El Paso County taxes rates expected to rise in 2013

Taxes rates are expected to rise in El Paso County in 2013 but the amount they will rise has yet to be determined.

County Commissioners talk about it in pennies. The price for homeowners will be in dollars.

The proposal of a five-cent tax rate ceiling was discussed on Monday. County Judge Veronica Escobar said the tax hike was needed and hasn’t shied away from the issue.

During Monday’s Commissioners Court meeting, Escobar said that she is the first to admit the County will likely settle on the ceiling rate.

Commissioner Dan Haggerty, a fiscal conservative, agreed that some of the proposed hike was necessary, but argued that the proposed tax rate was too high given certain items that would be repaid according to a slideshow shown by the County Auditor’s Office.

Escobar has warned that not investing in certain aspects of the budget would be harmful to the county. On Monday, as in the past, she pointed out that the County would be on the hook for the consequences.

Haggerty said the cost would likely come down to a cost of $62 annually for citizens, a number that wasn’t disputed.

While the numbers are hypothetical, there will be much more talk in the days ahead.

Before any hike in the tax rate is ratified, public meetings will be held. Judge Escobar said Monday that she has made it a point to get out in the community and discuss the issues with the tax rate.

According to charts presented by the Auditor’s office, the tax dropped in 2003 and has yet to come back to the same level.

As a result the County has frozen positions, and underfunded it’s infrastructure. Currently the county has frozen positions, and avoided funding new positions, at a cost of $8.6 million. There is also a shortfall in operating costs of roughly $1.5 million according to a recent operating request proposal.

Commissioners Tania Chozet and Haggerty asked why the County couldn’t look at the reserve savings.

If El Paso County raised taxes a penny less, and took money from reserves, it would cost the county roughly 10-percent of it’s savings per year.

Escobar has urged commissioners that if they want to see the County avoid a 5-cent tax rate hike, that they come to the table at future budget meetings with ideas on how the county can cut costs.

After a lengthy debate, Escobar moved to propose a tax rate increase of $0.408870. The motion passed by a 3-to-2 vote. Commissioners Sergio Lewis and Haggerty voted against the motion.

Before any further steps are taken towards a tax rate increase public hearings will be held on September 6th and 10th at 5:30 p.m. Those meetings will take place inside the El Paso County courthouse on the third floor inside the Commissioners courtroom.