New tax rate comparison

May 11, 2014

If having high property taxes are our goal then maybe we should hire a city manager from one of the 6 large cities in the US that have higher property taxes than us. That’s right, according to the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence we had the 7th highest property taxes of the 50 largest cities in the US in 2013.

No income tax

Some would say that we rank so high because we have no income tax in Texas.  The numbers show that our effective tax rate on a $150,000 home was 2.446%.  Houston is in Texas and had a 1.896% rate.  Seattle has no state income tax and had a 0.941% rate. The average rate of the 50 largest cities was 1.507%.  That puts our tax rate at 162% of the 50 city average.

No income

U. S. News and World Report ranked metropolitan areas with the highest poverty rate in 2011.  El Paso ranked 6th highest with 24.3 percent of our population living below the poverty line.

Temporary improvement

The 2009 Minnesota report put us in 6th place.  The 2011 report showed us at 5th place and the 2012 numbers had us at 4th place.  We went down to number 7 this year because we paid off some debt, not because we had lower taxes for maintenance and operations. Without voter approval our representatives  in local governments have seen to it that the debt numbers will increase soon.  Several of the recent tax and spend initiatives have not hit our tax bills yet.  The county has approved $150 million for new medical clinics that the hospital chief executive  thinks we need to “repurpose”, in other words spend some other way than what he sold the county on originally.  We have the city hall destruction and the remodeling of the buildings they moved into.  Street reconstruction bonds are being issued. The voters themselves approved over $500 million in quality of life bonds that have not been issued yet and thus are not part of our tax bills yet.

Operating income declining

EPISD is forecasting a $17 million dollar shortfall next year.  It looks like they will go to the voters to get permission to have a tax increase. The various boards are trying to deal with the debts of the children’s hospital.  Some say that the number is above $59 million.  Every dollar that they do not pay is a dollar that the county hospital must absorb and that means higher property taxes for us.

The city just dealt with $7.35 million of required budget cuts because forecast revenue is short of what they wanted us to expect.  Our chief financial officer is a finalist for the job of city manager.  It looks like she may well be qualified to help us raise our tax rates.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Wink and a nod

May 10, 2014

None of our elected city leaders seemed to be concerned about the ethics of the money swap that the city engaged in with the state of Texas last week.

The state had money that could only be used for pedestrian wayfinding and facility enhancements related to pedestrian access.

The city had money that it was going to spend for wayfinding and facility enhancements related to pedestrian access.

The two governments decided to swap money with the state funding the pedestrian things and the city giving the state money for aesthetic enhancements to bridges.

Both sides agreed to swap $10 million each.  I give you 10, you give me 10.

City staff wants us to believe that this is tied to another $6 million or so that the state was already going to spend.

Either way you look at it the money swap was designed to circumvent rules that control how money is to be spent.  The city manager once again presented a crisis situation to council–do it this week or lose the opportunity.

The intended result would have been that the city got both their pedestrian improvements and beautification money for the bridges over I-10 near downtown.  Council may have been able to divert those funds away from the bridges toward public safety lighting projects around town.  I guess that we will have to see if that can be done.

They seem to think that rules are made to be bent.

We deserve better

Brutus

2 Comments | Ball park, City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Political gamesmanship

May 9, 2014

At Tuesday’s virtually behind the doors closed meeting of the board of managers of the El Paso Independent School District we saw something of the character of our city’s chief financial officer.

The board wanted to take some steps that would dramatically affect teachers and their employment with the district.  The board chose to have a special meeting at 2 P.M.   Obviously teachers and members of the public would have difficulty attending the meeting at that hour.  Many of the items were on the consent agenda.  Their placement there limited public discussion and facilitated a quick vote without board discussion.

The president of the board did move two of the most significant items off of the agenda and postponed their consideration until the next meeting which I believe is scheduled for May 24.

Ducking the controversy

Our chief financial officer did not attend the meeting.  Maybe she will claim that she was busy with city business.  That of course brings up the conflict of interest that she has when representing both organizations.  This was an important vote but she evidently chose to duck it.

By not voting she really voted yes.  If she had objections to the way the board was going to change the rules with the teachers she should have made the time to be at the meeting and vote no.

Did her behavior assist her efforts to become city manager?  To me the answer is no.  What she showed is that she acts in her own political best interest even though she has a responsibility to the district.  Would she behave the same way as city manager?

You decide.  The teachers probably have already.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Necessities first

May 8, 2014

Our city council showed some leadership in it’s April 24, 2014 meeting.

Items 14.3 and 14.4 were items that contemplated trading money with the state of Texas for various projects.

City staff told us that the state wanted to make aesthetic improvements to bridges that cross over I-10 near downtown El Paso.    The improvements contemplated did not improve  pedestrian access,  the state funds that they wanted to use were not eligible for that purpose, the state funds needed to be spent for pedestrian access and wayfinding.

In a typically convoluted formula the city was to give money to the state that the state would use to dress up the bridges.   In return the state would contribute funds to the city to be used for pedestrian wayfinding and city median and parkway landscaping and improving projects.

Necessities

Thankfully a city represented stepped in and expressed his view that there were public safety issues in his district that were more important than making some bridges look better.  He complained that there are significant arterial roads in his district that do not have lighting and that public safety is being ignored.  The deputy city manager making the presentation told council that the funds being discussed could be designated to resolve the deficiency he was speaking of.

Other city representatives then agreed and stated that there were public safety issues in their districts that could be addressed with roadway median lighting.

Confusion

The discussion was a long one.  City representatives asked some questions that could not be answered with a simple yes or no.  The deputy city manager failed to explain the various complexities of the issues.  She gave what appeared to be different answers depending upon how a question was phrased.  My take on the discussion is that she did not anticipate council wanting to get to the heart of the manner and as a result gave the simplistic and often misleading answers that city staff often gives in an effort to quiet council.

Yes or no

At one point a city representative asked if the proposed wayfinding expenditures were associated with the ball park.  It was a simple yes or no question.  The answer was yes.

The city manager and another city representative entered the conversation and told us that the expenditures were not related to the ball park.  They had been planned long before the ball park was started.  Yes the project concerned areas physically adjacent to the ball park but those changes were going to be made even if the ball park was not built on the new city hall site.

No one explained how the project could possibly benefit anyone if the new ball park was not built.

Frustration

Council clearly expressed it’s frustration and outrage at the way city staff has been manhandling them over the years.  Questions about funding were not clearly answered.

Notably the city’s chief financial officer and candidate for the job of city manager was no where to be seen.

Council ultimately agreed to the swap of money with the condition that the projects that the city will manage will be brought before council for decisions about how and where the money will be spent.

In this case council did not bow to city management.

Something got better

Brutus

 

5 Comments | Ball park, City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

How many times?

May 7, 2014

How many times are we going to see the Times shamelessly using it’s power to tell half truths in order to try to sway public opinion?

Their editorial the other day lamented the slim pickings that have been provided to us with the four finalists for the city manager position.

They wrote about the candidate from out of town that appears to have had “ethical lapses” (to use the Times’ term).

They also wrote about one of our deputy city managers who bungled the police payroll issue a couple of years ago to the tune of a couple of million dollars.

Not one word

They did not write one word about our current chief financial officer who has appeared before council time and again providing wildly inaccurate financial data.

Could that be because she is the chosen one?

Hypocrites!

We deserve better

Brutus

11 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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