Here is the city’s own chart that shows what they want us to believe the tax rate will be if a $940 million bond is approved by the voters:
Contrary to what we are hearing from the city the chart shows a significant increase in taxes.
Note that even without the new bonds it won’t be until the year 2031 before we have paid enough money on already existing debt for the tax rate to go down.
We deserve better
Brutus
4 Comments | 
City government | 
Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Part of the way our police department people are trying to justify their $287 million portion of the bond being considered is that they will try to get 60% of their sworn officers assigned to patrol duty.
Evidently they spend the rest of their time doing administrative work.
The 60% number comes from a national organization that recommends that level for larger police departments.
It seems that El Paso is below that number and if we give them a lot of money they will somehow come up to standard.
We deserve better
Brutus
10 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
The city does not have to go through with building the multipurpose performing arts and entertainment center (commonly referred to as the arena).
In The bond election can be revoked we pointed out a state law that allows the voters the option of cancelling the authority to issue previously approved bonds.
Shouldn’t city council put the issue to a test?
If enough voters decide to revoke the bonds then the center cannot be built unless another election occurs where the voters approve it.
If there are not enough votes to revoke the bonds then the voters would have spoken and the city should build the center.
We would also avoid the mounting costs of litigation.
The statute is found in chapter 1252 of the Texas Government Code.
Contact your city representative and ask them to vote to call the election. You should also ask the mayor.
We deserve better
Brutus
9 Comments | City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
As part of the city’s 2020 budget process this slide was included to tell us what their legal department did last year:
Note that they tell us that they processed 5,469 open records requests.
They seem to be proud of the fact that they got the Texas attorney general to support denying release of information on 482 of them.
They could of told us that they handled the requests so well that on average they responded within X days, thus providing good service and promoting transparency.
Instead they focused on telling us how often they were able to deny information.
We deserve better
Brutus
6 Comments | City government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
This slide comes from the city’s preliminary budget presentations for 2020:
Note that they plan to stabilize our tax base next year. That will be hard to do.
They plan to expand the downtown efforts, talk to the other local governments, and work on incentive policies.
In other words they haven’t figured out how to do it yet.
We deserve better
Brutus
6 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
You must be logged in to post a comment.