The voters passed the Quality of Life Bond on November 6, 2012, authorizing the issuance of $473,250,000 in general obligation bonds for dozens of projects, and only 37 days later the City Council unanimously enacted a resolution establishing the Bond Overview Advisory Committee .
This critically important committee provides citizen oversight of the QOL Bond expenditures, yet the City never gave the BOAC purview over the Public Safety Bond of 2019 or the Community Progress Bond of 2022.
On November 5, 2019, the voters approved the Public Safety Bond, authorizing the issuance of $413,122,650 for Police and Fire facilities, including $90.6 million for a new police station, $38.6 million for an Upper East Side Regional Command Center, and $74.4 million for renovating several fire stations.
On November 8, 2022, the voters went on to approve all three propositions of the $272,480,000 Community Progress Bond, which provides $246,480,000 for street improvements, $20,800,000 for parks and recreation facilities, and $5,200,000 for climate initiatives.
In total, we’re talking about $685,602,650 in debt issues, amounting to at least $1.3 billion in principal and interest.
Incredibly, there is zero citizen oversight of these two bonds even though we started complaining about this more than a year ago. That is because City Manager Tommy Gonzalez and his allies on City Council wanted to minimize public scrutiny of the City’s spending priorities and the bidding process for construction and engineering contracts.
We asked Tom Laign, Vice-Chair of BOAC, whether he feels it is important to extend his committee’s purview to include the 2019 and 2022 bonds. He responded: “I support the idea of citizen oversight of all the different bond issuances of the City. The number of projects we are reviewing for the 2012 bond is decreasing month by month and it would it make sense for there to be citizen oversight of the two remaining bonds.”
BOAC member Ryan Woodcraft also weighed in: “The BOAC was instituted by resolution in 2012 ‘in the best interest of the citizens of El Paso […] to provide oversight and feedback to City staff with regard to project expenditures and implementation.’ Given the current economic environment of our community, it is imperative that the 2019 and 2022 bonds have the same (if not higher) level of oversight as the 2012 bond.”
EXPANSION OF BOAC AUTHORITY SET FOR DISCUSSION AND ACTION APRIL 1
We strongly agree with Laign and Woodcraft and are delighted that City Reps Chris Canales and Lily Limon are co-sponsoring item 21 for the April 1 meeting of City Council: “Discussion and action to direct the City Manager and City Attorney to prepare a resolution or ordinance, as appropriate, to establish the Bond Overview Advisory Committee (BOAC) as a permanent standing committee, expanding its purview to include oversight functions related to City of El Paso bond-funded projects.”
According to the text of the backup, drafted by Canales, “This action would institutionalize the City’s commitment to transparency and public engagement in the implementation of bond-funded projects.” He adds, “By broadening the committee’s scope, the City will strengthen public oversight, ensuring that bond-funded projects remain aligned with public expectations.”
Without City Council intervention, BOAC would dissolve on January 1, 2028, but with this action, BOAC will not only monitor the 2019 and 2022 general obligation bonds, but also any other bond projects the City undertakes in the future. If approved Tuesday, City staff will present language to City Council within 30 days for final approval.
We are grateful to Reps. Canales and Limon for co-sponsoring this important item and are hopeful that BOAC will host its first presentation on the status of the 2019 and 2022 bonds at its next meeting, scheduled for May 19.