Amid budget constraints, El Paso County employees, commissioners won’t get pay raises

No salary increases for El Paso County leaders, employees in next year’s budget – and what that could mean to your county tax bill

by Elida S. Perez August 12, 2025

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For the second year in a row, El Paso County employees – including members of Commissioners Court – will not receive pay raises as the county faces tight budget constraints.

The Commissioners Court Monday voted unanimously to give non-uniform employees six additional paid vacation days in December in lieu of pay raises. The move means county employees will have paid time off Dec. 22 through Jan. 2.

“I also want to acknowledge that (added vacation) it’s not a substitute for an increase in pay with the cost of living increases and inflation,” Commissioner Jackie Butler said. “You know, it hits everybody’s wallets, county employees alike and so I just – I’m sensitive to that, and understand the difficulty that our employees may be facing.”

County commissioners are finalizing the proposed $608 million all-funds budget for the next fiscal year – including about $467 million for  the general fund that pays for basic services and is largely supported by property taxes. The proposed budget is about $2 million less than the current year. The Commissioners Court on Sept. 15 will hold a budget hearing before adopting its budget for the fiscal year that runs from October 2025 through September 2026.

At play are contractual obligations such as $5.2 million for pay raises from previously approved collective bargaining agreements for law enforcement, increased costs for insurance and state-mandated pay raises for judicial salaries  as well as providing matching funds for a variety of grants. Among them are those that help fund meal programs, the sheriff’s crisis intervention teams and transportation in rural areas.

“This budget hearing is not what we’d always love to be able to bring forward, but it is a responsible budget that balances operational needs and community services with restrained resources and economic challenges being faced while still based on the court’s vision, mission and goals,” County Administrator Betsy Keller said.

The budget for next year represents a 5% reduction from each department’s operational budgets in an effort to reduce costs.

Keller cautioned the Commissioners Court on continuing to look for one-time savings to reduce the tax impact.

“You can’t keep generating savings from the places we’ve already cut,” Keller said.

To adopt the no-new-revenue rate for the current fiscal year, the Commissioners Court approved one-time cuts to create savings which are still not being restored next year. The county would need about $19 million to restore those items. The no-new revenue rate tax rate generates the same amount of revenue as the previous year on the same properties.

Commissioners gave themselves a controversial 16% pay raise in 2023, but didn’t do so last year when the county sought a multi-million-dollar bond issue. This year, commissioners will again forgo a raise. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Officers Association Monday said they will not seek to renegotiate their contract for additional pay after last year’s bargaining deal. A few employees, including constables and judges, will get pay raises as mandated by state law, while public defenders will also see an increase in longevity pay.

To fund the proposed budget, the commissioners are considering tax rates up to the voter-approval rate of 48.7 cents per $100 of property valuation. The voter-approval rate is the highest the court can adopt without requiring an election. The Commissioners Court regularly introduces the voter-approval rate as a starting point, but generally adopts a lower rate. If that rate were to be adopted, the impact to homeowners would be about $200 more per year on an average $216,726 value home. 

If the county adopts a tax rate of 42.6 cents – which is also the current rate – the annual increase to the average-value home would be about $67.

The Commissioners Court can also adopt the no-new-revenue rate of 42.2 cents per $100 of property valuation which would be an increase of about $60 on an average-value home. Part of that increase would come from the bond issue voters approved, which adds about 1.3 cents to the debt portion of the tax rate.

Voters in November approved about $155 million in general obligation bonds for various capital improvements throughout the county, including a new medical examiner’s office and new animal shelter. The county has issued about $12 million of that debt and is already making payments.

“What we did is we staggered our payment to pay off that (first drawdown) of $12 million – most of it we’re paying off in this first year,” Keller said.

If the county adopts the voter-approval rate, it could collect about $351 million in property tax revenue – about $47 million more than if it adopts the no-new-revenue maintenance and operations rate.

The county will have a public hearing ahead of adopting the tax rate Aug. 18 where the Commissioners Court will continue to discuss the tax-rate options and the impacts to the budget and taxpayers.

Taxpayers currently pay about $961 on an average value home of about $201,000 for the county’s portion of the tax bill.

Setting El Paso property taxes

The county is one of several taxing entities throughout the county preparing to adopt their budgets and tax rates. 

University Medical Center of El Paso last week presented its proposed budget and tax rate to Commissioners Court – which has oversight over the county hospital’s finances. UMC is proposing a tax increase of about $72 more on the average-value home to begin paying off bonds voters approved in November for an array of projects. The hospital district is proposing a fiscal year 2026 budget of $1.9 billion, though property taxes account for about only 10% of the revenue it collects.

And the El Paso City Council will have a public hearing to adopt its proposed tax rate Aug. 12 ahead of adopting its budget Aug. 19.

The City Council adopts its budget and tax rate in August for the fiscal year that runs from September 2025 through August 2026. The city has introduced a tax rate of 75.9 cents per $100 of property valuation, which will result in an increase of about $83 a year on the city’s portion of the tax bill on an average-value home of $221,191.

Tax payers currently pay about $1,600 in city taxes on an average-value home of about $205,000.

The revenue collected will help fund the city’s estimated $625.7 million general fund budget for the next fiscal year.