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Every time the City of El Paso manages a large capital improvement project, it ends up costing between double and triple its projected cost, and the taxpayers lose every time.
On November 22, 2022 under agenda item 34, the previous City Council voted to hire Stantec Consulting Services at a cost of $1,321,785 to conduct a feasibility study for the construction of a downtown deck plaza over Interstate 10. The tab was picked up by a federal grant and private funds.
The study was completed several months ago and Tracy Yellen, CEO of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation, has been telling our City and County governments that a five-block, 8.5-acre deck plaza will cost $207 million. This figure has been repeated with numbing regularity by our feckless media.
After watching the Ballpark, trolleys, and signature Quality of Life Bond projects blow way past their budgets, we decided to investigate the cost of this project.
We began by filing an open records request with the City of El Paso requesting all documentation of the estimated deck plaza cost. The City initially responded by producing a PowerPoint affirming the $207 million figure, but we refused to believe them and pushed harder, making phone calls and writing emails.
The City eventually sent us Stantec’s spreadsheet, which projected a cost of more than $412 million in 2027 dollars!
We then asked the City to produce any PowerPoint presentations associated with this spreadsheet and they finally sent us two different PowerPoints from June 2024 created by Joaquin Rodriguez, Director of Grant-Funded Programs in the Capital Improvements Department. He presented one to the Mayor and the other to the City Manager and his staff.
The bottom line is that Interim City Manager Cary Westin and Mayor Oscar Leeser were told the deck plaza would cost $412 million, but City Council, the County Commissioners Court, media, and public were told it would cost $207 million. (see attachment below)
This past Thursday we spoke to Tracy Yellen to ask for clarification and she explained that they reduced the cost to $207 million by eliminating PPPs (public-private partnerships), even though the current renderings show numerous buildings that are to be erected atop the the structure.
THE COUNTY WILL “SPONSOR” THE DECK PLAZA BUT TXDOT WILL OWN IT
By the end of next fiscal quarter, the County Commissioners Court will have authorized more than $894 million in general obligation bonds and certificates of obligation. If the voters approve all the bonds and the County issues its $174 million CO as expected, the taxpayers will be obliged to pay more than $1.5 billion in principal and interest over the next three decades.
Moreover, the County will not be able to issue any new bonds for several years without facing a downgrade from the three credit-rating agencies: Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard & Poor’s. That would result in a financial implosion and the taxpayers would face a world of pain.
Nevertheless, the County is planning to serve as “sponsor” for the deck plaza, even though TxDOT will be the owner. it was discussed on September 23 and agenda item 7B.
Judge Samaniego and Commissioners Leon, Stout, and Coronado have less financial acumen than your average third-grader. What they are doing is so irresponsible and beyond the pale that all four of them should resign for their sheer incompetence. As always, Commissioner Iliana Holguin is the lone voice of common sense.
Let us be clear. As sponsor, the County will be responsible for any cost overruns on the deck plaza as well as annual maintenance costs. Yellen went on the record and confirmed this for us this past Thursday, but added that she hopes other sources of revenue can be found.
So if the project ends up costing $412 million instead of $207 million, the County will be on the hook for well over $200 million with no source of revenue to pay for it.
The Klyde Warren deck plaza in Dallas is only three blocks long and costs $5 million per year to maintain and operate. Ours will be five blocks and will have a lot more stuff on top, meaning that M&O will probably be at least double. The County does not have the funds to cover that, nor do TIRZ 5 and Yellen’s Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation.
And then there is the question of what happens if TxDOT decides to demolish part or all of the deck plaza in the future, to fix differential settlement or effect repairs to the structural supports? Well, they could demolish whatever they please with impunity and the County and any co-developers would lose any assets standing on top.
YELLEN WANTS TO CREAT A NEW TIRZ AROUND THE DECK PLAZA
Desperate to find funds to support the Deck Plaza, Yellen told the County Commissioners Court that she wants to see a new TIRZ (tax increment reinvestment zone) created over a large area on either side of the deck plaza.
But there are two problems with that: (1) The County has no authority to create a TIRZ, only the City does; and (2) the City just eliminated TRZ 2 along the I-10 corridor because it was a money loser for the taxpayers!
We know that the pro-deck plaza fanatics ultimately expect the public to pay for any overruns and that creating a new revenue stream by diverting property tax revenue away from City and County coffers might allow for a large bond. But this City Council and Mayor will certainly reject this idea.
We are not against the construction of a deck plaza in downtown El Paso as long as no historic buildings are demolished for unnecessary frontage roads, but we are dead set against paying for it with local public funds.
As with the arena, if the developers and their political lackeys want a deck plaza so badly, they should pony up and pay for it themselves, and then they can build a soccer stadium there for the Locomotives and whatever else they have up their sleeves.
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