El Paso County Commissioners move forward on Eastlake project, new park fees
El Paso County Commissioners are continuing to work on issues for the developing parts of the county like transportation, while also trying new ways to get more people to use existing county facilities.
“We are getting more and more developments, and the county is getting more urbanized,” County Judge Veronica Escobar (D) said, “which means greater congestion, more cars on the road, and neither the county or some of the other municipalities in the outlying areas on the east side have really had the funding to keep up with that kind of growth.”
Commissioners are working with Horizon City to settle some funding issue in the way of the Eastlake expansion project
“Eastlake is the main artery from I-10 to Horizon City. Most of that is in the county. However, if you continue along I-10, it goes along and loops into Horizon Boulevard,” said Horizon City Alderman Walter Miller. “We were looking at this as a way to open up the east side to give people more options on their commute to the freeway.”
Both Horizon City and the county are working to get things settled so the roughly $2.3 million project can get started in the new year.
“We’re committed to making sure that it happens on time and if we’re able to finalize the contract in the next several weeks, it will be under budget,” Escobar said.
Commissioners are also looking to increase the use of county parks while keeping the park system supporting itself, now decreasing some fees while increasing about 10 others, like $1 more for golf cart rentals and green fees.
“So we’ve identified certain areas where there’s room for improvement, and other areas that really weren’t being utilized as much,” said Parks and Special Events Associate Deputy Director Eric Storrie. “So what we’ve done is change the fee structure in general to better accommodate and promote use of the parks.”
On Monday, commissioners will be voting for final approval of the roughly $300 million dollar county budget. They approved the tax rate two weeks ago, keeping it unchanged from last year. The commissioners court meeting will be at 9:30 Monday morning on the third floor of the county courthouse in downtown el paso.
