Mayor Leeser vetoes $903M budget that calls for tax rate increase

Mayor Oscar Leeser has vetoed the $903 million fiscal year 2017 budget that was approved by the El Paso City Council Tuesday morning, city Rep. Dr. Michiel Noe said.

It will take six votes from City Council members to override the veto. Rep. Noe said he would vote to override the mayor’s decision.

“The things (budget cuts) that are still on the table are not very palatable to any of the representatives. Parks, streets, etc. We really don’t want to make cuts there. The quality of life (projects), we really don’t want to stop anything from progressing. Put a hold on everything, just because we don’t want to raise taxes, because they did want it,” Noe said.

“This administration has worked very hard to create jobs and grow the tax base, but continued increases in property taxes will slow down growth,” Mayor Leeser said in a memo to the City Council. “We need to exercise patience and allow for investments we have made in our future to come to fruition.”

The budget increased by $58 million compared to the 2016 fiscal year budget. If the council wishes to override the veto, it has to place the item on a city agenda.

Rep. Emma Acosta said she also would vote to override the mayor’s veto.

“When you vote on a bond that is almost half a billion dollars, and then these things start being executed, we need to start paying for these things. You can’t have parks and new amenities without paying for them. We need to pay for that,” Acosta said.

Under the budget, the council approved taxing property owners 77 cents for every $100 of home valuation. That rate increase is a little more than 5 percent. The increase would mean the average El Paso homeowner, with a house valued at about $127,000, could see their tax bill increase by about $56. The average home would pay nearly $1,000 in city taxes.

The tax increase will help generate revenue to pay for a 3 percent pay increase for firefighters which was approved by El Paso voters. The budget also includes a 2.5 percent pay increase for El Paso police officers.

District 7 city Rep. Lily Limn was the only council member who voted against the budget. Noe was not present for the vote.

Limn said she voted against the budget because it did not mandate a pay increase for the employees who work for contractors hired by the city.

Leeser, who opposes any budget that raises taxes on property owners, announced earlier this year he will not seek re-election. Leeser said the announcement proves his opposition to a tax increase is not politically motivated.

Leeser spent part of the morning meeting with the city manager and city attorney to discuss the veto procedure and possible cuts to the budget.

“Public safety is one that is not even an option. And I told them – the raise to the city employees – to delay it is also not an option because what would it do to morale to say, ‘OK, we are going to cut your raise by six months?’ It’s important that we don’t do that. You know, there are thousands of other line items that I want to look at,” Leeser said.

Municipal clerk Richarda Momsen told ABC-7 that former Mayor John Cook never vetoed a budget and she can’t remember a mayor ever vetoing a budget during her nearly 30 years in office. Momsen said this is likely due to El Paso previously having a “strong mayor” form of council in which the mayor himself presented the budget.

The El Paso City Charter defines the mayor’s veto power as follows:

“Ordinances and resolutions finally adopted by the Council shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk and signed by the Mayor before they take effect. If the Mayor vetoes the ordinance or resolution, reasons shall be set forth by the Mayor in writing, and the ordinance or resolution with those reasons shall be returned to the Council. However, the Mayor shall not have any veto power over any City Council action which removes the City Manager. To override the Mayor’s veto, three fourths of all of the Representatives must vote in favor of the returned ordinance or resolution, in which event the adopted ordinance or resolution shall become law. If the Mayor shall either fail to approve or object in writing to any adopted ordinance or resolution within five days after it has been filed with the City Clerk, exclusive of the day of filing, it shall become law.”