This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso.
Services Set for Celebrated Author Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Services for El Paso author and artist Benjamin Alire Sáenz, who died July 28 at age 71, have been set.
Visitation will be from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1118 N. Mesa St., with a funeral Mass to follow. Burial will be at 11:30 a.m. at Concordia Cemetery, 3700 Yandell Drive.
Sáenz was the author of numerous literary works, and was best known for his “Aristotle and Dante” young adult novels. He also was a longtime creative writing professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Funeral services will be preceded by a celebration of life event at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, at Lincoln Park, 4001 Durazno Ave. The event takes place concurrently with the lighting of the Star on the Mountain in Sáenz’s honor.
El Paso Electric to Issue Customers Bill Credit
El Paso Electric is seeking to refund its Texas customers an average $17.54 per month from August through October, followed by an average refund of $9 in November.
If the Public Utility Commission of Texas approves the request, customers will see an average total refund of $44 throughout the next three billing cycles. That would reduce monthly bills by about 11% each month from mid-August through November.
El Paso Electric is issuing the refund because the utility predicts how much electricity it has to generate to supply customers months or years ahead of time. It also predicts how much fuel it has to buy – such as natural gas or nuclear power plant fuel – to generate the electricity the utility thinks it will need.
After that process, El Paso Electric reconciles the amount it expected to spend on fuel with how much it actually spent, and issues a refund or surcharge to customers. Earlier this year, the utility issued a $40 million refund to customers in the period spanning March through May.
Actual credits vary with a customer’s electricity use; the average credit is calculated based on a customer that uses 904 kilowatt-hours of electricity over the next two months, and 464 kilowatt-hours in November.
In all, El Paso Electric is seeking to refund $47 million to customers over the next three months, which includes $612,000 of interest.
El Paso Electric over-collected its fuel revenue because it made “significant recent off-system sales margins,” meaning it profitably sold and exported electricity to other utilities or merchant power traders, according to regulatory filings.
For example, El Paso Electric in 2023 joined the Western Energy Imbalance Market, which allows utilities to trade power with each other on a minute-by-minute basis. El Paso Electric credits all of the profit margin it makes from selling into the imbalance market to customers, which offsets the fuel charge on ratepayers’ bills.
Residential bills for the utility’s Texas customers will be about $140 from mid-August through mid-October on average, compared with $157 without the refund. In November, household bills will be just over $69 on average, a decline from an average bill of $78.
El Paso Animal Services Offers Free Pet Adoptions
The city of El Paso is holding its annual Clear the Shelters campaign this month as part of a national effort to help get shelter pets adopted and into forever homes.
The campaign features free daily pet adoptions for the rest of August at three of the Animal Services locations. Animal Services will also have offsite events to provide free pet microchipping and low-cost vaccinations.
Free adoptions will be available from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at the main shelter, 5001 Fred Wilson Ave.; from noon to 6 p.m. daily at the Westside Adoption Center, 5625 Confetti Drive; and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday at CATZ at the El Paso Zoo, 4001 Paisano Drive.
This year, El Paso Animal Services has taken in about 20,000 animals through June and is on pace to continue to increase. Intake at Animals Services jumped 62% between fiscal years 2023 and 2025.
A full list of events related to the Clear the Shelters campaign can be found at ElPasoAnimalServices.org.
Texas Tech Health El Paso Offers Free Tablets for Health Literacy Program
Texas Tech Health El Paso has opened registration for its Digital Health Academy. Open to residents ages 18 and older and capped at 90 participants, the English-Spanish program teaches people how to use telemedicine, digital health tools and online resources. People who complete the program will receive a digital tablet.
The Digital Health Academy requires participants to attend two Texas Tech Health El Paso community health education forums, complete a two-hour online learning module and either attend a telemedicine appointment or virtual health-related activity.
Participants can register for the program online.
EPCC OKs 2% Employee Raise, Considers Tax Increase
The El Paso Community College Board of Trustees approved 2% raises for college employees during a sometimes contentious special meeting Aug. 3 at EPCC headquarters, 9050 Viscount Blvd., that focused on the fiscal year 2027 budget.
Trustees voted 7-0 for the raise, but not before board Chair Brian Haggerty and board secretary Carmen Olivas Graham expressed their disappointment in the college district’s financial straits.
Recent decisions by state elected leaders and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board meant that the college would not get the $8 million it was due based on the House Bill 8 funding formula passed unanimously by the Legislature in 2023. That led to budget cuts and a smaller than expected raise for employees that does not keep up with the rate of inflation, which was 3.5% for the 12-month period ending in June.
During the Aug. 3 meeting, Fernando Flores, vice president of finance and administration, presented different scenarios to deal with the deficit.
They include raising EPCC’s property taxes on the $239,000 average-value home about $15 to $20 a year, freezing positions that have been vacant for two years or more, reductions to campus and department budgets, and cutting into the “safety net” reserves. The board will decide on the budget during its monthly meeting Aug. 26.
The board will hold a public hearing on its proposed tax rate Sept. 16 and adopt a tax rate on Sept. 23.
While upset, Haggerty and Olivas Graham thanked the college’s finance leaders for their efforts under the circumstances.
Haggerty, who has expressed anger toward the state since he learned about the deficit, said the instability of the new funding formula and Gov. Greg Abbott’s freeze on tuition and fees makes it difficult to budget for the future. He bristled at the college’s situation because circumstances were beyond its control.
“How can you budget when you don’t know how much money you’re going to get?” he asked rhetorically. “It’s unbelievable.”
In 2025, the board approved a 3% raise for employees. The previous year, trustees OK’d a 4% raise.
The post Benjamin Alire Sáenz services set; El Paso Electric seeks customer bill credits appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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