elpasospeak

Commercial property owners in town have just received their new valuations from the Central Appraisal District.

Many have seen increases of 200 to 240% from last year to this.  If all property in the area went up by the same percentage our individual taxes would remain essentially flat.

Unfortunately that will not be the case.  The district seems to have a policy of raising values indiscriminately and waiting for the property owner to protest.  We know that they do not actually do an appraisal.  They simply place a value on the property with the hope that it will hold.  If you keep quiet you lose.

I have heard many horror stories from property owners who went to the district to protest valuations themselves.  If you have never been through this be prepared for an incredibly unfair journey.  Staff will set you up for failure at your hearing.  When you are at the hearing and learn what you should have done to prepare you will be told that you have already had your chance.  Better luck next time.

You should protest.  You should be prepared.  Talk with someone who has been through the process successfully.

Another approach is to hire a firm that will handle the protest for you and charge you a percentage of the amount that they save you.  While I do not condemn those people who provide the service, think of the situation.  We have a government agency that is so hard to deal with that you have to hire representation.  I am not talking about complex legal or tax matters.  Every property owner knows that his property is worth and can prove it.

The district is run by a board that is made up of elected officials.  Shame on them.

Our alternative to higher taxes is to go to the district and protest.  If politeness does not work you should demand your rights as a citizen.  Remember the the review board that you will be presenting to is paid by the district.  What is worse is that the district gets to choose who stays on the board and who is let go.

Most of us don’t have a problem paying our fair share.  These people are thugs.

They need to hear from us in person.

We deserve better

Brutus

The El Paso Central Appraisal District increased it’s valuation of our local Western Refining from $280 million to $1.1 billion in one year.

That is simply absurd.

Western refining appealed and fought, ultimately settling at a negotiated value of $320 million.

The district’s board is made up of elected officials from our local governments, including the city and the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD).  The board members should have stepped in, they certainly are in charge.

Now we find out from the city’s chief financial officer. who is also one of the Texas Education Agency  appointed managers of the EPISD, that both governments budgeted to receive the inflated tax income from Western Refining.  It looks like they were off by $11.5 million.  In fairness to the chief financial officer she was not part of the budget process this year at the EPISD,but watch out for next year.

The city will have to cut about $3 million from it’s current budget for the remaining four months left in their fiscal year.

Why?  Any competent manager would have held back on spending because of the probability that the valuation increase would not hold.  Instead she claims that they have spent the money.  The city manager and city council should not have spent money that they did not know for certain that we would receive.

What grade were you in when you learned not to count your chickens before they hatch?

This was done at a time when they have spent over $135 million to move city hall and build a new ball park.  Wait!  They have not actually spent the money yet, they have borrowed it and we will have to pay it back with interest over the next few decades.

The $3 million per year would pay most of the cost of the bonds that were issued to pay for the new ball park.

The city knew this could happen.  They also knew that the number of airport passengers was declining (see HOT, but getting colder)  and that the portion of the ball park financing paid by the hotel occupancy tax would likely not grow at the rate they predicted.

El Paso taxpayers have assumed almost $1 billion in new debt this year while the folks at the city have continued to spend despite knowing that incomes would not match what they told us.

We deserve better

Brutus