Commissioners Seek Help From PSB In Planning Drainage Improvements

By Stephanie Valle

EL PASO — El Paso County Commissioners unanimously agreedMondayto partner with the Public Service Board to ask for help master planning storm water drainage.

The PSB’s Ed Archuleta told the court he will send a grant request to the Texas Water Development Board and the Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of the city and county.

The decisioncomes after the city’s move to create a Storm Water District which will be in charge of paying for improvements to the city’s drainage system, which was seriously tried after Storm 2006.

Archuleta told the court, the county is not involved in the Storm Water District, but it should seriously consider improving its drainage infrastructure after August 2006’s heavy downpours.

Commissioner Dan Haggerty questioned if the county residents would also be charged the $9.50-$14.55 a month the Storm Water District will be collecting on top of residential and business property taxes.

The PSB’s Archuleta says this is purely a request for help in drawing up a regional storm water master plan, and no fees to county residents are scheduled to be charged.

El Paso County Commissioners also unanimously shot down aproposal to provide a 100% tax abatement to many warehousers who store goods moving through Texas.

As ABC-7 reported last week, State Representative Norma Chavez wrote and sponsored a bill that would give companies an abatement if they store goods in warehouses through the state. Commissioners and City Representatives throughout the state have the ability to opt out of the abatement before it takes effect in just a few weeks.

Judge Anthony Cobos told the court he spoke to Rep.ChavezMonday morning, and said she told him to vote to opt out of the abatement. Other commissioners expressed concerns that the loss of tax revenue would mean a shortfall of $1.6 million in the 2009 budget.

Commissioner Dan Haggerty said that loss of tax money would mean the county would have to raise property taxes. Commissioner Veronica Escobar said it could also mean the county would need to trim back services.

The tax abatement was intended to make the state – and the region – more competitive with neighboring areas that don’t tax goods temporarily stored in transit. Commissioner Escobar vehemently opposed the tax abatement without proof that the county was losing jobs or business opportunities because those goods were taxed.

Commissioners ended up voting 5-0 to optout of the abatement.

Commissioners also unanimously approved the creation of three temporary full time positions for the District Clerk in the Passport Division. Due to recent changes in immigration law, requests for passports has surged tremendously. The positions are designed to help alleviate the backlog resulting from this surge.