Council approves El Paso city budget that cuts $62M, holds the line on property tax rate

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso City Council on Tuesday approved an approximately $985 million budget plan for the new fiscal year that begins in September amid what officials acknowledge are "financial challenges created by the (coronavirus) pandemic."

As a result, the budget adopted by council for the 2021 fiscal year reflects a decrease of approximately $62 million from the current budget.

The city's chief financial officer has said police, fire, streets and funding the city's workforce are the focus of the downsized budget, which attempted to take into account the potential for "unknown revenue losses and expenses" that may occur as the pandemic continues.

The cuts made to the upcoming budget involve postponing non-essential projects and reducing operating costs across various city departments, according to City Manager Tommy Gonzalez.

The mayor and council members emphasized that the budget contains no tax rate increase, and maintains the existing tax rate at $0.907 per $100 of property valuation.

A homeowner's tax bill could still increase if their home valuation has risen which officials said has averaged less than 1% in El Paso. The average value of a single family home in July 2019 was $133,540 compared to $134,794 in July 2020, according to city-supplied data.

The new fiscal year for the budget starts Sept. 1.