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The El Paso County Commissioners Court consists of Judge Samaniego and Commissioners Butler, Stout, Holguin, and Coronado. All but Holguin are tax-and-spend progressives who seem determined to spend us into the abyss.
How much debt has El Paso assumed?
We analyzed the County budget books from the last 10 years and plotted on a chart total bonded indebtedness vs. debt from certificates of obligation.
We found that in the seven years from FY 2016 through FY 2022, the County’s debt declined steadily from $207 million to $146 million, with CO debt dropping to only $7.8 million.
The County Commissioners Court was on course to lower our property tax, but starting in FY 2023 they embarked upon an epic spending binge and began to explode the debt to an all-time record.
Our County now owes $236 million, of which $85 million is CO debt.
Yesterday we spoke to Betsy Keller, Chief Administrator of El Paso County, and asked her to estimate the debt figures for FY 2026, which begins October 1. She told us (on the record) that if all the recently authorized debt is issued in one stroke, the County will owe between $400 and $500 million in principal and interest, including approximately $140 million in COs.
That would be about triple the debt of FY 2022, and if Commissioner Stout rams through $105 million in new spending for the Coliseum as he hopes, the County will approach $600 million in the red, potentially exceeding its annual revenue for the first time in history.
The County budget is like a massive lead ball that has been chained to the legs of the taxpayers and dropped into Ascarate Lake, dragging us all to the bottom.
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