Diverting tax money from the city general fund

March 12, 2020

It seems that the city is using Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones more and more as a way to finance private ventures.

The TIRZ allow any increase in property values and the resultant increase in taxes to be funneled into the TIRZ and away from the general fund.

Items 11.1, 11.2 and 11.3 on the Tuesday, March 3, 2020 city council agenda dealt with the expansion of existing TIRZs.

Item 11.1 added 595 acres to TIRZ six–Medical Center of the Americas.

Items 11.2 and 11.3 dealt with TIRZ thirteen.  They added more land and increased the amount that will be diverted from the general fund.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

8 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

You still have some money left

March 5, 2020

I can’t remember where but I recently heard our city manager lecturing people about our local property tax rates.

His point was that the cost of living in El Paso is so low that even with our high taxes citizens enjoy a good economic deal in El Paso.

It looks like he doesn’t see the need to keep our taxes under control.

We deserve better

Brutus

9 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

We’re number one again

March 4, 2020

I picked this up from elpasomatters.com.

Since the 2010 census, 50,000 more people have moved out of El Paso to other U.S. communities than have moved in. When expressed as a percentage of 2010 population, El Paso’s migration loss is the largest among any urban county in the continental United States west of the Mississippi River.

Quality of life

Evidently not.

We need new leadership at city council.

We deserve better

Brutus

35 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

The BRIO is being used

February 27, 2020

The other day I rode the Mesa BRIO from west El Paso to the downtown transfer station.

I then took the new Alameda BRIO over to University Medical Center.

Next I went from UMC to the downtown transfer station and then back out to west El Paso.

The buses were heavily used.  Most legs of the journey the buses were almost full.

I also saw that the riders were required to pay their fares.

Other than the fact that the ride was rough I was impressed.

This is better

Brutus

10 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

They are getting more sophisticated

February 21, 2020

Let’s hand it to the city for figuring out another way to scam the taxpayers.

The way property taxes work in Texas requires the city to figure out how much money they raised in property taxes last year.

They they look at what the same properties are appraised at this year and must tell us the tax rate that will bring in the same amount of money.  This is called the effective tax rate.  If property values go down they can raise their effective tax rate thus bringing in the same amount of money as last year.  If property values go up they must lower their effective tax rate.  New properties are not part of the equation.

From there if they want to raise more money they are now capped at an increase to the effective tax rate of no more than 2.5%.  If they want to go over 2.5% the voters must be given an opportunity to vote on the issue.

Simple huh?

Well this year as it turns out our central appraisal district folks took a conservative view on commercial property values.  They subtracted 3.3% from what they thought commercial properties were worth just in case the commercial property owners decided to fight their valuations.

This is nothing new, they do it every year.

What was new was the 3.3%.  Normally they take a 1.8% reduction on average.  The net effect according to the city’s own chart was that the city set their tax rate using the 3.3% decrease instead of the 1.8% norm.

The actual calculation requires a little bit of algebra so I will just use the city’s chief financial officer’s numbers.  He said in a city council meeting recently that the result was $10 million of additional revenue to the city.  He then said “we’re over collecting on property taxes”.  The city manager then stepped in and said that they were not really over collecting they were just collecting based upon what the central appraisal district came up with.

The city chief financial officer told city council that city staff did not agree with the evaluation but they used it anyway.

That was really convenient for them.

In reality the city knew that the historical value was 1.8% but used the 3.3% number without taking it back to the central appraisal district for a better understanding.

If they claim that they did not know then they are saying that they are incompetent.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

Leave a Comment » | City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »