El Paso County Commissioners To Be Updated On Bond Sale
El Paso County Commissioners Court is expected to get an update on the sale of $110 million of bonds Monday morning.
The court was divided in its opinion regarding the sale of the bonds, but it went forward on June 11.
The bonds will add about $24 to $27 on an annual tax bill for homes valued at $100,000.
“The sale of bonds is extremely expensive and extremely technical,” Commissioner Dan Haggerty told ABC-7 after the vote was cast last month. “Those three women in there don’t have a clue the technicalities of selling bond issues,” he continued, referring to Commissioners Anna Perez and Tania Chozet and County Judge Veronica Escobar.
About $27 million will go toward construction of the new Tornillo-Guadalupe international bridge. Another $44 million will go to the East El Paso Jail Annex. An estimated 15 projects will be paid for with bond money.
Escobar told ABC-7 after the bonds were sold that Haggerty was failing to acknowledge the consequences of not funding certain projects, including the jail annex, could cost the county $10,000 a day, or $3.65 million over the course of a year, if it isn’t brought up to code.
“Should we not fund that?” Escobar asked. “Where are we going to make up for the loss of tens of thousands of dollars of revenue?”
The county commissioners court is slated to get an update Monday morning on how the sale of bonds went. ABC-7 will have a crew in the courtroom, so look for more on this story in our later newscasts.
