El Paso’s tax-supported debt at more than $2 billion; taxes among highest in state

City and state records show that while the city’s debt continues to rise, so does the city’s use of certificates of obligation and that means El Paso taxpayers will be footing the bill in the years to come.

In fiscal year of 2016, El Paso city records reported the tax-supported debt at $2,037,538,588. That put each El Paso taxpayer on the hook for $3,012.

According to the office of the Texas Comptroller, El Paso leads other Texas cities with a tax-supported debt and per capita, even topping cities with larger populations like Austin and Fort Worth.

In 2014, El Paso’s tax supported debt per capita was at $1,566, but In 2016 that number went up to nearly $3000.

El Pasoan Max Grossman believes part of the problem is with the city’s use of certificates of obligation, or COs. COs are debt that council members can approve without asking residents to vote on it.

Typically, COs are used in cases of emergency, but the city can use it to fund other projects including quality of life bond projects.

With some of the projects from the 2012 Quality of Life Bond going over budget, the city has been using COs to cover those costs.

“You wonder where the city’s priorities really are,” Grossman said. “If we see a $475 million quality of life bond, we expect it to cost $475 million. The city just can’t add another $100 million.”

But El Paso City Rep. Cassandra Hernandez Brown says it’s not so simple.

“Things change. Something today doesn’t cost the same 5 or 6 years from now,” Brown says. “Yes, I think the city can be more frugal, we can cut back, but that’s not what the community wants, the community wants state-of-the-art and a level of excellence that we deserve.”

The hard part for the city is finding a balance between what voters want and approved, and what can the city really afford.

“The city is being very responsible with the way we’re issuing debt,” Brown said. “It is meeting the needs and specifically the strategic plan for the city of El Paso. We have a plan that we are trying to work towards.”

Grossman warns that if the city continues down this route the effects could be destructive.

“We risk a credit downgrade that could be devastating because it would pressure our debt,” Grossman said. “The city continues to ram through these bloated bond projects which are grossly underfunded. It’s not acceptable.”