El Paso City Council narrows charter election issues

Big changes could be on the horizon for El Paso city government and voters will have the final say on election day this November.

City Council on Tuesday decided which issues will go on the ballot for the city charter election.

Here are the highlights:

Voters will decide if city representatives can have other public sector jobs. State law allows it with some exceptions but the city charter forbids it completely.
Voters will also decide if the city attorney reports to the entire council or just the Mayor and if city council can cancel one meeting a month. Currently, it can only cancel three meetings a year.
Voters will also decide if city representatives get a pay raise from $29,000 a year to $39,000 and if the mayor’s salary goes up from $45,000 to $55,000.

Mayor Oscar Leeser said he didn’t support the raises because many city employees haven’t gotten a raise in a few years but a member of the charter committee said the raises would allow a bigger pool of qualified people to serve.

“Normal citizens of our community cannot afford to serve as council members. with all due respect to our current council, the majority of them are independently wealthy or retired. Anybody who is of working age not just young people, really anybody who’s of working age cannot afford to serve on council with the pay this low,” said James Montoya.

The city representatives who voted for putting the salary issue on the ballot were Cortney Niland, Michiel Noe, Emma Acosta, Peter Svarzbein and Claudia Ordaz. Voting against were Carl Robinson, Lily Limon and Larry Romero.

The election is scheduled for November 3rd.