El Paso City Council delays considering new monthly transportation fee to fund street repairs

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) – El Paso residents and businesses could soon pay a new monthly fee to help fund improvements to the city’s deteriorating streets, although the City Council voted Monday to remove a planned presentation on the topic from its agenda.

The El Paso City Council had been set to review a proposal for a Transportation User Fee during its work session, but District 7 Representative Lily Limón made a motion to delete the item.

The motion passed on a 5 to 3 vote.

District 8 Representative Chris Canales argued that the presentation should continue, but the majority disagreed.

“It just boils down to this. Why are we taxing people to build a street? And now we are going to tax them to use a street? You know, it is a fee, but in reality, it is a tax. I am totally against that. I just decided might as well delete it,” Limón said.

Canales said he believed the public deserved to hear the presentation.

“When the council puts something on the agenda and says that we are going to have a discussion, and especially something like this, that is an informational presentation. I think the public tunes in, they wait for it to come up because they want to see it," Canales said. "Knowledge is power on these kinds of things. I am disappointed they got deleted. The council was never going to make a decision today. This was 100 percent just an informational presentation and so I would rather see it than not see it.”

Neither council member said when the item could return to a future agenda.

The fee would charge property owners based on their estimated use of city streets. Deputy City Manager Robert Cortinas said the goal is to create a sustainable and equitable source of funding as road conditions continue to decline.

“If we do not do something soon, eventually we are going to run into a situation where streets will not be able to be resurfaced,” Cortinas said.

City documents show that El Paso maintains more than 6,100 streets covering about 2,400 centerline miles. Roughly half of the city’s streets are rated in fair to very poor condition. Officials estimate the city would need to spend about $75 million annually to maintain an acceptable pavement condition, far more than what is currently budgeted.

El Paso has increasingly relied on debt financing to pay for reconstruction and resurfacing. Cortinas said the practice is adding to the city’s long term financial burden. “It is looking at what is the most fair and equitable way to come up with some type of funding source,” Cortinas said.

The proposal outlines 3 possible monthly rates for residents. The fee could be set at $4.40, $7 or $11.37 per month. Commercial properties would pay more based on how many vehicle trips their land use is estimated to generate. According to the presentation, residential properties account for about 40 percent of vehicle trips in the city while commercial properties make up the remaining 60 percent.

Depending on which option the council chooses, the fee could generate between $29 million and $75 million per year. The money would be directed to resurfacing projects, reconstruction of failing streets, preventive maintenance, sidewalk and ADA improvements and upgrades to traffic signals.

The city’s projections show that over a 5 year period the fee could fund between 5 and 16 miles of street reconstruction and between 33 and 73 miles of resurfacing. The presentation also notes that reconstruction of the city’s most deteriorated segments can cost up to $14 million per mile.

Cortinas emphasized that the proposal remains in the early stages and that implementation would not happen immediately if approved. “This is not something that we are trying to ram through and push through and do it from one day to the next, it is really just to start the discussion,” Cortinas said.

If the council later decides to move forward, the fee would likely not take effect until late next year or early 2027. City officials plan to hold public information sessions, refine the fee structure and develop a billing system before any implementation.introductory meeting in February and a public hearing in March.