Special or secret?

May 8, 2013

Two commenters recently wrote about the new soccer complex that we will be building with proceeds from our quality of life bond issue.

City council held a special (secret?) meeting April 25, 2013 to discuss the complex and also the problems with shrinking traffic at our airport.  The meeting was held on Thursday, not the normal Tuesday.  It was probably legally posted, but they certainly did not want us there.

A local developer donated 80 acres of land for the complex in return for the city not requiring the developer to comply with the city parkland ordinance on a new housing area.  That actually might make sense, I don’t know the particulars.

One commenter addressed the way council slipped this through without public discussion.

The other asked about Cohen stadium and why it was not used.

The Cohen site is only about 50 acres.  I don’t know how much land is needed or if splitting up and having more than one complex would make sense.

What I do know is that the Cohen site is convenient.  Citizens from central, northeast, and west El Paso would have an easier time getting to the facility.  Two major arterials provide access.

The Cohen site is looking for a use.  The stadium might be remodeled to provide a great featured field.

Maybe Cohen would not be the right answer.  It sure would have been nice to get public input on where to build the facility.

Holding a special meeting with little or no publicity is an old trick.  We don’t know whose decision that was.

We deserve better

Brutus

Leave a Comment » | City government, Open Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Spending what they don’t have

May 7, 2013

The El Paso Central Appraisal District increased it’s valuation of our local Western Refining from $280 million to $1.1 billion in one year.

That is simply absurd.

Western refining appealed and fought, ultimately settling at a negotiated value of $320 million.

The district’s board is made up of elected officials from our local governments, including the city and the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD).  The board members should have stepped in, they certainly are in charge.

Now we find out from the city’s chief financial officer. who is also one of the Texas Education Agency  appointed managers of the EPISD, that both governments budgeted to receive the inflated tax income from Western Refining.  It looks like they were off by $11.5 million.  In fairness to the chief financial officer she was not part of the budget process this year at the EPISD,but watch out for next year.

The city will have to cut about $3 million from it’s current budget for the remaining four months left in their fiscal year.

Why?  Any competent manager would have held back on spending because of the probability that the valuation increase would not hold.  Instead she claims that they have spent the money.  The city manager and city council should not have spent money that they did not know for certain that we would receive.

What grade were you in when you learned not to count your chickens before they hatch?

This was done at a time when they have spent over $135 million to move city hall and build a new ball park.  Wait!  They have not actually spent the money yet, they have borrowed it and we will have to pay it back with interest over the next few decades.

The $3 million per year would pay most of the cost of the bonds that were issued to pay for the new ball park.

The city knew this could happen.  They also knew that the number of airport passengers was declining (see HOT, but getting colder)  and that the portion of the ball park financing paid by the hotel occupancy tax would likely not grow at the rate they predicted.

El Paso taxpayers have assumed almost $1 billion in new debt this year while the folks at the city have continued to spend despite knowing that incomes would not match what they told us.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Short memory? or something else?

May 6, 2013

I appreciate the El Paso Times pointing out how our current city councilman who is running for mayor has changed his tune about receiving campaign contributions from the group behind the baseball franchise.

The article said:

In January, Ortega said he would not accept contributions from them.

“On the heels of the ballpark issue, it’s more appropriate for me not to accept money from the ownership group, nor have they offered,” he (Ortega) said.

Then they quoted the candidate again:

On Friday, Ortega said, “I welcome their support that they believe in community and future.”

Whatever that means.  We don’t know if that was a misquote or just not a good sentence.

What we do know is that he has accepted money from the people he said he would not take money from.

What we do not know is how much money.  The Times did not report that.  The actual numbers will probably not come out until after the election since the report will not be due until then.

By waiting until late in the campaign to make their contributions they were able to avoid public disclosure of the actual  amounts until later.

What portion of what this person says should we believe?

5 Comments | Ball park, City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

Designing

May 5, 2013

It seems that Texas Tech will open a branch of their school of architecture in El Paso.  That seems good to me.

They need a building.  The City wants to lease them 16,587 square feet in the Union Depot building.  Sounds good.

You can read about the proposed lease here.

The lease is for 25 years for $1 per year!  I wrote in Maybe we should bear the tax burden for the entire state about how the city gave the Albert Fall mansion away on a $1 lease to Texas Tech.

Keep on giving

A 25 year lease for office space is a long lease.  Since our council seems to want to exceed our expectations in any way they can they are offering not one, but two 25 year extensions as part of the lease.

That gives the space away for 75 years!

I am happy to see the school moving here.  I just don’t understand why local taxpayers have to pay for a state function.

Maybe downtown property is worthless.

What about UTEP?  Are they entitled to our subsidies also?

We need someone at city hall that understands negotiating.  Maybe we could have gotten $2 a foot, at least something.

We deserve better

Brutus

8 Comments | City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Headlines and head liars

May 4, 2013

Recently the El Paso Times has printed articles implying through their headlines that two local candidates for elected office had done something wrong.  Actually in one case the implication was that he might do something wrong in the future.

The headlines were negative and the stories were too, until you turned the page.  Then the reporters told the rest of the story and the reader could see that nothing was amiss.

This of course is a form of political assassination that the Times is performing either for it’s masters or to further it’s editorial policies.

Then on Friday’s (May 3, 2013) the Times front page headline actually lied.  Not kind of, actually.

It read:

“IN 2014, THE CITY WILL WELCOME THE TRIPLE-A EL PASO ____________________.  THE NAME IS UP TO YOU.”

The article told us that the team owners are encouraging fans to enter ideas for the team’s name and mascot on a web site or through the mail.  Top names will be selected and we will be able to vote.

The reporter then tells us “The team’s owners will ultimately decide the winning name …”.

That makes sense to me.  The owners should decide the name.

What I don’t like here is that the headline told us that we get to decide the name.  How does this happen?  Does the reporter not respect his written word?  Did a headline writer mess this up?  Was there an editor involved?

There is of course good news in this.  Someone is asking the voters for their opinion.  It seems that the franchise owners are smart enough to understand their relationship with their customers.  It’s a pity that the city does not get this.

Muckracker

4 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

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