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Dear Mr. Johnson,
In your mayoral campaign, you routinely promote new spending initiatives while claiming you will lower our property tax, without providing specifics.
Former Interim City Manager Cary Westin and CFO Robert Cortinas, supported by the Mayor and several members of City Council, achieved a no-new-revenue tax rate for FY 2025, the second fiscal year in a row, through an extraordinary effort that required both creativity and ingenuity.
The service on the City’s $2.3 billion debt is so onerous that it is not possible to reduce expenditures without sacrificing essential programs and services or terminating personnel.
Moreover, we know there will be an unavoidable tax increase in FY 2026 because of bonds that were approved by the voters in previous years.
In a series of recent campaign ads, such as the one on Facebook dated August 27, you point out that the City currently earmarks only $7 million for streets and then blame City leaders for failing to come up with $40 million, the amount needed to fully meet our transportation infrastructure needs.
So we have a challenge for you.
Please tell us what you would have cut from the current budget in order to cover the $33 million shortfall for streets. The 944-page FY 2025 Budget Book is on the webpage of the Office of Management & Budget and available for download.
Please also tell us what you would cut from future budgets to pay for a 15,000-seat downtown arena, which the City admits would cost over $500,000,000, and a deck plaza over Interstate 10, which everyone knows will cost much more than $207 million, and probably more than $400,000,000.
You claim you will lower property taxes, which means you must find the funds for your spending initiatives without issuing bonds.
We would be more than happy to share your reply with our email list and on our social media platforms and sincerely look forward to receiving it.
Respectfully,
Max Grossman, El Paso Taxpayer Revolt
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