As you wake up to enjoy your coffee and read the paper, your City Council is preparing to convene for its regular meeting.
Unbeknownst to 99.9% of El Pasoans, item 11 of today’s agenda calls for issuing $96 million dollars in certificates of obligation without voted authorization, bringing our total outstanding CO debt to well over $700 million dollars.
That is the largest outstanding CO debt in the history of Texas.
The debt includes funds for quality of life bond projects, which Mayor Leeser had very specifically and clearly opposed during his campaign for election, as we read on one of his campaign mailers. So far he has waved through $189 million in COs since assuming office.
Issuing CO debt for QOL bond projects will be illegal in Texas starting September 1 because of a new law that was signed by the Governor on June 15, so our City is planning to steal as much money as possible from the taxpayers before next week.
In typical fashion, the City has concealed the $96 million in the language of item 11. One reads about “An Ordinance authorizing the issuance of City of El Paso, Texas Combination Tax and Revenue Certificates of Obligation, Series 2021C” but one does not read the figure “$96 million” unless one dives into the attachments to the agenda. It is buried deep in there.
The media have utterly failed to alert the public to agenda item 11, and so do not expect much public comment.
But make no mistake about it. Some of us are watching very closely, and we are taking note of precisely which reps vote for this today.
Enjoy your morning.