Two days ago we reported that the County will soon vote on whether to issue $188 million in certificates of obligation without voter approval and place a $294 million general obligation bond on the ballot in November, more than tripling the County’s debt servicing obligations and raising our property tax by more than three cents per $100 of valuation.
The County will also vote on whether to place a $396.6 million general obligation bond on the ballot in support of University Medical Center. On July 9, the UMC Board of Managers voted unanimously to request that the County place the bond on the ballot, with CFO Michael Nuñez affirming that it would increase our property tax by approximately four cents per $100 of valuation.
Of course, UMC recently tried to ram through a $346 million certificate of obligation but was stopped cold in September 2022 by a successful petition drive by the Libre Initiative that gathered more than 35,000 signatures in opposition.
Between the County and UMC debt issuances, our property tax would increase an average of about 7 cents over the life of the bonds, translating into $140 per year for a home assessed at $200,000.
Furthermore, the County and UMC would be on the hook for more than $1.6 BILLION in principle and interest, amortized over the next quarter-century.
While our City focuses on restraining spending and preventing a tax increase, the County Commissioners Court (with the exception of Commissioner Holguin) is on a spending binge for the record books and has no problem with taxing El Pasoans out of their homes and chasing businesses out of our region.
We have every expectation that they will support these debt issuances without even blinking.
Of course, they won’t struggle financially like most of the rest of us since they voted themselves three double-digit pay increases since 2016 and are now paid executive salaries.