I was going to write about this post, on ElPasoSpeak.com.
In it you will notice that, even under the model that was originally proposed, El Pasoans would still have to siphon some money off the general fund to pay for the ballpark.
As I recall, City officials claimed that no money from the general fund would be spent. That the HOT increase would cover the ballpark. Just to make sure that I wasn’t calling any of our fearless leaders lying scumbags in error, I turned to my friend the internet to verify my recollections.
I found this entry from Breitbart.com.
The [El Paso] Times reported that “[c]ity officials said no property taxes will be used to fund the ballpark itself, and added that under the new lease, no general fund revenues such as sales taxes would go toward the ballpark. About $28 million in extra revenue is projected to be generated, which could go back to the city’s general fund or pay off the ballpark debt early, city finance officials said.”
When I followed the link to the original piece (http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_23488721/ballpark-price-tag-rises-60-8-million), I got a 404 Error from the Times website. Content not found.
In fact, every link in the Breitbart piece to an article in the El Paso Times returns a 404 Error.
If you’re looking for integrity, you’re in the wrong place.
Welcome to 1984. Enjoy your stay.
That’s probably because the Times switched to a new content system when they were bought by Gannett. Not everything from the old system has been switched over to the new system. If you search for almost any article pre-Gannett takeover, you’ll get the same error message. If you call the newsroom and speak to Trish the librarian, she’ll see that the old stories you need are moved to the new system.
Like at the City, huh? They installed their new website right after the same shenanigans, with similar results.
I don’t doubt what you’re telling me. But it’s kind of cosmic, no?