One of the first issues our next mayor is going to have to confront is the budget.
We’re in debt, and we’re in deep, as highlighted by Brutus over at ElPasoSpeak, here, and here, and here.
The City Manager has squeezed about all the blood he can from this turnip. He’s wrung it dry. City services, including pothole repair, have all been scaled back.
Not a lot. Just at the edges, where you hardly notice, unless you need the services of a police detective, or that junked car in front of your house towed away, or a pothole filled.
El Pasoans are staring down the barrel of a big tax increase next year, and for the foreseeable future.
Because we’re not done spending money. Not by a long shot. And it’s not money we have. It’s money we have to borrow. Money we’ll have to pay back, every year, every property tax bill. Forever.
Or for at least the next thirty years.
Funny how none of the mayoral candidates wants to talk about it. Except that running a campaign on the promise of raising taxes wouldn’t get you elected.
Funny how no one wants to talk about the budget.
Ha ha.
For the record, I have been talking about the economic contraction, the increasing taxes over the next ten years and the need to scale down the budget from day 1. See KCOS debate and others on my page.
El Paso is Pro Tax and Spend…not Fix!
More like tax and donate. If we spent it, we might get something for it.