Thanks to the financial acumen and wizardry of CFO Robert Cortinas and Interim City Manager Cary Westin, yesterday our City Council was presented with a budget for FY 2024-25 that lowers our City property tax rate to $0.761405 per $100 of valuation, representing a drop of 5.7 cents over the current fiscal year and 10.0 cents since FY 2022-23.
That means there will be no City tax increase for the second year in a row, and no issuance of debt.
Once again, Cortinas and Westin have slashed the budget to the no-new-revenue rate without impacting core City services or depleting the reserve fund balance, which stands at 81 days.
This is an extraordinary achievement, as it comes on the heels of a multiyear spending binge driven by Tommy Gonzalez and supported by Dee Margo, Cassandra Hernandez, Isabel Salcido, Henry Rivera, and former members of City Council.
Last year the taxable value of El Paso property shot up from $47.5 billion to $52.9 billion, an increase of 11.3%. But rather than recommending that the City siphon the windfall for capital improvement projects or pork spending, Cortinas and Westin skillfully kept the budget in check.
In addition, they squeezed out a $5 million surplus that the City can hold in reserve for FY 2025-26.
Mayor Leeser expressed his ironclad support for the proposed budget and thanked the staff who worked so hard to make it possible.
Rep. Brian Kennedy, one of the primary proponents of tax relief on City Council, made all four motions, which passed unanimously.
We are pleased to report that Rep. Hernandez showed up for the vote today rather than playing hooky to work on her mayoral campaign.
KENNEDY DOES NOT REQUEST ADDITIONAL SPENDING, HERNANDEZ DEMANDS MILLIONS
After the staff presentation, each member of City Council made a request to add funding to the budget in order to benefit their respective districts–$68 million worth!
But then there was Rep. Kennedy, who requested nothing.
When we asked him why he did not join his colleagues in asking for an expansion of the budget, he replied that he had met with the CFO and other staff many times over the last several months and that his district’s key needs are already met in the proposed budget. Bravo!
This is in sharp contrast to Rep. Hernandez, who previously voted to increase our property tax six times and to issue hundreds of millions in certificates of obligation without voter approval. She asked for millions of dollars for her district and demanded more funding for the insolvent Ballpark and Nicole Ferrini’s new Climate Kingdom.
The proposed budget will go before City Council for a final vote on August 20.
Please take a moment to congratulate CFO Robert Cortinas and Interim City Manager Cary Westin on their marvelous achievement: cortinasr@elpasotexas.gov; westincs@elpasotexas.gov.