City Council Raises Taxes! Again! And Again!

At a Special Meeting on Monday, City Council approved an additional $20 million in Certificates of Obligation for the Children’s Museum, doubling the City’s financial commitment approved in the 2012 Quality of Life bond election.

But hey, it’s only $20 million, on top of the original $20 million. Plus interest. Plus interest on the interest, when we refinance the bonds, as is our wont.

And then today, City Council voted to spend $37,698,770 on the Eastside Regional Park Phase 1. Now, the eastside probably deserves some love. And Dr. Noe, the eastside rep, is not eligible for re-election because he has termed out, and he has been a good dog on City Council, obedient and loyal to his masters. Let’s throw him a bone.

But I gotta think that if there’s a Phase 1, then there’s at least a Phase 2.

Ka-ching.

But once you spend money on the Westside, how are you going to turn your back on the Eastside?

It’s a slippery slope.

People in El Paso are poor. El Paso’s per capita income is $20,391, or 73 percent of Texas’s per capita income and 68 percent of the nation’s per capita income. Twenty-one percent of our population lives in poverty, compared to 15.6 percent of Texans and 12.7 percent for the nation. It’s obscene for City Council to tax poor people for amenities that will be mostly used by rich people.

But City Council spends money like everyone’s rich. Or they’re rich. Or like we’re rich.

Eventually, they’re going to run out of our money.