A student who seems to care

July 21, 2019

Johnathan Michael Muniz Becerra, aTerry Scholar at UTEP sent us an email that contained this:

Furthermore, I’m currently conducting a quality of life study for the city of El Paso to see what worthwhile investments are needed to really improve the quality of life within the city. I’m investigating various industries within the city from healthcare to education.
In my honest opinion, I believe El Paso suffers from the following:
    • Brain drain
    • Low wages
    • Questionable municipal management
    • Poor investments that do little to enhance the quality of life and continuously bring low-skill, low-wage jobs (e.g. the subsidized ball park, enormous incentives to bring the Great Wolf Lodge)
From the observations I’ve been able to make, it seems El Paso leaders and investors take advantage of citizen’s ignorance regarding city management and the impact the decisions of El Paso leaders will have on them.

Link to survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RX3XL8N

 

A request from Brutus

Please keep your comments respectful.  We could help him by pointing out other deficiencies.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Living within our means

July 6, 2019

Our recent posts about residential, commercial, industrial, and apartment property tax rates showed that we have tax rates higher than virtually every other city among the 50 largest cities in the United States.

Remember that the voters have authorized funding a $180 million multi-purpose performing arts center and hundreds of millions in school district bonds that have not been sold yet and thus have not been added to our tax burden yet.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

26 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

No way to avoid high property taxes in El Paso

July 5, 2019

If a commercial or industrial firm was considering opening a facility in El Paso and the managers/owners did not want to move to El Paso they would probably rent apartments.

El Paso had the second highest property tax rate applied to apartments of the 50 largest cities in the United States during 2018.

Those property taxes get passed through to the renters.

For those who cannot afford to buy a house that means high taxes.  For those that want to continue to live out of town but need a place to stay while they are here it means high taxes.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Another group that we are not attracting.

July 3, 2019

We recently wrote about El Paso having the highest industrial property tax rate among the 50 largest cities in the United States during the 2018 tax year.

Next we talked about El Paso having the highest residential property tax rate for smaller homes and the second highest rate on larger homes in those same cities.

How did we compare on commercial properties (like call centers, transportation companies and others–as opposed to industrial facilities)?

El Paso had the third highest property tax rate on all sizes of commercial properties during that period.

People who own those kinds of commercial businesses will probably find it hard to justify moving to El Paso and facing the third highest property tax rates on their commercial businesses and the first or second highest rates on their homes.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

When taxes hit home

July 2, 2019

In How not to try to attract industry we pointed out that El Paso had the highest industrial tax rate among the 50 largest cities in the United States for the 2018 tax year.

According to the report we were citing El Paso also had the highest residential tax rate on homesteaded median value homes in areas where there were  assessment limits.

Median value evidently meant less than $150,000.  That means that we taxed the people living in lower value homes proportionately more than anyone else.

For homes valued between $150,000 and $300,000 El Paso’s tax rate was the second highest among the 50 largest cities.

People that manage businesses that are considering a move to El Paso probably fall into the higher home value range.

We offer them the opportunity to be like many El Pasoans and pay the second highest rate shown.

Is it any wonder that people are leaving town and that we don’t attract companies?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »