The average homeowner in El Paso County will pay about $12 more a year in county and hospital property taxes – $11 of that on the University Medical Center of El Paso portion of their upcoming tax bills.
The El Paso County Commissioners Court on Monday unanimously adopted the 2024 tax rates for both entities, which will make up part of the total property bills that go out in October and are due in January. City, school district and El Paso Community College taxes make up most of the rest of the bill.
The county’s no-new-revenue tax rate of 42.6 cents per $100 valuation translates to just under a $1 increase on an average-value home of about $200,000 on the county’s portion of the property tax bills. The impact on individual homeowners will depend on their property’s valuation, and some homeowners may see a decrease in their county taxes.
County administrators said they had to trim about $40 million from their original budget proposals to not adopt anything above the no-new-revenue rate – the rate needed to generate the same amount of revenue as the previous year on the same properties. County administrators are now proposing a general fund budget for day-to-day operations of about $468 million for the next fiscal year.
“We have cut our capital improvement funding by $13 million. This is our operating capital funding for things like automobiles, replacement computers, radios, vests, things of that nature and we have cut other contingencies, such as personnel contingencies,” El Paso County Chief Administrator Betsy Keller said.
Keller said while staff was able to budget under the no-new-revenue tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, it won’t be sustainable long term.
“If things do not change, as far as our jail population and the cost of running the jail, we will have to do something – future courts will absolutely have to do something,” Keller said.
The county had published a public notice of its intent to adopt the voter-approval rate – the highest it could adopt without going to voters – that would have translated to an increase of about $105 on the average-value home. Commissioners and staff emphasized Monday that the higher rate was published “for public posting purposes only” as required for a public hearing. Taxing entities cannot adopt anything higher than what’s published, but can adopt a lower rate.
The move to adopt the no-new-revenue rate comes as the county is also asking voters to approve a $324 million bond issue in the Nov. 5 general election. If approved, voters would see an increase of about $60 per year on an average-value home starting on their 2025 bills due in January 2026.
County commissioners Monday also voted unanimously to approve the 2024 tax rate and fiscal year 2025 budget for University Medical Center of El Paso. UMC El Paso proposed a no-new-revenue tax rate of 21.9 cents per $100 property valuation.
The new tax rate raises the annual UMC portion of a tax bill by $11 on a home valued at about $206,000.
UMC has an expense budget of $1.67 billion for fiscal year 2025, with property taxes generating 9% of the hospital district’s revenue. The number of hospital admissions, outpatient visits and surgical cases at UMC has risen in the last few years and is expected to increase in the coming year, according to UMC’s 2025 budget presentation. UMC also raised the minimum hiring wage to $15/hour last year.
UMC is also proposing a bond on the November ballot for $396.6 million that, if approved, would raise taxes about $94 a year on the average-value home starting on their 2025 tax bills.
The El Paso City Council last week adopted its no-new-revenue rate of 76.1 cents per $100 valuation, which will increase the city’s portion of a tax bill on a home valued at about $205,000 by about $3 a year.
The post Average UMC property tax bill to increase $11, county’s $1 after commissioners adopt tax rates appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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