*That the City doesn’t want you to know. What is a Tax Increment Refinancing Zone, anyway? Here’s testimony given to
Category: Economic Development
Tax Breaks for the Rich
Did you see this story on KVIA? El Paso City Council is considering establishing a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ)
I’ve Got A (Conspiracy) Theory
Some conspiracy theories are a load of hooey, but people making deals out of the public eye are standard operating
The Population Box Score
Okay, sports fans, I know that some of you are trying to keep score at home, so here are some
The City’s Plan Sucks
The City of El Paso is implementing a plan that some rich guys came up with behind closed doors in
My Gentler Approach
I’m hard on our city’s leaders. They say they want Economic Development, but they don’t really have any qualifications for
“You’re Too Stupid to Understand”
From KVIA’s story about the City’s mounting debt: “The city is being very responsible with the way we’re issuing debt,”
We’re Number One!
No, not for some made up cost-of-living click bait. For taxes! Property tax rates for industrial properties, to be specific.
The Big Lie
The advocates for the City’s Quality of Life projects pretend that we need ballparks and arenas to spur economic development.
It’s Only (Your) Money
From this weekend’s El Paso Inc.: We hear the deal is done, and there’s an announcement coming soon. What deal?
About Those Quality of Life Projects
Advocates of the Quality of Life bonds completely misrepresented the facts before the 2012 elections. They minimized the impact on
You Messed Up
Mayor Dee Margo, who promised during his campaign to “Hold the line on taxes,” thinks you’re not paying enough in
The Long Goodbye
The U.S. Census Bureau’s population estimates are out for El Paso County, and the years long trend of flatlined population
It’s All In The Spin
Here’s the headline and lede of a story on KVIA: El Paso makes top 125 list of best places to
El Paso is Unique
Marketers like to talk about a product’s Unique Selling Proposition; that is, the things that differentiate a product from other
The City’s Filmmaker Program
This from KVIA: The El Paso City Council voted to create a local Filmmaker Program. The city will award $30,000
Last Week, City Council Raised Your Taxes
As I mentioned last week, but this time from the El Paso Inc.: The price that El Paso Electric must
Bread and Taxes
Right now I’m making bread. I’m at the part of the bread-making process where a lump of dough sits in
Times Change
Lookie here. That chart at the top of this article shows the difference in taxable property values from 1999 to
Dale Watson Leaving Austin For Memphis
From the Texas Standard: “I make a good living,” Watson says. “But the city has really made it hard to