I write this note before the polling places close.
I hope that regardless of the outcome we can return to civility in our discourse.
We deserve better
Brutus
Vote now
November 6, 2018If you did not participate in early voting please go vote right now.
We deserve better
but we won’t get it unless we take charge
Brutus
4 Comments | 
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Posted by Brutus
Sampling the goods
November 5, 2018As part of the agreement with Great Wolf the city actually requires them to do certain things, like this:
Evidently the city will get 100 complimentary room nights each year.
It will be interesting to see who gets to use them.
We deserve better
Brutus
20 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Trading land you don’t own
November 4, 2018There has been a lot of activity talking about the water park the last few days.
Part of the package involves the city trading property with a local land owner.
The city then plans to lease their newly acquired land to the resort company.
The rest of the story is that the city does not own the land it plans to trade. Our water utility does. The city is planning to buy the land from the water utility and pay for it over a 30 year period.
We deserve better
Brutus
6 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Hotel occupancy tax issue
November 3, 2018Good government oxymoron wrote this the other day:
A percentage of the HOT tax was approved soley for paying for the stadium.
How is the city legally allowed to waive it or rebate it back to a hotel???
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That got us to wondering so we found the ballot language that the voters were asked to approve.
VENUE PROJECT AND HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX PROPOSITION
“AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF EL PASO, TEXAS, TO DESIGNATE THE MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STADIUM PROJECT AS A SPORTS AND COMMUNITY VENUE PROJECT WITHIN THE CITY IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAW AND TO IMPOSE A TAX ON THE OCCUPANCY OF A ROOM IN A HOTEL LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY, AT THE MAXIMUM RATE OF TWO PERCENT (2%) OF THE PRICE PAID FOR SUCH ROOM, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING SUCH VENUE PROJECT.”
Good government oxymoron is right.
According to the Texas comptroller of public accounts:
The city of El Paso collects the municipal hotel occupancy tax at 7 percent to support an auditorium and convention center, and in 2012 introduced an additional 2 percent levy via a venue district hotel tax for a multipurpose sports stadium. Combined city HOT taxes totaled $13.1 million in fiscal 2015.
The documents with the water park specify the hotel occupancy tax rebate at 7 percent. It looks like the city is respecting its obligation on the 2 percent but the comptroller’s explanation seems to mean that the other 7 percent is also allocated and the city cannot re-purpose it.
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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