Remember when the rationale for all those pricey public amenities was “to shift the property tax burden from residential to
Category: Cost of Living
Tomorrow’s City Council Agenda
Tomorrow should be rip-roaring City Council meeting. City Council will vote tomorrow on an item limiting their own ability to
Ballpark Numbers
Are you troubled by insomnia? Then I’ve got some ballpark numbers that should put you right to sleep. Because there
A Second Bite at the Apple
The city budget is fat. Obviously they have extra money. Lookie here. From the El Paso Times: The city will
Allocating Scarce Resources
Income is finite. That’s a hard concept to get your mind around, because income, in aggregate, is so large, and
Affordable Housing
Brutus over there at ElPasoSpeak alerted me to this list from Canadian data muncher Point2Homes that ranks housing affordability in
Rent Seeking
From Investopedia.com: What is ‘Rent-Seeking’ Rent-seeking is the use of the resources of a company, an organization or an individual
Retrovision: Commercial Property Tax Valuations Down
[Our shrinking tax base isn’t a new thing. This article originally appeared on August 5, 2014. Since then, our city
How Do We Evaluate Our Economic Development Policy?
Short answer: We don’t. I mean, except by the bank accounts of our community’s wealthiest citizens. They’re not going to
A New Verse to the Same Old Song
Remember last week I asked “Is the City Paying Companies to Not Leave Town?” Well, Vic Kolenc of the El
El Paso Electric is a Bad Corporate Citizen
The El Paso Inc. reports that El Paso Electric Company CEO Mary Kipp was recently feted at the El Paso
El Paso Electric Fund Drive
With the holidays coming up, it’s time to consider those of us who are less fortunate. Like those poor dears
The Money Quote
After I posted that article yesterday, about El Paso’s low salaries, I was reminded that I left out the best
Surprise! We’re Poor!
According to this story in the El Paso Inc., jobs in El Paso pay only 72 percent of the national
Welcome to Rancho El Paso
El Paso is poor. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, there were 267,376 households in El Paso County in 2016,
Another Inconvenient Truth
According the estimates from the United States Census Bureau, El Paso’s Median Household Income declined from $45,069 in 2015, to
We’re Number 10!
But we’re moving up! From Governing.com: When citizens think about where local taxpayer money goes, they often assume it pays
It’s Cheap to Live in El Paso
Here’s the kind of news story you usually see blasted from the El Paso Times. This version came to us
Our Tax Base Is Collapsing
People are leaving town. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that between 2012 and 2016, El Paso County only grew by
How Bad Are Things, Really?
We’re got a mayor who gets elected by promising to “hold the line on taxes,” and his first month in