Dated data

September 21, 2016

The Times published “Tax bills still rising steadily in El Paso” on their front page last Sunday.

They cited information from a 2010 study and wrote “El Paso’s median property-tax bill ranked 299th or in the top half of 805 of the nation’s largest counties, in a Tax Foundation report using 2010 data, the latest report available from the organization.”

Not current

In Climbing to the top we wrote that the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence places El Paso as having the third highest tax rate among America’s 50 largest cities.  The report was based on 2015 taxes.  You can’t get more current than that.

We know that people at the Times read this blog.

Was this article written to help the EPISD bond?  Were they trying to convince us  that El Paso’s tax rates aren’t that bad?

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Significant impact all right

September 20, 2016

This came in from Helen Marshall the other day:

3 Comments | Ball park, City government, El Paso Inc., El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Let the children fend for themselves

September 19, 2016

Item 25.3 on the regular city council agenda for September 20, 2016 meeting is another example of how they hide the truth in plain site.

A developer intends to build a high rise hotel on land downtown.

The item would give the developer a 50 year lease on a piece of city owned property downtown for $1,200 per year.

The property is currently owned by the developer and is on the central appraisal district tax rolls for roughly $500 thousand.  The property taxes are currently about $15 thousand a year.

The way the deal works is that the developer first gives the land to the city.

Then the developer will generously pay $1,200 each and every year for 50 years to lease the land.

Whatta deal

The developer gives the land to the city and then pays rent.  Isn’t that nice of them?

Actually

By placing the hotel on land that is owned by the city the developer avoids paying property taxes on the land.  That means that the city gets a nice new hotel downtown but the school district loses half of the property taxes that would normally have been paid each year.

Oh, and by the way the agenda item would also exempt the hotel property from the the downtown reinvestment zone, thus giving it an advantage over other downtown businesses.

We wouldn’t want to stop there.  The hotel will also be eligible to receive a rebate on hotel occupancy taxes paid by the guests for the first ten years.  Our rate in El Paso is 17.5% so if we understand the law correctly the developer will get his room rate plus 17.5% for ten years.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Bowie gift

September 18, 2016

Is there no end?

The August 16, 2016 EPISD agenda included an item that would temporarily rent three acres of land on Bowie high school premises to a road contractor for eighteen months.

The rent?  Our crack negotiating team at EPISD was able to get the contractor all the way up to $1,650 per month.

Go ahead and try to rent some land from them yourself.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Respecting our Constitution

September 17, 2016

Today is Constitution day, September 17, 2016.

On this day in 1787 brave people met in Philadelphia to sign the document and further subject themselves to punishment if the British won the war for independence.  [edit:  we had already won the war at this point.  I was unfortunately thinking about something else when this was written.]

Our Constitution has parts of it that need to be changed.  The signing was over 220 years ago.  The world has changed and we cope daily with circumstances that could not be foreseen in 1787.

Article V of the Constitution lays out the two methods that can be used to amend it.

Unfortunately many of our officials find it more convenient to ignore it than to expend the effort to change it.

Our Constitution changed the world.  It deserves more respect.

We deserve better

Brutus

14 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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