EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — Residents in East El Paso got a closer look Monday night at the City of El Paso’s preliminary budget for next year — a spending plan city officials first presented last week that totals about $1.4 billion across all funds.

City staff reviewed the proposal during the first community budget meeting at the Irving Schwartz Library. The meeting is part of an effort City Manager Dionne Mack said was moved up to give the public more time to weigh in before City Council adopts a final budget in August.

“So we moved up our budget process this year, six weeks to really allow community to have an opportunity to provide feedback, to city council and to us directly before we adopt our final budget in August,” Mack said.

The city’s general fund — which pays for many day-to-day services — totals about $655.3 million. City leaders said they began the process facing a projected $13.6 million gap, and the preliminary budget is their plan to close it.

The city’s preliminary budget documents are available below:

A key piece of that plan is a proposed property tax rate of about 78 cents per $100 of property value, up from about 76 cents in the current budget. The city said that for the average home, the change would mean about $105 more per year.

The city is also looking at cutting hundreds of vacant positions. Officials said the city lost about $16 million in revenue, including $11 million from state-mandated property tax relief. Mack said eliminating vacancies would save millions.

“This budget actually reduces our staffing by over 350 people. And so we deleted over 75% of our vacancies. And we’re saving about $26.1 million going through that,” Mack said.

One resident said cutting vacant positions should be only the beginning.

“It’s not a savings. Those people aren’t being used now, why would we hire them if they’re not used? That is not a savings, but it is a start,” the resident said.

Residents were also shown a budget simulator during Monday’s meeting. The tool allows users to adjust spending and revenue and submit their ideas to the city.

Public safety was a major focus of the discussion. City staff said about $371 million is slated for public safety. Officials also said the preliminary budget includes funding for 55 new police officers.

“What we’re looking at is what the community expects from our response time. You call we want to be there. And so we were seeing that number really get long in terms of, you know, our ability to respond,” Mack said.

The city is holding more community budget meetings this week. City Council is expected to vote on the final budget Aug. 18.

Below are the remaining scheduled FY 2027 community budget meetings:

June 2

Westside Regional Command Center

4801 Osborne Dr.

6 p.m.

Municipal Service Center

At the Cotton Patch Room

7968 San Paulo Dr.

6 p.m.

June 8

City Hall

At the Main Conference Room, 2nd Floor

300 N. Campbell St.

5:30 p.m.

June 9

Memorial Senior Center

1800 Byron St.

6 p.m.

Northeast Regional Command Center

9600 Dyer St.

6 p.m.

June 10

Valle Bajo Community Center & Library

7380 Alameda Ave.

6 p.m.

June 11

The Beast Urban Park

13501 Jason Crandall Dr.

6 p.m.

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