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.
City Releases Heavily Redacted Documents Under Records Dispute
The City Attorney’s Office released about 125 records to El Paso Matters on Wednesday that are the subject of a legal battle with the state attorney general.
The majority of the records that were released were heavily redacted. The records were part of a Texas Public Information Act request by El Paso Matters for billing invoices paid to private law firms to defend the city and El Paso Police Department officers in six lawsuits for a variety of misconduct allegations.
The city filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Sept. 11 in an effort to withhold portions of the documents the city argues are protected by attorney-client privilege. The attorney general issued a ruling Aug. 13 that determined the city could withhold portions of the documents it deemed as attorney-client privileged information, but had to release the remaining documents.
The city filed the lawsuit the day after El Paso Matters inquired about when it would release the required documents based on the attorney general ruling.
El Paso County Adopts $635.6 Million Budget, Dips Into Reserves
The El Paso County Commissioners Court this week approved its budget for the next fiscal year, dipping into its reserves to fund it.
The $635.6 million budget – a $28 million increase over the prior year – includes a general fund budget of about $495 million that pays for basic services, was adopted unanimously Monday. The county will also use about $33 million from its reserves to maintain services in the next fiscal year, but still has about $47 million for emergencies.
The county has been working through finalizing its budget for months, while trying to determine the impacts of about $13 million in financial obligations such as pay raises from previously approved collective bargaining agreements for law enforcement, increased costs for insurance and unfunded state mandates including pay increases for judicial salaries.
“We cannot add expenses without either reducing other expenses or increasing revenues. So, we either have to make sure if we’re going to add any kind of expense to our budget, there has to be an offsetting decrease in expense, or there has to be an increase in revenue,” County Administrator Betsy Keller said ahead of the adoption of the budget.
Some of the increases were $5.2 million for law enforcement pay increases and $2.3 million more for medical and mental health services in the detention system and about $1.2 million for the judicial salary increases mandated by state law.
To balance the budget and address cost increases, county departments reduced their operating budgets by about 5% over the prior year and county civilian employees and the Commissioners Court will not receive pay raises next year – the second year they go without pay increases based on budget constraints.
The budget funds basic county services including parks, county transit, libraries, senior nutrition programs and animal services.
In order to fund the budget, the county adopted a tax rate of 45.8 cents per $100 of property valuation – an increase of about $138 per year on an average $216,726 value home. A portion of the tax rate includes an increase to pay bonds approved by voters in November. The county has issued about $12 million of the $151 million in approved general obligation bonds.
Texas DPS to Build Regional Headquarters in Northeast El Paso
The Texas Department of Public Safety plans to build a regional headquarters within the Campo del Sol master planned community in Northeast after the El Paso City Council this week approved an amendment to its agreement with the developers for the land use.
The amendment approved Tuesday allows the developer to sell 45 acres of land at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Loma Real Avenue to the state of Texas for the development of the DPS facility.
The land is part of the land swap between the city and FSW Investments and Franklin Mountain Communities, where the city exchanged more than 2,000 acres in Northeast for 44 acres on the Westside then owned by FSW for the Great Wolf Lodge development that fell apart during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both parcels of land were valued equally, according to city records.
Under the agreement with the city, the developer committed to create the Campo del Sol community with 9,000 residential units, 300 commercial acres, infrastructure, amenities, open spaces and 135 acres of park land. The city in a new release said those agreements will remain intact under the amendment.
The DPS facility comes after a $10 million appropriation approved during the 89th Legislative Session for the purchase of the property, though the actual price of the sale of the land from FSW to the state was not disclosed.
The plans include an 82,000-square-foot regional headquarters, an 8,000-square-foot driver’s license center and a crime laboratory to serve more than 90 law enforcement agencies across the region.
No timeline for the construction of the DPS building was provided.
EPISD to Pay TASB $25,000 for Superintendent Search
The El Paso Independent School District will pay $25,000 to the Texas Association of School Boards to conduct a superintendent search and find a permanent replacement for former Superintendent Diana Sayavedra.
The EPISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to approve funding for the $25,000 contract.
Earlier this month, the board approved entering into a contract with TASB — a nonprofit educational association that provides services and guidance to local school boards across Texas — but did not reveal the price.
Under the contract, TASB will develop a timeline for the search, promote the vacancy, solicit and review candidates, conduct background checks and help the board conduct interviews, among other duties.
Chief Financial Officer Martha Aguirre has served as interim superintendent since June after Sayavedra retired unexpectedly following a change in the board majority.
El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Names New Chief Executive Officer
Gladys Gonzalez has been named the chief executive director of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She succeeds longtime CEO Cindy Ramos-Davidson, who died earlier this year. Mary Helen Aldeis has been serving as interim CEO.
According to her LinkedIn page, Gonzalez has run her own El Paso fashion company since 2024 while also serving as a philanthropy and development consultant. She served as director of membership and sales for the El Paso Chamber from 2021-2024 and previously worked as a sales manager in the hotel industry.
“I am honored to join the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, an organization that has long stood as a beacon of support for our business community,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Together, we will build on the chamber’s strong foundation while creating new pathways for innovation, growth, and prosperity across El Paso and the border region.”
Frank Spencer, the board chair for the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, expressed confidence in Gonzalez’s “leadership, vision, and commitment to advancing the mission of empowering our small businesses and strengthening our community.”
Public Comment Open on Interstate 10 Widening in Downtown El Paso
El Pasoans can submit comments until Oct. 14 about the Texas Department of Transportation’s controversial project to widen and add lanes to the section of Interstate 10 spanning from Executive Center Boulevard to Copia Street.
The public can share comments via email at downtown10@txdot.gov, by leaving a voicemail at 915-990-1440 or by mailing comments to the address Downtown 10 Project, 17111 Preston Road, Suite 300, Dallas, Texas 75248.
The $1.3 billion highway project is a continuation of the ongoing construction to widen I-10 in the area from Helen of Troy Drive to Mesa Street.
Local neighborhood organizations and elected officials held a news conference Tuesday to state their opposition to the widening. There’s a long-held belief among local organizers that the widening is unnecessary, especially in the Downtown area where opponents argue traffic is minimal and adding more lanes will invite additional drivers rather than ease congestion. There’s also a concern about whether Downtown businesses will be able to weather a massive, multi-year disruption to drivers heading to Downtown along I-10.
TxDOT and other supporters of the highway widening, such as Eduardo Calvo, executive director of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, have said the reconstruction of I-10 is necessary to improve road pavement as well as replace aging pillars that hold up cross-streets through the trenched portion of Downtown. And the segment of I-10 east of Downtown features four rather than the three lanes Downtown, so they support conforming the highway to match other portions of I-10.
The widening project is also the impetus for the proposed deck plaza project that would cap a five block stretch of I-10 in Downtown. Deck plaza supporters say they must develop the deck park at the same time as the highway widening project to avoid multiple major disruptions to travelers along I-10. That’s why the deck plaza backers – mainly the Paso del Norte Foundation – are trying to put hundreds of millions in funding together before TxDOT begins soliciting bids for the I-10 project in 2027 or 2028.
The post City releases redacted records amid AG lawsuit, county adopts $635.6M budget appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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