Special Meeting of the El Paso City Council – July 31, 2025

The El Paso City Council held a special meeting on July 31, 2025, beginning at 9:02 AM and recessing into executive session from 9:04 AM to 9:46 AM. The meeting resumed with presentations on the FY2024-2025 third-quarter financial report, the certified appraisal roll and tax rate calculations, and the FY2025-2026 proposed budget. Council voted to lower the overall tax rate, reduce the use of fund balance, and partially restore funding for vacancies and facility improvements. The meeting adjourned at 11:10 AM.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Michael Radick spoke in support of a balanced budget and commended the city for matching property valuations more closely to actual values. He suggested considering a vacation tax, promoting local assets (e.g., scenic drive, streetcar, historic districts), and holding the El Paso Chamber of Commerce accountable for a creative promotion plan. He urged careful spending of citizens’ money and encouraged outsiders to spend in the city.

Discussion Items

• FY2024-2025 3rd Quarter Financial Report (Agenda Item 1): Chief Financial Officer Robert Cortinas reported that overall revenues are up 14% compared to the prior year, with property tax and sales tax collections slightly above projections. The city projects a balanced budget with no deficit but expects to use $4.3 million of fund balance (down from the budgeted $7.2 million). The unrestricted fund balance is projected to be $129.9 million at the start of FY2026, representing 76 days of operating expenses (down from 83 days). City staff noted that 60 days is considered a healthy fund balance. Council members asked about the impact of using fund balance and the city’s past usage; staff confirmed no fund balance was used in the last two fiscal years.
• Appraisal Roll and Tax Rate Presentation (Agenda Item 2): The certified appraisal roll from the Central Appraisal District (CAD) was received on July 24, 2025. Total taxable property value is $55.91 billion, a 5.6% increase over the prior year—matching the city’s March estimate with 99.99% accuracy. The average single-family taxable value is $221,191 (up from $209,718). The no-new-revenue tax rate is 72.8 cents per $100 valuation, the voter-approval rate is 76.5 cents, and the certified collection rate is 98.63%. The proposed rate of 76.1 cents is below the voter-approval rate. Staff noted that residential property accounts for $35 billion of the tax base versus $13.5 billion for commercial, highlighting the challenge of shifting the tax burden toward commercial properties.
• FY2025-2026 Proposed Budget (Agenda Item 3): The city manager presented a $625.7 million general fund budget (4.3% increase over the prior year). Key drivers: $19 million for workforce (wages, benefits, taxes), $4 million for contractual services, and $3.2 million for operating expenditures. The budget includes $5.4 million in additional tax relief for seniors and disabled (increasing the over-65/disabled exemption from $42,500 to $45,000). Public safety staffing will return to pre-COVID levels (1,169 police officers), and two new fire stations and a health clinic will open. Staff recommended four adjustments using $2.97 million in additional revenue from certified values: (1) reduce the tax rate from 76.1 to 75.9 cents; (2) reduce the use of fund balance from $4 million to $3.25 million; (3) restore $750,000 for vacancies; (4) restore $500,000 for facility improvements. The overall tax rate of 75.9649 cents per $100 would be the lowest in 10 years. The debt service portion decreased from 0.218 to 0.210 cents, reflecting a $300 million reduction in city debt since FY2022. The average residential tax bill would increase by about $83 (from $1,597 to $1,680) due to rising home values, despite the lower rate. Council members discussed the difficulty of achieving a no-new-revenue tax rate given the need to invest in public safety and infrastructure.
• Budget Resolution Amendments and Fee Schedule: Council discussed several amendments to the budget resolution, including Article 12 (donations to city council) and Article 31 (transparency and rollover of discretionary funds). After multiple amendments and votes, the council approved language requiring that all special projects, discretionary, and P-card transactions be posted on the city’s website and included on monthly council agendas, and that allocations from the city council’s general fund budget (including outside contracts, salaries, and benefits) roll over from year to year into the district’s discretionary fund. The city manager also presented a summary of fee schedule changes, including increases at the airport, environmental services (residential garbage collection up $0.50/month, commercial proportionate), ambulance fees, software maintenance fees, and Sun Metro commercial transit operator fees ($4.50 per passenger). The zoo camps were restructured to full-day week-long camps (price range $115–$400). The fire department’s ambulance fees were increased to recover inflationary costs. Council requested that the full fee schedule presentation be made available before the August 19 adoption.

Key Outcomes

• Vote on Executive Session Item EX1 (unanimous): Authorized the mayor, with assistance from outside counsel and in response to HB 762, to negotiate and execute amendments to the city manager and city attorney employment agreements to remove severance terms and develop separate severance agreements. (Representative Maldonado-Rocha not present.)
• Vote on Budget Adjustments (unanimous): Approved the four staff recommendations: reduce the tax rate to 75.9649 cents per $100; reduce the use of fund balance to $3.25 million; restore $750,000 for vacancies; restore $500,000 for facility improvements.
• Vote on Budget Resolution Article 12 (unanimous): Added “including for city council” to the sentence on donations to clarify that all donations are subject to relevant policies.
• Vote on Budget Resolution Article 31 (7-2, with Representative Limon voting nay): Adopted amendments requiring council members to notify the city manager of expenditures, granting the council sole discretion to determine municipal purpose (subject to public purpose criteria), posting all P-card transactions on the city website, and rolling over unspent general fund allocations into district discretionary funds.
• Introduction of Tax Ordinance (Agenda Item 4, unanimous): Introduced an ordinance levying the FY2025-2026 tax rate at 0.759649 per $100 of taxable value. Public hearings will be held on August 12 (tax rate) and August 18 (budget), with adoption scheduled for August 19, 2025.
• Next Steps: Staff will publish the required notices, update the budget resolution with approved amendments, and prepare the final budget for adoption. Council will consider council budget requests and the fee schedule at a future meeting.

Note: The meeting transcript and agenda indicate that the meeting took place on July 31, 2025. No minutes were available for cross-reference.