City manager prefers 15-year plan to complete Quality of Life Bond Projects

City Manager Tommy Gonzalez believes it would be too expensive to complete all of the quality of life bond projects in under a decade.

El Paso voters approved the projects, expected to cost nearly half-a-billion dollars, in 2012.

The city initially wanted to finish construction in under 10 years, but Gonzalez said it would put too much pressure on taxpayers.

“It’s not always things they want to hear,” Gonzalez said, “But I think it’s things they need to hear.”

Gonzalez said the city has to be realistic about the time it will take to finish the projects. “Looks more like a 15 to 16 year schedule,” he said.

According to Gonzalez, property taxes would increase “too much and too fast” if the city tries to finish the projects in 10 years.

Bernie Sargent, the chairman of the Bond Overview Advisory Committee, agrees with the city manager. “I know we voted for them. Unfortunately, most voters forget it costs money to do this,” he said.

Sargent told ABC-7 the city manager’s plan makes sense because property owners are already seeing a higher tax bill from other taxing entities.

There is some risk.

The longer the city waits to build big projects, the more the cost of labor and materials will increase due to inflation. If more money is spent on building materials, then taxpayers will get less bang for their buck.

On the other hand, building projects quicker also means taxpayers start paying to maintain them sooner.

“You know, we’re talking about an arena that’s going to take anywhere between four to maybe eight city blocks, excluding parking,” said Sargent, “We have to pay for staff to run it, we have to pay for all the maintenance and so on. It’s expensive.”

The committee Sargent chairs has also suggested the city buy materials ahead of time, and if possible, store them to avoid paying higher prices years from now.