Fighting us with our money

August 17, 2017

This is the second note that came in about the electric company’s bills:

Dear Brutus,

I thought that you readers might appreciate being directed toward an interesting surcharge on their El Paso Electric bill. The charge is called “rate case expense surcharge” and is typically a few cents.
The bill does not explain the purpose of this surcharge. My understanding is that we (the customers) are charged for El Paso Electric’s legal fees, so the utility monopoly does not have a financial burden when they apply to raise our rates.
We deserve better.
Publius

1 Comment | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Something missing

August 16, 2017

We are surprised that only one group (KVIA TV) reported the fact that YISD will receive $215 million to help pay for the $430 million bond issue that was approved.

KVIA wrote about and quoted the YISD superintendent:

De La Torre also pointed to additional state funding in the form of Existing Debt Allotment and Instructional Facilities Allotment.

“It’s a $430.5 million bond. But in terms of the burden to our community it’s a $215.25 million bond and that’s all they are being asked to pay for because the state is paying for the other half,” De La Torre said.”

As far as we can see the Times has not mentioned the $215 million.  They attributed the district’s tax decrease to:

District officials said the decrease is due to favorable market conditions during the bond sale and a slight increase in state funding for existing debt and for an allotment that helps offset the cost of building new instructional facilities.

In our neck of the woods $215 million in tax relief is worth writing about.

We deserve better

Brutus

4 Comments | El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Aren’t we nice?

August 15, 2017

We got two emails from alert readers within two days that both related to our electric bills.

Here is the text of the first one:

Ever read your electric bill.  I find a “Military Base Discount Recovery Factor” charge – with two meters it totals to $1.00

Is EPE charging me because Fort Bliss gets a discount?

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

YISD gets huge debt assistance from Texas

August 14, 2017

We were happy to learn the other day from an alert reader that the Ysleta Independent School District had received a commitment $212.5 million from the state of Texas that will relieve half of the $430 million in debt  that the voters approved in their last bond election.

That is great news for us locally.

From a story aired by KVIA TV:

“It’s a $430.5 million bond. But in terms of the burden to our community it’s a $215.25 million bond and that’s all they are being asked to pay for because the state is paying for the other half,” De La Torre said.

We thank the board and staff of YISD.

The district sold half of the allowed bonds in 2016.

What we did not hear from either the YISD superintendent or board president was that the district will not issue the other half of the bonds.

Do they plan to take the $215 million from the state and add it to the voter approved amount?

From our viewpoint the right thing to do is not to issue the other half.  If they need more money they should ask the voters again.

Is that too much to hope for?

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Not in my backyard

August 13, 2017

According to the Times our local housing authority has received a $15 million grant to help with the rebuilding of the old El Paso Natural Gas (blue flame) headquarters.

Word on the street is that the project may not get the go-ahead from the authority.

It seems that putting poor people downtown does not set well with some people involved with the downtown projects.

Maybe they only consider government assistance to be a good thing when people with money receive it.

Of particular interest in this situation is the fact that the building is owned by our local billionaire.

We deserve better

Brutus

4 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »