ABC-7’s Stephanie Valle Reports On County Commissioner’s Meeting

EL PASO, Tx. – County Commissioners met with most of the small town mayors and several officials from the city to try and hammer out a solution for the El Paso City-County Health and Environmental District.

County commissioners spentmuch of the timelaying blame on one another for the state of the district. The group of more than a dozen officials managed to agree on one point: cooperation is key to assuring the residents in the city and outlying areas of the county that the commissionersare committed to public health issues.

One of the reasons the city had given for pulling out of the health district was the county’s refusal to pay more than 30-percent of the district’s nearly $9 million dollar budget.

Commissioner Veronica Escobar came up with one option for fixing the health district: Create a separate taxing entity with its own elected officials. The money would go straight to health services. The proposal was moderately well received,but it would take state legislation to create the new taxing entity.Thus,the option would not be available for two more years.