El Paso County working with Tax Office to fix vehicle registration backlog

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso County Commissioners received an update today from the County's Human Resources Department, stating they made 17 recommendations to the Tax Collector's Office to reduce the backlog of vehicle registration transactions.

Officials from the HR department explained that the recommendations addressed areas such as vacancies, retention, training, morale, and process improvement.

"We suggested some of the actions they should take, we're permitting overtime, and we're allowing certain positions to be certified," said County Judge Ricardo Samaniego. "I believe as a county, we've done everything possible; training is very important to me, and we are looking for opportunities."

County Judge Samaniego also noted that one current issue is that residents might hesitate to buy cars soon, because they don’t want to go through this process.

"Those are the collateral problems you’ll see—people losing trust and credibility in the system and not wanting to engage," County Judge Samaniego added.

According to County Commissioner for Precinct 4 Sergio Coronado, the Tax Collector's Office has had 8 vacant positions since 2023.

"I expect increased cooperation because this is a real problem," said Commissioner Coronado. "People are hurting out there; some dealers are being significantly affected — some to the point of going out of business."

"I hope everyone works together to ensure they are properly trained, that they comply, and that our tax assessor's office makes sure this training occurs and resources are allocated to reduce the backlog, because it’s really critical we do that now," he added.

The County's HR Department also mentioned that trainings will be held for local auto dealers to better understand the webDEALER system. These sessions will take place on October 10 at EPCC, in both English and Spanish; both Samaniego and Coronado agree that these trainings are crucial for reducing the backlog and helping more people receive their registration stickers.