Property tax rates compared to other cities

May 22, 2017

The “50-State Property Tax Comparison Study for taxes paid in 2015” from the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence has just been published.

The study is 103 pages long and unfortunately lists El Paso in the lists of cities that have the highest tax rates.  Their numbers as they relate to El Paso are:

Homestead property tax rate–3rd highest among the 50 largest cities

Industrial property tax rate for properties valued between one and 25 million dollars–3rd highest among the 50 largest cities (second highest for properties valued at $100,000)

Apartment property tax rate–10th highest among the 50 largest cities

These numbers are before the majority of the quality of life bonds and school district bonds (EPISD and Ysleta) are sold.

Recruiters needed

Do we have any volunteers for the job of bringing new businesses to El Paso?

We deserve better

Brutus

19 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

District 8 candidates

May 17, 2017

We are hoping that the readers will help us out and let us know about the candidates for city representative district 8.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Unnecessary secrets

May 15, 2017

Just because we might have the right to do something that does not necessarily mean that we should do it.

Texas law allows city council to go into executive session when it seeks the advice of its attorney about pending or contemplated litigation.

According to their agenda for Tuesday, May 16, 2017 council plans to go into executive session to discuss possible litigation to oppose Texas senate bill 4.  The bill would punish local governments that prohibit law enforcement personnel from asking people that they detain  about the detainee’s immigration status.

According to a Times article:

City Attorney Sylvia Borunda Firth said during the discussion, posted on the city’s executive session agenda, she will explain the legal implications of the law and share information on current litigation across the state.

Why should this be secret?

The city is being asked to join a lawsuit that opposes senate bill 4, so it is true that litigation might be considered.

There are no circumstances about a particular party that need to be confidential here.  The city is not being sued by someone.  The city is not in a dispute where it is trying to recover money or property.

The discussion is about policy and whether or not to spend money to object to the new state law.

We should be able to hear what the city attorney and the  people at the meeting have to say.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

7 Comments | City government, El Paso Times, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Bound to fail

May 12, 2017

According to the Times a lawsuit has been filed claiming that Texas state senate bill 4 violates the 10th amendment to the United States constitution.

It makes sense that some groups are opposed to bill.  What would make even more sense is if they based their objections on an argument that they can win.

The wording of the 10th is:

The powers not delegated to the United States  by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Evidently one of the statements in the lawsuit is “SB4 supports otherwise to wrest this autonomy from local governments…”.

The 10th does not address the autonomy of local governments.  That is done in our state constitution.

Our state government has powers over our local governments just as our feral government has powers over the various states.

The lawsuit is basically asking a court to declare that state governments have no power over local ones.  Chaos would be the result if that were to happen.

The Times did not mention this.  Maybe everyone involved should read our constitution.

We deserve better

Brutus

10 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

City council doesn’t want to hear from us

May 11, 2017

Our city government evidently thinks that it might not have the authority to build an arena instead of a “multi-purpose performing arts and entertainment facility”.

The language on the ballot sought authorization to build a multi-purpose facility.  It turns out that they really wanted to build an arena.  Maybe they thought we would not vote for one.

Now in an effort to get authority to pull the bait and switch they have gone to court in Austin.  State law would have allowed the city to do the same thing in El Paso.

Taking the issue to Austin makes it impractical for most El Pasoans to have their thoughts heard.

City council should be ashamed.

We deserve better

Brutus

10 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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