You Decide

Well, here’s how it is. Household income in El Paso is going down. Wages are among the lowest in the country. Property tax rates are among the highest, and they’re going up, thanks in no small part to the Quality of Life bonds.

I know, when they were pitching those projects, the advocates swore that, because older bonds would be retired, our property tax rates wouldn’t go up much. They either lied or were mistaken.

But money’s tight all over. And that QoL steamroller hasn’t stopped. Look at this quote from the El Paso Times:

The city will not be “moving forward” until the city manager acknowledges past questionable actions; until the mayor and council publicly hold Gonzalez and others accountable for those actions; and until the mayor and council are visibly moving forward on major projects like the arena and children’s museum overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2012.

(I think acknowledging “past questionable actions” is a good idea. We should form a “truth commission” to go back at least a decade.)

We’re at the edge of a precipice with the throttle wide open.

Something has to give. Even with massive, Draconian, tax increases, there’s not going to be enough money. So right now, today, you should write you City Representative, and tell them what city services you are willing to do without.

Garbage collection twice a month? Reduced police patrols? Fewer street lights?

Someone is going to make those decisions. You might as well have some input.