City looks to pass multi-million dollar amendment, result of mayor’s veto

Most item numbers were glossed over during Monday’s Legislative Review Meeting of the Whole for City Council; however, one item brought up several concerns.

City Engineer Andrew Goh has submitted an amendment of the city of El Paso Street Infrastructure Capital Plan for Fiscal Year 2017. The amendment requests the city to approve reprogramming of funds for the Metropolitan Planning Organization match of about $3.7 million.

The approved the money will fund seven different projects for FY2017 and FY2018, which include lights, pedestrian improvements and streets.

This amendment comes on the heels of the mayor’s $44 million dollar veto for certificates of obligation to pay for public improvement projects, which would’ve included the items on the resolution.

“Eventually, you need the money,” Representative Emma Acosta said. “At what point is the council going to say we need ‘X’ number of dollars for matching?” Emma added, “The last thing I want is to have projects and we dont have matching funds and we will have to pull back.”

If approved during Tuesday’s council meeting, the funds will be provided by year-end net savings in the City’s Fiscal Year 2017 General Fund Operations for some, it not all.

“We will make every effort to utilize year-end savings to pay for this $3.7 million commitment for 2017,” City Manger Tommy Gonzalez said.

The city manager will be authorized to establish the funding sources and make any necessary budget transfers and execute any and all documents necessary to reprogram the funds.