The El Paso City Council took a timid step toward having developers and homebuilders foot the cost for expanding El Paso Water services to the farthest edges of the city.
After hours of public comment at its meeting Tuesday, May 7, the El Paso City Council voted 5-3 to impose new impact fees on developments in three parts of the city — the Northeast, East Side and West Side — where growth has exploded in recent years and strained city services.
The vote marks the first time water impact fees have been updated in 15 years, but the 28% the City Council approved is far below the 100% increase advocates were demanding.
Politics is transactional, and land developers and real estate agents and their surrogates have been worming their way into City Council since forever.
The only reason that the proposed impact fee increases were so big is that previous City Councils hadn’t raised them in 15 years. For 15 years, previous City Councils have been kicking impact fees down the road.
And now we’re stuck with that minimal increase to impact fees for the next 5 years.
Land developers’ and real estate agents’ donations to the political campaigns of the candidates for City Council are an investment. They’re looking for a return.
Did you think that your City Council Representative worked for you? Did you kick in $1,000 for their campaign?
Until voters and not donors determine who gets elected, candidates will cater to special interests.
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