City plans a major switch in funding to save taxpayer money

The City of El Paso has planned to switch its main source of revenue from property tax to sales tax in order to save taxpayer money, budget officials said.

City documents show that in the 2017-2018 financial year, property tax raked in $174,759,084 for the city, while sales tax earned nearly half of that amount at $89,473,202.

“Over the last four to five years, we’ve seen mayor and council get aggressive with economic incentives,” said Robert Cortinas, with the Office of Budget and Management.

Topgolf is a new entertainment business, under construction on the west side. City officials said it’s eligible for a 75 percent city real and property tax rebate totaling $1.7 million, a 75 percent city sales tax rebate totaling $3.4 million and a 100 percent rebate on certain building and planning fees up to $34,000.

Cortinas said the changes are not going to happen immediately, but we’ll start to see them when business property taxes start to rise.

“You should see that gradual shift in time,” said Cortinas. “I don’t think anybody’s going to say it’s going to happen in year five, year six, but we will continue to see the growth in property evaluations.”