EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — The El Paso County Commissioners adopted the county’s budget for the next fiscal year on Monday, setting the property tax rate at the no-new-revenue rate of about 45.11 cents per $100 of taxable value.
During Monday’s commissioner meeting, county leaders stated that the rate does not necessarily mean every homeowner’s tax bill will go down, because property values can still change.
The county’s general fund budget is about $541 million, up more than $45 million from last year.
The new budget also includes a 3.25% cost-of-living raise for county employees and raises the county minimum wage to $16 an hour.
Precinct 2 Commissioner David Stout said that while the no-new-revenue rate will not provide tax relief for everyone, he pointed to ongoing pressures on the budget, including unfunded state mandates, along with jail costs and growth in unincorporated areas.
In a statement, Stout said, “Every year, we face the difficult task of prioritizing finite resources among an overwhelming number of programs and services our community needs. Investing in our community requires honesty about what those investments cost. This year, we were able to reduce the tax rate to the No-New-Revenue Rate of $0.4511 per $100 of taxable valuation. While this will not provide tax relief for everyone, it allows the County to collect approximately the same amount of property tax revenue from properties on the tax roll in both years.”
He added, “To push back against these growing costs, the County must invest more in advocacy at both the state and federal levels. State leaders need to hear El Paso’s story and understand the harmful effects unfunded mandates have on our taxpayers. We must also engage the federal government more aggressively to secure funding that can offset local expenditures.”
READ THE FULL BUDGET PRESENTATION:
mini-packet_Commissioners Court Regular – Business_20260915023543254PDF previewPreview PDF
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