Good Morning El Paso: 07.30.15
bankruptcy case continues with a big hearing today. why the county fears taxpayers wallets could be the ones to take the hit. teachers in the clint district are in store for a pay raise. but how about teachers in other districts? and developing now… debris discovered on an island…. that might be connected to that missing malaysian airlines flight. could there finally be a lead in this mysterious case? and an abc-7 first alert! it is wet out there… just how much more rain will we get throughout the day? a soggy morning out there in the borderland… here is a look at our weather radar right now. it has been raing and thundering all night long. abc-7 is issuing a first alert…. a live look at stormtrack doppler radar is showing… currently around our region… here’s your day planner for today… expect skies, winds and temperatures in the by 8 am, by noon and for your drive home around 5 pm. we’ll talk more about what to expect for the rest of this work week and the weekend ahead coming up in your full forecast. a very good morning el paso, las cruces, and juarez. i’m hillary floren what a night it has been – an intense lightning storm, deafening thunder and continuous rainfall for the entire borderland. and that means the road is slick good morning el paso’s denise olivas is live where i-10 has come to a crawl. el paso tax-payers are wondering this morning if they will have to open up their pockets to pay for the children’s morning if they will have to open up their pockets to pay for the children’s morning if they will have to open up their pockets to pay for the children’s hosptial bankruptcy. at least… that’s what some leaders in the county are fearing. but umc ceo jim valenti says the county hospital is simply recommending adopting a similar tax rate as last year. he saysel pasoans should not expect a big increase in property taxes next year. the propsed rate would be up only a fraction of a cent from last year’s effective tax rate. but that’s not what the county said tuesday in paperwork filed in court. the document reads quote. “replacement of lost revenues can, and most probably will, affect the tax rate and/or rollback tax rate commissioners court will be setting for the hospital district.” we asked county judge veronica escobar why the county says there will be an increase. she says the county and u-m-c have different attorneys and they receive different legal advice. she said the county’s view is less optimistic than u-m- c’s. “they say they shouldn’t be paying even though it was in the feasibility study. it’s what was told to voters before they voted for the children’s hospital. it was in the negotiations between their lawyers and umc’s lawyers and it’s in the document that they signed and attested to when they signed the contract. but, they are saying they don’t owe anything and the judge is going to make the decision” a bankruptcy hearing is set for today in austin. clint isd teachers are set to get their 10th raise in 10 years. clint teachers are getting a 1-point-5- percent raise again this year. they are already the highest paid in the county. superintendent juan martinez says happy teachers makes happy classrooms. el paso i-s-d teachers could see a raise this year — if taxpayers vote in favor of the “penny swa proposal.” the district says the “swap will help get more funding from the state. here’s how it works. officials say it would move three cents from the portion of the e-p-i- s-d tax rate that pays for debt service … and move it into the portion of the tax rate that pays for day-to-day operations. the district is promising voters the swap will have zero impact how much they pay already … but it opens up for funding from the state. “the effective tax rate stays the same. and that’s why we call it a penny swap; so it’s 3 pennies from the debt. school district put together two different funding mechanisms, one is for debt and the other is maintenance operations. and maintenance operations is put together with money from the state and money from the local taxpayers.” election day is saturday august 22nd. early voting begins august fifth and runs until the 18th. if you are interested in learning more about the proposal and how it affects you … the next community meeting is august third at lincoln middle school. the massive project to make i-10 bigger in west el paso is back on track. our news partners at el paso inc are reporting tex-dot hired a tucson company to finish what mexican company tradeco pulled out of. sundt construction will begin work on the 154-million dollar project in august. tex-dot says it’ll take four years to widen i-10 and build frontage roads from executive to mesa. at , here’s a look at how your commute is shaping up this morning. the tx-dot traffic cams at … still much more to come on good morning el paso… the disappeared malaysian airlines flight has been a mystery to everyone for over a year. now, investigators may finally have found some clues. but first – stormtrack weather! meteorologist krystal kleihas your complete forecast. krystal… and this is abc-7, where news comes first!