EP City Budget Proposal Raises Property Taxes for Some
tax increase for some residents and a tax decrease for others. our maria garcia has covered the city budget process for several years. she’s live to break it down for us. to understand this budget – we have to remember what happened in 2011. back then the city council decided that starting in 2016 – the city would decrease property taxes for disabled and senior residents. in 2011 – the city council agreed to increase the tax exemption from 30 to 40-thousand dollars for disabled and senior residents. so now – 36-percent of property owners qualify for a tax decrease. and the rest of the taxpayers will have to make up the difference. but there are other things causing a tax increase: the pay and health insurance for firefighters voters approved. paying the debt and maintenance of the quality of life bond projects. paying off the massive street improvement plan the city took on years ago. and again the tax relief. city manager tommy gonzalez says the city saved 3-and a half million dollars restructuring positions. but its also investing in 25 additional police cadets, a downtown police patrol and 15 more 911 operators to improve response times. tommy gonzalez: “so those savings are real and they helped us offset some of these costs. because i’ve said to the public over and over and to the council is that as we go forward there’s going to be additional costs that we’re going to have to absorb because the revenues are not growing at the same pace that the expenditure are.” so let’s break down what this means for those who will see a tax increase. for a resident with the average home worth 124-thousand dollars – their city taxes will increase by 42-dollars to a total of 911 dollars. and for the senior and disables residents who will see a tax decrease. remember this is more than a third of homeowners. their taxes will decrease by about 40-dollars to a total of 619- dollars. this is all preliminary. the city won’t vote on a final budget until next month. we’re learning more about what’s next in the el paso children’s hospital bankruptcy… and the
