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August 10, 2018 • Local News

El Paso Inc: Buckle up: Property taxes and fees are going up

With city elections and pay raises on the November ballot, El Paso City Council members will be thinking hard about budget proposals on the table.

They include a stiff tax increase, new sales taxes on water and electricity bills and nearly quadrupling the franchise fee for sanitation services.

On Tuesday, council members will also take up an ordinance brought on by a citizens’ petition drive to preserve rather than develop 1,000 acres in Northwest El Paso.

The council has two choices – approve the petitioners’ ordinance or reject it and force those who want to save Lost Dog Trail and the open space around it to mount a second petition drive aimed at putting the issue to voters.

The items will come up for discussion by council at a 9 a.m. work session on Monday and at Tuesday’s regular 9 a.m. meeting.

“It should be a good meeting,” city Rep. Michael Noe said.

A final vote on the city’s proposed $983 million budget will come on Aug. 21.

The proposed property tax increase is 8 percent, which would add about $96 to last year’s $999 property bill on the average home, which was valued at $124,299 last year.

The proposed rate is now 84.7 cents per $100 valuation – up from the 84.3-cent rate that had been settled on before last Monday’s City Council work session.

This year’s full reappraisal by the El Paso Central Appraisal District, the first in three years, brought the value of the average El Paso home up 4.5 percent to $129,915.

At the Monday work session, Noe called for a proposed 8 percent tax increase – as high as the city could go without risking a tax rollback petition and election.

That was, he said, just in case a number of City Council’s spending proposals are approved, requiring such an increase. But, Noe said he does not intend to support it.

“I can guarantee you that I’m going to fight not to increase anything,” Noe told El Paso Inc. on Friday. “I’m not running for election, but I’m still going to stand up for my district, and I’m going to fight every cent they try to add onto that.”

The council’s so-called wish list of priorities totals $28 million, and city representatives will discuss those at the work session.

At last Monday’s meeting, City Manager Tommy Gonzalez warned council members about the financial impact of those additions while stressing the need for “dedicated revenue streams” to cover priorities that the city had a hard time keeping up with.

They include streets, police and parks, he said.

One such income stream would come from raising the residential franchise fee for the city’s weekly trash pick-up service from $1.10 a month to $4, and it would raise $8.8 million in annual revenues.

That money would be dedicated to street repairs.

“In order to deal with paving and potholes in the streets, we’re having this franchise fee go straight to the street department,” said Ellen Smyth, director of environmental services, whose department handles trash collections but won’t be getting in on that revenue stream.

City Rep. Cissy Lizarraga expressed uncertainty.

“Just speaking for myself, I know that $3 is not a lot of money, and I know that taxpayers are really feeling the burden of taxes ... so I don’t know if I’ll be able to support that,” she said.

Mayor Dee Margo said, “It will go straight to street improvements.

“Frankly, where we ought to be cutting is some of the requests we’ve got.”

Other new revenue streams would be set up this year by the imposition of 1 percent sales taxes for gas and electricity – two little-discussed elements in the fiscal 2020 budget.

The council will vote on those items at a budget hearing on Aug 14. Though most Texas cities apply the allowable 1 cent tax to utility bills, El Paso has not done so since 1978.

“If we could hold off this year and look at what happens next year with these increases ... I think it would be a smart decision,” city Rep. Alexsandra Annello said.

In March, City Council voted 6-2 to raise El Paso Electric’s franchise fee by 1 percent to 4 percent, which will generate an additional $5.6 million a year and bring the total paid to the city to $27 million a year.

2018 Top 10 taxpayers

Taxpayer name	Market value	Taxable value
El Paso Electric	$588 million	$569 million
Western Refining (now Andeavor)	$498 million	$482 million
Walmart	$265 million	$266 million
The Hospitals of Providence	$219 million	$219 million
River Oaks Properties	$174 million	$174 million
Texas Gas Service	$132 million	$132 million
Simon Property Group	$128 million	$128 million
Union Pacific railroad	$118 million	$118 million
Hawkins & I-10 Acquisition Co.	$94 million	$94 million
Tenet Hospitals	$86 million	$86 million

Data for El Paso County | Source: El Paso Central Appraisal District

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