Chances are good that the El Paso City Council will adopt a new budget in August with no tax increase, City Manager Joyce Wilson said today.
“As we go through process and get the final Central Appraisal District numbers... I’m confident that we’ll have an effective-tax-rate budget this year,” Wilson said.
The effective tax adjusts the rate of taxation downward based on an increase in property valuations to arrive at a new rate that would effectively generate the same tax revenues this year from properties that were taxed last year.
The calculation comes from the Truth in Taxation Act to give jurisdictions a new starting point for setting tax rates each year and is used in Texas to show taxpayers whether their local governments are raising property taxes.
The city’s current tax rate is 67.1 cents per $100 valuation. The tax rate to fund the budget Wilson submitted would be 65.4 cents, and the preliminary effective tax rate that Wilson said the city will reach is 65.1 cents.
“The budget as presented is within 3/10ths of a penny of the effective tax rate,” Wilson said. “It would be an effective tax rate budget, but as we got near the end of putting it together, the budget director got a little nervous about fuel, so we included a $1 million fuel reserve.
Wilson submitted a $693 million proposed budget to City Council on Monday that shows a 4.4 percent increase in spending.
The increase comes to $26 million, she said, of which $10 million will go for increased staffing and salaries in the police and fire departments, $10 million is for the new city health department and $4.2 million is coming from park and recreation fees that had been held in special funds.
“The big change in our budget is that we are accounting for a health department that we never accounted for before,” Wilson said.
In addition, the city has hired 70 new firefighters to bring that department close to full strength and 28 new police officers, bringing the department’s increase in officers to 100 in two years.
“We’ve been able to replenish losses from attrition and actually grow the force, which was our goal,” she said.
lisaT
July 2, 2008
Darn it if I'm not having trouble finding the meeting that occurred on 30 June where council was present to receive the budget.
yvonne
July 3, 2008
is joyce kidding? after all the taxes citizens have had to endure in the last year does she really believe anything she says now will bring joy to the city. the only thing i look forward to hearing from joyce is that she plans to save the city more money by tendering her resignation and taking that man she calls our mayor back home with her. joyce and cook have both proven that for people like themselves that are paid well or are well off the need to raisie taxes is no big deal FOR THEM but the need for both of them to step down is a big deal FOR US. face it joyce and cook nothing you do or say has any importance. leaving is all that matters for many. when cook ends his
big brown
July 5, 2008
Mayor Wilson, you gotta be kidding me right. No new taxes, please let her say it with a straight face and a read my lips to preface the satetement. The stock market is in a freefall, gas is going through the roof, hello what do city vehicles run on air. Western Refining, Asarco, the El Paso Chile Company are all either in bankruptcy or have their creditors pounding on the door.
What this city budget needs is as follows:
1. A hiring freeze and a limit on non-contracted raises.
2. A complete limit on all non-essential travel. Yes I know it will hurt not to be able to attend the City Managers confrense in Cancun or the City policy makers seminar in Puerto Rico, but you can just stream it from the internet.
3. A restructuring on all of the cities debt to see where we can get the bigest bang for our buck.
4. I know this one will hurt alot of political contributors but put in a 90 day must pay for all companies doing business with the city. You have your warrant roundup and that generates millions why shouldn't the deadbeats who owe the city money in services or goods pay up.
5. Finally don't raise the fare on mass transit, we need this now more than ever, look into investing in a locked in price in the futures market or get Mr. Foster to sell us some of that Bio Fuel that he is producing for the local truck stops.
But of course none of that will happen when your just playing with monopoly money. In these tough times it calls for tough measures not hitting the overtaxed sucker with another fee.