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.
Cormac McCarthy, Sergio Troncoso Selected for Texas Literary Hall of Fame
Two authors with deep El Paso connections are among the inductees selected for induction this year into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame.
Cormac McCarthy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who lived for several years in El Paso, and Sergio Troncoso, an author who was born and raised in Ysleta, are among seven people to be enshrined Oct. 29 at Texas Christian University.
McCarthy, who died last year, is the author of several widely praised books, including “All the Pretty Horses,” “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men.”
Troncoso is the author of eight books, most recently ”Nobody’s Pilgrims.” He also wrote “A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son” and edited “Nepantla Familias: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature on Families in between Worlds.”
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A Fulbright scholar, Troncoso is past president of the Texas Institute of Letters. He has been teaching at the Yale Writers’ Workshop since 2013.
Other inductees include Tracy Daugherty, the author of seven novels, six short story collections, two books of essays, a memoir, a novella collection, and six biographies; the late Molly Ivins, a newspaper columnist, author and political commentator, known for humorous and insightful writing, which often used satire and wit to critique political figures and policies; Stephen Graham Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of nearly 30 novels and collections; Jan Seale, the 2012 Texas poet laureate and author of 30 books, including poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and children’s books; and Cynthia Leitich Smith, a bestselling author of more than 20 books.
El Paso International Airport
Airport Parking Lots to Get Solar Installations
The city of El Paso on Tuesday agreed to pay a San Antonio-based company $3.9 million to build a solar installation that will cover one of the short-term parking lots at El Paso International Airport. The city received a $1.75 million grant from the Department of Energy for the project, and will spend $2.18 million to cover the rest of the cost.
The size of the solar system and the amount of electricity it will produce were not clear from city documents, but stated the solar array will be designed “to maximize potential cost reductions in the terminal’s electrical energy consumption.” The structure will cover the west section of the short-term parking lot, adjacent to where passengers enter the airport terminal. In addition to paying for installation, the contract between the city and installer Big Sun Solar pays the company just over $72,000 to handle maintenance for five years.
Big Sun Solar has experience building solar projects that double as large parking lot shade structures. The city of San Antonio last November finalized a $31 million deal with Big Sun to have the company place 13 megawatts worth of solar panels at 42 city-owned parking lots and buildings.
The solar array fits in with the climate action plan that the city will complete in about a year. One of the early climate-related measures that the city’s Office of Climate and Sustainability has proposed is to “implement a regional project to install solar panels over parking lots serving public facilities.”
Students walk past the Arts, Science & Technology building at El Paso Community College’s Valle Verde campus on Oct. 26. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
EPCC Trustees Adopt Budget, Tax Rate
El Paso Community College District taxes will remain relatively flat after the college’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt its no-new-revenue tax rate, the rate needed to collect the same amount in revenue as the previous year on the same properties.
The college’s portion of a tax bill will increase by about $5.30 on the average value home of about $206,000. The adopted no-new-revenue tax rate of $1.08 per $100 valuation is lower than the $1.17 voter-approval-rate, which was the highest the board could go without holding an election.
The board also adopted an operating budget of about $166.5 million – a 5% increase over last year’s budget of about $158 million. It includes a 4% raise for eligible employees, which will cost the district $3.9 million.
The budget and related issues were passed without discussion. Trustee Nina Piña was not at the board’s monthly meeting at the EPCC Administrative Services Center, 9050 Viscount Blvd. The decision is for fiscal year 2025, which starts Sunday.
Board chairman Brian Haggerty said that district personnel presented the budget items during two overview sessions. The biggest point of discussion during those sessions was the cost-of-living adjustment for employees. The board approved the pay increase at its Aug. 7 meeting.
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