The city of El Paso is raising property taxes.
On Tuesday, City Council approved its fiscal 2027 budget after a series of failed amendments, defeated motions and discussion over dwindling funds, rising expenses and a cash-strapped community demanding tax relief.
When it was all over, the council approved a budget with $658.6 million in its general fund and adopted a property tax rate of $0.798 per $100 valuation – up from last year’s tax rate of $0.759649.
The property tax bill on the average El Paso home will increase by $105.
The new tax rate is 1.1 cents below the rate originally proposed by the city manager’s office.
The city saved $26 million by eliminating 75% of its vacant positions.
“Today is a good day to be on council,” said El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson shortly before the successful vote to pass the budget. “The passion that they have and the amount of time that they spent on a city budget shows that they care not only about their community, but they care about the employees and the public.”
City Reps. Lily Limón and Cynthia Boyar Trejo voted against the budget. Limón expressed frustration that it includes 15% pay increases for council members. Boyar Trejo vowed early in the council meeting to support only a budget funded by a no-new-revenue tax rate.
Trejo’s insistence on a no-new-revenue tax rate didn’t generate support, with city Rep. Art Fierro saying, “We can’t go no-new-revenue. That would devastate us.”
Johnson also defended the tax increase.
“How did we get here? Prior councils did no-new-revenue. It’s catching up to us,” he said.
In his presentation to the council, the city’s chief financial officer, Robert Cortinas, outlined some of the budget’s challenges, including a loss of about $12 million in taxable revenue from property tax exemptions mandated by the state.
Another challenge, he said, is the rising cost of public safety services and contractual obligations, as well as $4.3 million in new debt from voter-approved bonds. Cortinas added that funding from the American Rescue Plan Act expires in December, which will also mean less money for the budget.
At several points during the deliberations, council appeared deadlocked, with multiple attempts to pass the budget failing. That led Johnson and city Rep. Chris Canales to speak about the urgency of passing the budget.
“The budget is now in our hands. We cannot give it back to them and say make changes and bring it back to us,” Canales said.
Johnson asked Cortinas, “From the time that you’ve been here, have you ever not received a budget?” to which Cortinas responded, “No,” which prompted the mayor to say, “So, it’s incumbent upon us to give you a budget to work with, and right now, we’re not doing that.”
With the budget approved, the largest allotment in the general fund is $371 million for public safety.
About $10 million will fund street maintenance, $4.9 million will go toward citywide facility maintenance and improvements, and $1.5 million will fund parks and recreation amenity replacements and improvements. An estimated $9.4 million will be used for fire and police equipment and vehicles.
“We know any tax increase affects household budgets, and we took that concern seriously throughout this process,” said City Manager Dionne Mack in a statement released by the city. “This budget maintains essential services while providing targeted financial capacity for public safety.”
The complete adopted budget is online at ElPasoTexas.gov/omb.