down debt, Gonzalez is giving the money to a for-profit business.
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And the “For Profit” will go to the pockets of Tommy Gonzalez, other El Taxo POLITICIANS. Time for an FBI, Texas Rangers, Public Corruption investigations.
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