Proposed City budget calls for tax increase for some, decrease for disabled and seniors

The El Paso City Manager has proposed the city budget for fiscal year 2016 and it includes a property tax increase for some residents and a tax decrease for others.

To understand the budget, one has to remember what happened in 2011. That’s when 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 $30,000 to $40,000 for disabled and senior residents. The change means 36%, or more than a third of property owners qualify for a tax decrease. The rest of the taxpayers will have to make up the difference.

There are other things causing a tax increase including the pay and health insurance for firefighters voters approved and paying the debt and maintenance of the quality of life bond projects. Also on the list of cost-driving factors is paying off the massive street improvement plan the city took on years ago.

City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said the City saved $3.5 million restructuring positions.

“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.”

The savings are offset by public safety investments, including 25 additional police cadets, a downtown police patrol and 15 more 911 operators to improve response times. “We were able through savings and through streamlining and being more efficient to absorb those costs and also place more of these dollars into the high priority areas like public safety”, said Gonzalez.

Under Gonzalez’s proposed budget, A resident with the average home worth $124,859 will see a city property tax increase of $42.05 for a total of $911.13. For the more than a third of disabled or senior homeowners who qualify for a tax decrease — their taxes would go down by $39.90 to a total of $619.24.

This is all preliminary. The city will vote on a final budget next month after several budget sessions and public hearings.