EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The City of El Paso is now proposing to reduce its property tax rate for fiscal year 2026.
The City is now proposing to reduce the tax rate to $0.759649 per $100 of valuation, the lowest rate in a decade, according to the City. City staff’s preliminary Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal had maintained the current property tax rate of $0.761405 per $100 valuation.
Robert Cortinas, the chief financial officer for the City of El Paso, said they were able to make the change after they received the certified appraisal roll from the El Paso Central Appraisal District (CAD) on July 25.
“So up until today, we recommended to maintain the same property tax rate. Fortunately for us, the property appraisals came a little bit better than we expected, giving us the opportunity to not only reduce the property tax rate for next year, but also partially restore some of the other items that we had taken up reductions in the prior year,” Cortinas said.
Cortinas presented the new tax rate and other revisions they made to the proposed budget over the past few weeks at a special city council meeting on Thursday, July 31.
During the presentation however, Cortinas noted that despite the reduced tax rate, some residents in El Paso will see an increase to their property tax bill due to rising home values made by CAD.
Cortinas presented the table below to highlight that.
According to Cortinas, the average El Paso home in FY 2025 was valued at $209,718, compared to $221,191 in FY 2026. That will increase the tax bill for some residents by an average of $83, despite the reduced tax rate. That’s an average of $7 per month and a 5.2 percent change.
At the meeting, City Rep. Josh Acevedo emphasized that the City is not responsible for raising home valuations, in response to a “public narrative” that he said had formed.
“We don’t set the home values or commercial property values,” Acevedo said. “So, as (Cortinas) and (his) team are coming and doing a bunch of stuff with the numbers and getting a lower tax rate, the lowest in ten years, and putting a lot of work into that, the Central Appraisal District is doing values for properties, and they are following state law. And so, if there’s any reform that is needed, I believe it’s at the state level in terms of changing that law and how often they appraise. I think that’s the frustration here, where we are lowering the tax rate, but then people are still going to pay more because their home values went up.”
However, senior and disabled residents in El Paso who qualify for the City’s proposed Over 65 Homestead exemption will get a 20 percent reduction to their property tax bill with the newly proposed tax rate, according to Cortinas.
According to the City, its outstanding debt also continues to decline. They project a drop of $100 million compared to FY 2025.
In addition, other key budget and tax highlights in the proposed budget are investments in public safety and infrastructure, including staffing for first responders, two new fire stations, a new health clinic and maintaining $10 million in street resurfacing, with more allocations for facility repairs and park improvements.
As well, the City also underlines the importance of restored funding for key services in the FY 2026 proposed budget, in which it will restore funding for vacant positions and facility improvements that were previously reduced due to past fiscal constraints.
City staff held their last in-person community meeting Thursday evening at the El Paso Police’s Westside Regional Command Center.
There is one last virtual community meeting on Thursday, Aug. 7. You can find the link here: https://tinyurl.com/5daf46dz
Next week’s final meeting will be followed by two public hearings at City Hall, before City Council votes on the proposed budget on August 19.
Upcoming Budget Hearings
- August 12, 2025 – Public Hearing on the Proposed Tax Rate
- August 18, 2025 – Public Hearing on the Proposed Budget
- August 19, 2025 – City Council Vote on Budget and Tax Rate Adoption
Residents are encouraged to learn more about the proposed budget by visiting the City’s website.
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