County Judge Ricardo Samaniego ran on a platform of fiscal conservatism and assumed office January 1, 2019. Since that time, he voted to increase his salary to $152,700 and to place $894 million in new bond debt on the November ballot, of which the voters approved $552 million.
Mayor Renard Johnson ran on a platform of lowering our taxes and fixing our streets and assumed office January 6, 2025. Since that time, he abstained from a critical vote to increase our water fees by 7.5% for the average homeowner. He plans to promote the construction of a deck plaza over Interstate 10 and a downtown arena, which would include hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies.
Samaniego not only endorsed Johnson for Mayor but also took the unusual step of swearing him into office. He told the El Paso Inc: “The El Paso County Judge swearing in the Mayor is beyond my understanding, but I hope it’s a symbol of unity as we start going forward.”
Make no mistake about it. Samaniego and Johnson will UNITE and come for our bank accounts!
In FY 2026, El Pasoans will face the mother of all tax increases and will have only themselves to blame, since only 8.26% of registered voters bothered to cast a ballot in December.