The Ministry of Truth of the City of El Paso has shifted its propaganda machine into high gear.
Rep. Peter Svarzbein of District 1 posted the attached City propaganda to social media, which I have modified with an appropriate emoji in order to express my reaction.
Rep. Svarzbein, do you really think that lowering the tax rate by 4.49 cents to 86.21 cents is going to impress us when the rate was only 70 cents when you assumed office in summer 2015? We’ve taken note of all your votes to raise our tax since that time:
8/23/2016 Increase City property tax from $0.729725 to $0.759656
8/22/2017 Increase City property tax from $0.759656 to $0.803433
8/20/2019 Increase City property tax from $0.843332 to $0.907301
And 86.21 cents does not even get us back to where we were in 2019, just before you voted to raise our tax a third time!
You do understand, Rep. Svarzbein, that the 13.3% increase in property valuations completely wipes out your 4.49 cents? In fact, the El Paso Times just reported that the average homeowner will pay $82 more in property tax, with your 4.49-cent reduction! Do you read the El Paso Times? Never mind…What else can we expect from the City rep who brought us the insolvent trolleys, voted for over $500M in CO debt without voter approval, supported the Great Wolf Lodge and TIRZ 13 fiascos, doled out countless perks and incentives to his Oligarchy donors, and still thinks that displacing dozens of people and destroying our cultural assets for a half-billion-dollar “Arena” is a nifty idea?
Nobody is fooled anymore and the November election will prove it.