County Judge delivers her fifth State of the County

El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar delivered her State of the County address Wednesday, with more than 500 on hand at the Convention Center.

It’s been an eventful year for the County, from the Children’s Hospital bankruptcy to the hiring and firing of the county’s first chief administrator.

And as expected, the 20-month long battle between El Paso Children’s Hospital and UMC was a big part of her speech.

Escobar joked that it’s has been quite a year at the start of her address, saying these are definitely interesting times. Interesting times that at times required some ibuprofen and a tequila shot or two!

None of the County issues gave her more of a headache than the Children’s Hospital bankruptcy and the subsequent battle with UMC. Escobar said the County will not regret helping save Children’s, the only dedicated pediatric hospital within 200 miles and a partner to the Texas Tech med school, with $11 million in annual contracts.

She praised the hospital’s high caliber specialists and sub specialists who have reduced the out-migration of child patients in El Paso. The judge said a new hard working board and CEO can get the hospital to break even and “not be a burden on the taxpayer.”

“There will be no interruption in service, the 400 jobs stay in tact, the doctors stay in El Paso, the medical school keeps a key partner and our families maintain access to an outstanding source of healthcare in a region that badly needs it,” Escobar said. “It will remain locally owned and locally controlled.”

Speaking of a new Children’s Hospital board, Escobar said she could not emphasize enough the need for strong, experienced, respected members of the community to step up. She added El Paso needs good leaders now more than ever.

She seemed most proud of the work the Sheriff’s office has done to save taxpayers millions of dollars.

Escobar called those changes “monumental.” She said Sheriff Richard Wiles has civilianized key positions and reduced overtime.

Another huge factor has been a new collective bargaining agreement with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Association. The judge pointed out there were no new taxes this year when there used to be built-in tax hikes due to an unfavorable collective bargaining agreement with the Sheriff’s association.

She called taxpayers the big winners.

“The savings from these combined efforts in law enforcement have essentially brought costs that were increasing every single year and they swung in the opposite direction, into savings,” Escobar said. “This year alone the total savings for our law enforcement budget was four and a half million dollars.”

Escobar said a 24/7 jail magistrate and mental health screenings for inmates should help streamline the process and save money.

But she also talked about the future, and some of her goals for the County going forward, including working in the area of economic development.

Escobar was proud that Commissioners Court set a minimum wage of $10 an hour this year for UMC and County employees.

She also pointed out that the County recently hired an economic development company called Market Street to put together an action plan. She said they hope to have that plan ready in the next 100 days.

Escobar said everyone agrees that recruiting new businesses from the outside is extremely important, but she said the County may not be doing enough to support the business talent we already have.

“I feel very strongly that the County needs to play a far more significant role and I even mentioned a different way the County could play a role by helping grow our current successful CEO’s,” she said. “Because as I mentioned, we are frequently looking to the outside, but there needs to be a strategy where we look internally.”

Escobar wants to support those talented CEO’s who love El Paso and help them grow from 100 employees to a thousand, or from a thousand to 10,000, but no details yet until that action plan is released.