CITY DEBT APPROACHING $3 BILLION!
According to page 79 of the FY 2023 Budget Book, our City owes $2,257,059,064, of which $851,565,991 is principal and interest on ten certificates of obligation that were issued without…
CITY BUDGET TO INCREASE TO $1.3B FOR FY 2024, HERNANDEZ WANTS MORE DEBT
Cindy Ramirez of El Paso Matters published a substantive report on the ongoing budget talks in City Council. To summarize, Interim City Manager Cary Westin and CFO Robert Cortinas proposed…
THREE CITY REPS. AND MAYOR REFUSE TO INCREASE OUR PROPERTY TAX
Our City Council and staff are in budgetary discussions in preparation for the vote next month to set the City property tax rate. Our property tax has increased every year…
THERE IS ENOUGH SUPPORT ON CITY COUNCIL TO PREVENT A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE!
Yesterday we reported that Rep. Kennedy, Rep. Molinar, Rep. Fierro, and Mayor Leeser each made an iron-clad commitment to vote against any City budget that would increase our property tax.…
MAX GROSSMAN: CITY BOND RATING NOT WHAT IT APPEARS
City bond rating not what it appears: Letters to the Editor El Paso Times, Published 6:00am MT May 12, 2023 “Terrell Blodget wrote to this newspaper claiming the recent bond…
318 BANKRUPTCIES IN EL PASO FROM JANUARY TO MARCH, UP 32.5% OVER LAST YEARÂ
According to today’s issue of the Paso del Norte Economic Indicator Review of the Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness, “the El Paso Office of the Western District of Texas U.S.…
KFOX UNCRITICALLY REPEATS CITY TALKING POINTS: “EL PASO’S CREDIT SCORE JUST GOT BETTER”
Our local media have created much confusion over the City of El Paso’s bond ratings, with KTSM, followed by the El Paso Times, and now KFOX incorrectly describing the AA+…
KROLL ASSIGNS CITY AA+ BOND RATING, BUT WHO IS KROLL?
Luisa Barrios of KTSM 9 News broke the “news” on Thursday that the Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA), which promotes itself as a full-service credit rating agency registered with the…
FITCH DOWNGRADES BOND OUTLOOK OF EL PASO HOSPITAL DISTRICT FROM “POSITIVE” TO “STABLE”
Fitch “has affirmed at ‘A-‘ the rating on Series 2013 and 2017 general obligation (GO) refunding bonds and Series 2013 combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation issued by El…
NO MORE CERTIFICATES OF OBLIGATION!
Karla Sierra is the Grassroots Engagement Director for The LIBRE Initiative-Texas, a Hispanic group promoting constitutional principles, free-market solutions, individual liberty, and conservative policies. She recently published an excellent opinion…