Dear Mayor Leeser, Council Members, and CAD Chief Appraiser,

Most of the El Paso residents received a shocking surprise in the mail several days ago.  Sure enough, our taxes and home valuations would be increased once more.  It seems that year after year, we end up getting more of our hard-earned income out arbitrarily and with very few options.

Home valuations have increased across the country during the last few years, but nobody has taken into account the fact that we are still in a pandemic and if the situation was already critical due to lower wages in El Paso, it is even more critical when people have lost their jobs due to a declining economy and are having trouble making their mortgage and rent payments.  

Also, remember that we have many senior citizens on a fixed income.  How do you expect them to make their payments?

Yes, it’s true that there’s a proposal to pause on the tax rate, but our city already has the 2nd highest tax rates and the high valuations will raise our taxes considerably.  We cannot have high tax rates and high valuations, it’s either/or.

Not only are more taxes getting taken from us, but the spending has been fiscally irresponsible within the last decade, to say the least.  Projects such as a baseball field, a trolley, art next to the freeway, and many others have been money wasters paid by us, the people.  Not to mention the money gouging by contractors all around the city and in our school districts.

As of today, we have a combined debt of billions of dollars.  How are we supposed to pay that if we don’t make the right decisions?  We would need to get more tax revenue from having more tax paying residents, but instead of attracting them, you would be driving them away.

Years ago, the city council voted to take away some powers from the mayor and hire a city manager that ends up costing us $400,000 per year and has an incredible amount of power to make decisions for an unelected person.  City managers in bigger cities have salaries that are much lower.  Not only that, but the job is a stepping stone for city managers to work for interest groups that were awarded contracts by the city council and said city managers, in a gross conflict of interest, just like many of the projects mentioned and unmentioned.

The city manager’s salary, and those of other government and school district individuals need to be reduced.  We even question the need for a city manager in El Paso while we already have elected officials.

Your constituents are demanding that you represent us.  We are the ones that voted you in, and we can vote you out if need be.  There are some interest groups that are being represented with tax subsidies and special treatment while the rest of us foot the bill.  We are all aware of it and it needs to stop as well.

We will not accept tax or home valuation increases anymore in El Paso, TX.