City Bringing In Less Revenue
By ABC-7 Reporter Maria Garcia
El Paso, Texas -The City of El Paso is bringing in less revenue in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010, compared to last year.
Some of the factors are lower property values and less sales tax revenue.
Not only are fewer El Pasoans shopping, Borderland shops may also be missing the revenue from Mexican shoppers.
The Peso devaluation has also hurt the City of El Paso, since Mexicans are spending less and contributing less to the sales tax.
In November 2008, there were 13.12 pesos per dollar. Compare that to 13.09 pesos per dollar in November 2009.
That’s not all. Fewer people are crossing the international bridges, which means less bridge fees going to the City’s general fund.
In fact, right now, the City Budget Director predicts bridge revenues to be under budget by $1,034,663.
Also, the Police and Fire departments are both over budget by nearly $1million.
The City says the Police Department is over budget because of fewer people retiring and the Fire Department is spending more on overtime pay.
Mayor John Cook hopes the City will not have to resort to laying people off or cutting programs, and he projects that won’t happen if Council keeps to their plan of spending prudently.
The City Budget Director predicts there will be $698,248 less in the general fund by the end of fiscal year 2010, than last year.
That would leave $312,361,351 in the City’s general fund.
Still, El Paso is fairing better than other Texas cities.
In fact, the Sun City is second only to Arlington and Lubbock for the least amount of lost sales tax revenue between the first part fiscal years 2010 and Fiscal Year 2009.
