By Joe C. Pickett
The city of El Paso floating the idea of yet another fee, this one for street maintenance and repair, should be looked at with real concern and questions about what they are doing with our property tax dollars now. There is a reason to be very doubtful they will do what they say.
Joe Pickett
I was successful in court in bringing attention to the $6 a month franchise fee the city charges on the garbage side of our water and sanitation bills. Even though the city is appealing, the facts do not change.
The city created an ordinance to collect this fee, which generates almost $14 million a year, and the ordinance said the revenue is for “wear and tear on city streets.” We proved that the city indeed does not spend all that money on the streets.
The city also created a franchise fee on the water side of our bills that generates $6.5 million a year, charged to El Paso Water. The city’s budget resolutions show they use less than half, $3 million, for street maintenance.
Both of these fees are charges the city makes to itself, meaning us the taxpayer.
In total, the city of El Paso generates just over $20 million a year in these two fees alone.
As stated in the media , Chief Financial Officer Robert Cortinas noted that the city currently allocates $10 million annually in the city’s budget for street maintenance, a figure he admits is insufficient.
Already, the city collects twice that for “wear and tear” on streets but uses the other money for things other than streets.
It is time our elected officials took the time to learn what is actually in their budget, and do their due diligence on behalf of the taxpayers in our city.
Joe C. Pickett is a former member of the El Paso City Council and a former member of the Texas House of Representatives.
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