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We drafted a chart comparing the City’s no-new-revenue tax rate to the adopted tax rate for every year from 2015 through 2027.
When the adopted tax rate is higher than the no-new revenue rate, that is a tax increase, regardless of property valuations.
During the years of City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, who assumed office in June 2014 and was terminated in February 2023, El Pasoans suffered tax increases for eight years in a row!
Dee Margo, who was our Mayor from June 2017 to January 2021, had campaigned on “holding the line on taxes” yet presided over a tax increase each of the four years he was in office.
TAX RELIEF FROM KENNEDY AND LEESER
During the period when Brian Kennedy was District 1 Representative while Oscar Leeser was Mayor, there were two consecutive years of no tax increases (FY 2024-2025). This was achieved through deft political maneuvering combined with the strategic planning of Interim City Manager Cary Westin and CFO Robert Cortinas.
Kennedy and Leeser have since been criticized by Mayor Renard Johnson, the CFO, and political operatives disguised as journalists for drawing from the fund balance and delaying debt issuances in order to prevent tax increases. This claim assumes that Kennedy, if he had won the mayoral election, would have failed to achieve no-new-revenue rates for the last two fiscal years. We feel he would have pressed for the necessary cuts to make that happen.
Kennedy lost to Johnson, who spent more than $1.5 million on his campaign and promised in more than a dozen mailers, social media posts, and public statements to lower our property tax if elected.
Once he became Mayor, Johnson did absolutely nothing to relieve our crushing tax burden. He did not make a single proposal or put up a single agenda item to that effect.
Come August 18, when our City Council is expected to confirm a tax rate of $0.809487 per $100 of property valuation, Johnson will have presided over two tax increases in a row without uttering a peep in opposition.
The proposed tax rate will increase the tax on the average-valued residence by 7.5%, which may actually be an all-time record.
Mayor Johnson, who was successfully placed in office by the Oligarchs to do their bidding, is a liar of the lowest order.
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