To What Ends?

Here’s the latest on the Tax Increment Refinancing Zone below Transmountain that the City is trying to ram through, from Aaron Montes in the El Paso Inc.:

Elizabeth Triggs, the city’s assistant director of economic and international development, said it’s because the property in question will be especially expensive to develop.

. . .

“What we’re doing is creating a partnership with the developer, whomever that may be, to help offset some of the costs so this land can be built on,” she said.

Well, that’s an uncharacteristically honest answer from our city government. Except for that “whomever that may be.” I bet they’ve got this deal all set up already.

Remember when they used to say that we needed development to offset our high residential property taxes? Now they just come out and say that they’re here to serve the developers.

What else can they say when they’re straight out exempting the developer from sharing property taxes with the City?

And it’s not as if El Paso is experiencing unmet demand for housing. Since 2012, our population growth has flatlined. People are fleeing El Paso.

If you bump into one of those developers on the street (not likely – they usually hide out in gated communities), give the poor guy five bucks for a cup of coffee. It looks like they really need our help.

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