By David Stout
As the dust settles on El Paso County’s fiscal year 2027 budget process and candidates for Commissioners Court promise lower taxes without explaining how, I want to address the realities of county budgeting, what we achieved this year and the challenges ahead.
On Sept. 14, Commissioners Court adopted the no-new-revenue tax rate of 45.11 cents per $100 valuation and a $541 million general fund budget. Although the budget increased $45 million on paper, nearly half reflected additional appropriated fund balance for budget stabilization and emergencies. Operating appropriations increased $24.6 million, or 5.5%. The county tax bill on the average-valued home is expected to increase approximately $41.
Remember, property appraisal laws are established by the Texas Legislature, with oversight from the state comptroller, while the Central Appraisal District determines property values. Contrary to what the Democratic candidate for Precinct 2 seems to want you to believe, the county has no authority to set those values.
When it comes to county budgeting, it is important to know that nearly two-thirds of our general fund goes toward mandated functions, mostly required by the state, and the support services needed to operate them. Many are not fully funded by the state, leaving local taxpayers to carry the burden.
Since fiscal year 2022, the cost of these functions and support services has increased more than $100 million, or 44%.
The Legislature also proposes tax exemptions that, when approved by voters, affect county budgets. Recent examples of such voter-approved exemptions created nearly $12 million in fiscal pressure on our budget just this year. A business personal property exemption removed more than $1 billion from our taxable base, representing roughly $5 million in revenue capacity. Disabled-veteran exemptions reduced tax revenue by nearly $8 million, with less than $1 million reimbursed by the state.
I support relief for veterans and small businesses. But the state should recognize the consequences of voter-approved exemptions and provide adequate reimbursement. Counties cannot stop providing legally required services when their taxable base shrinks.
Despite these pressures, we identified more than $5 million in departmental reductions while advancing Precinct 2 priorities: a $16 minimum wage for county employees, long-overdue cost-of-living adjustments and step increases for those employees, economic development, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, small businesses, heritage tourism, Project ARRIBA, and investments in Ascarate Park, the County Coliseum and Corbin-Sambrano.
If future courts want to sustain non-mandated services while holding the line on taxes, indiscriminate cuts and repeatedly dipping into reserves won’t work. Nor should they focus on performative budget decisions that generate headlines but barely affect taxpayers.
If commissioners believe their salaries are too high, propose reducing them or give the money back. Anything else is a noisy red herring.
Instead, confront what drives costs: unfunded mandates, jail operations and urban sprawl. We need stronger state and federal advocacy to identify more outside funding and play defense against state interference, renewed consideration of a Downtown jail that an earlier study indicated could pay for itself through staffing savings, especially in light of recent overtime overages, and an honest accounting of the infrastructure and service costs of developer-driven growth in unincorporated areas.
Moving forward blindly and approving policies, such as creating infill incentives outside our urban core, can induce sprawl and increase costs.
I hope the next court has the intestinal fortitude to tackle these challenges.
In conclusion, I warn taxpayers to beware of court members who vote for expenditures but refuse to fund them, passing the buck to colleagues making the difficult decisions. That’s like ordering everything at an expensive restaurant and walking out on the tab.
That’s not fiscal responsibility or leadership. It’s political theater.
David Stout is El Paso County commissioner for Precinct 2.
The post Opinion: Everyone promises to lower taxes. Few offer solutions appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More