Commissioners Court - Regular Meeting

Bye. Bye. Bye.

Hola, El Paso! June marked the official start of summer and El Paso County was hot with activities all month long and just in time for a huge 4th of July celebration. We all know this time of the year can be very hot for our county residents. In June, the county opened their cooling centers for residents to seek relief from the heat. The centers are located at the Agua Dulce, Fabens, Canutillo, and La Fe, Montana Vista community centers. They are open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents have a place to cool off in an air-conditioned space, drink water, and enjoy some indoor activities while they stay out of the desert sun. The county's park bond projects are making progress from one end of the county to the other. On the eastern part of the county, work is almost complete at Agua Dulce Park as finishing touches are being put in place. Residents will have new amenities to look forward to including a new paved walking path. Then, on the western part of the county, work continues at Westway Park with repairs to the rock walls, walking trail installation, and new lighting is being put in place. The county is committed to completing all voter-approved bond projects on time and on budget. Azcárate Park is El Paso's gem, and during our third park bond meeting, residents received an update on feedback that was gathered during the first two meetings, including survey results, key themes, and community priorities that have helped to shape the project. Residents had the chance to review draft concepts regarding park improvements and learn about the anticipated benefits for park users and the surrounding community. In July, the community is encouraged to participate in weekly informational sessions regarding the park's duck pond. These sessions will be held every Wednesday in July at 6 p.m. at the Escada de Park Pavilion. If you have an interest in what happens to the duck pond, you don't want to miss one of these meetings. The county kicked off their budget information sessions in June. The county is encouraging residents to take an active role in shaping the county's fiscal year 2027 budget by attending one of several community budget outreach sessions scheduled throughout the county. These meetings provide an opportunity for community members to share priorities, voice concerns, and offer input on services and programs that impact their neighborhoods. Feedback gathered during these outreach sessions will help county leadership better understand community needs and ensure that budget decisions reflect the priorities of El Paso County residents. El Paso County, in partnership with the El Paso Zoo and the Botanical Gardens, unveiled its newest AI-powered tourist kiosk. The kiosk is the newest addition to El Paso County's tourist kiosk program, an initiative designed to connect residents and visitors with attractions, cultural destinations, outdoor activities, and historical sites throughout El Paso County. The El Paso Zoo installation marks the first tourist kiosk partnership between El Paso County and a local attraction. The kiosk features a bilingual AI-powered interface with touch and voice navigation, helping visitors discover local attractions, museums, outdoor activities, the mission trail, and nearby points of interest. Come check it out! Our nation is 250 years old and El Paso County is ready for the celebration. The County, in partnership with Fort Bliss and the 1st Armored Division, hosted a patriotic and festive event at Azcárate Park to include military vehicles on display, a band performance by the 1st Armored Division Band, picnic party, food trucks, swimming at the pool, and of course an awesome fireworks display for residents to take in. The county even commemorated our nation's 250th birthday with a customized coin that were distributed at the park. In partnership with the county's historical commission, the coin design celebrates the 250 years of our nation's endurance and freedom. In the Montana Vista area, our County Public Works team initiated a campaign to clean up the area from fireworks debris. The County established trash drop-off zones and even made trash bags available to residents to use for post-firework celebration. The El Paso County Sheriff's and Emergency Services Districts were out in full force to ensure residents had a safe and happy 4th of July. Thanks for watching this month's Packed County Connects. Stay tuned and make sure to stay cool and stay connected with El Paso County.

Live from El Paso County, Texas, the veteran's capital of the USA. From inside the Alicia Chacon Commissioner's courtroom of the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse, You are watching the El Paso County Commissioner's Court Meeting.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today is Monday, August 3rd, 2026. Commissioner's Court is meeting in regular open session. This morning we're joined by ASL interpreters Dario Garcia and Celina Salum. Commissioner Ollin, would you like to introduce this morning's pledge participant?

Yes, thank you. Good morning, everyone. So today we are honored to be led in the pledge by one of our Veterans Advisory Board members, Mr. David Porras, Jr.

Please rise for the pledge. The Texas Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Under the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Porras.

Thank you, David. Also appreciate you being on the Advisory Board, our Veterans Advisory Board. Thank you.

Next, we'll receive an invocation from Pastor Michael Grady, Senior Pastor at Prince of Peace Christian Fellowship.

Welcome, Pastor.

Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. Good to see you again. We are excited about what God is doing in this season. I'd like to open up with a scripture that sort of is befitting for the time. It's in 1 Timothy, Chapter 2. It says, I exhort you, therefore, that first of all, supplications and prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that they may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty, for this is the good and acceptable in the sight of Jesus Christ our Savior. Let us pray. Father, we bless you again for the opportunity to serve this present age. We thank you for the judge and the commissioners, the work that is before them. for the city of El Paso. Continue to give them wisdom, integrity, honesty, as we meet out the work of the people. For your glory, for your honor, even for your praise. Amen.

Thank you, Pastor. Appreciate you.

Judge, do you have some opening comments for us this morning?

Yes, thank you so much. On behalf of myself and our commissioners, we welcome you on a very, very special day. It's sort of hard to say special because of what happened. We had a horrific situation in 2019, but we've made it a very special day for the families. They understand and they heal better knowing that we care for them. Yesterday we had, as part of the Commissioner's Court, we had a beautiful ceremony at the Healing Garden, which really is pretty incredible to be able to be there and to see people gathering. But it's such a great, a beautiful place that has allowed us to really show how much we care, not only for this community, but I think the other communities that have gone through something similar. have seen our community come together. And I don't think there's a better way to show the character of a community than when you have adversity. And our community came together, and as you could see, what a beautiful place we came up with. People have become stronger, more united. and I think more compassionate, and I see that every single day. Just came back from the Consul, Mauricio Ibarra, very thankful to him that we never forgot the Mexican families. It would have been very easy, sometimes we use the frontera as an excuse, like that's them and that's us kind of, and that has never happened. He's been very close to each one of the families, And today there were several families and some that have been wounded. And which reminds me that we forget sometimes that there was 23 that died and of course have become, you know, part of that beautiful memorial, but also 24 that were wounded. We have to remember them. And Pastor Grady has really shown His love, his daughter, Michelle, has been going through a very difficult time. She's had different surgeries and she always reminds me, don't forget that there's other people that were hurt in the process and that they're still struggling. And beyond that, so many spiritually and emotionally wounded individuals because of August the 3rd, that we should pray for them as well. And I think everyone in this room, somehow, someway felt that tug in our heart, like not understanding why someone would not love and care for Hispanics and that would come here with that kind of message that we didn't belong here. So it was very difficult. not only in this community, but as the entire nation, I think, mourned that day. It was very horrific. So once again, special prayers for them. Keep them in your thoughts. If you have an opportunity, I once heard that we have to say the name, not 23 victims, but who are those 23 victims? and recall their names, and if you pray for them, pray for them directly, because I think that would be their expectation. So once again, thank you. It's a beautiful day to be able to help the families come together. but it's also a great day for us to reflect on what happened seven years ago and that we're still very strong and united. Hope you have a wonderful week and appreciate everyone being here today. Thank you.

Item number four is the consent agenda composed of items 4A through 4N. Are there any items that members of the court or public would like to pull for individual discussion from the consent agenda?

Is there any? Hearing none, I'll move to approve, Cesar.

Thank you, sir. We have a motion to approve from Judge Samaniego and a second from Commissioner Olguin. The voting is open. I vote aye. Thank you, Commissioner. Motion carries. Item number 5A from resolutions. Approve and adopt a resolution recognizing August 2nd through the 8th, 2026 as National Health Center Week in El Paso County, Texas.

Would you like to please come up? David, do you wanna? This resolution is in perfect alignment with what I was talking about, a community that comes together And we always love to recognize individuals and organizations, and maybe the public doesn't quite understand what happens behind the scenes, and so I'm very privileged to read this resolution. For more than 60 years, community health centers have provided high-quality, affordable, comprehensive primary and preventive healthcare in underserved communities, improving health outcomes and strengthening America's healthcare system. where the county's largest primary care network, community health centers, are the healthcare home for two million Americans in over 17,000 communities across the country. One in every seven people in the United States get their care at a community health center. Of course, community health centers are a critical element of the nation's health systems, serving rural, suburban, island, frontier, mountain and urban populations, often providing the only source of primary care in their communities. Nationwide, community health centers serve one in every three residents of rural areas. was the community health centers are responding to the chronic disease epidemic by expanding access to primary care, which keeps Americans healthy and out of expensive settings like hospital emergency rooms. Community health centers provide cancer screenings to over 10 million patients in 2024 and help 67% of patients control their hypertension and 72% of patients control their diabetes. Whereas community health centers develop new approaches to integrating a wide range of services beyond primary care, including nutrition, oral health, vision, behavioral health, and pharmacy services to provide comprehensive care that allows each patient to thrive. Community health centers have more than doubled their behavioral health workforce in the last decade to meet America's growing need. Whereas community health centers nationally support more than 809,000 direct and indirect jobs, including physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, licensed family therapists, and certified nurse midwives who work as part of the multidisciplinary clinical teams designed to treat the whole person. whereas community health centers are on the front lines of emerging healthcare crisis, providing access to care for the nation's veterans, addressing opioid epidemic, and responding to public health threats in the wake of natural disasters. Community health centers operate 1,200 mobile units providing care for hundreds of rural and urban communities. Whereas National Health Center Week offers the opportunity to celebrate America's 1,500 community health center organizations with more than 17,000 service delivery sites including upwards of 4,000 school-based health centers. We honor their dedicated staff, board members, patients, and all those responsible for their continued success and growth since the first community health centers opened their doors more than 60 years ago. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the El Paso County Judge and the Commissioner's Court hereby declares that the week of August 2nd through the 8th shall be known as National Health Center Week, signed this third day of August 2026.

We have a motion to approve from Judge Samaniego and a second from Commissioner Holguin. The voting is open. Motion carries.

Good morning, Judge. Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for having us here today. It's an honor to be in front of you with this resolution. Today is not lost on me, nor is it lost on our community here. We recognize, as we continue to pray for those that lost their lives and those that are still affected by August 3rd, we thank you for allowing us to celebrate National Health Center Week. National Health Center Week is a recognition of community health care centers across the country for the fine work that we do to provide primary health care to anybody who's seeking it, regardless of their ability to pay. Centro de San Vicente is proud to serve 14,000 unduplicated patients a year, from anywhere from pediatric care to home-free care to primary care, dental care, and all the ancillary services underneath. The idea is that we provide a one-stop shop for anybody to come in and receive the care that they need. Thank you very much for recognizing us today. We appreciate your time. I'm also honored to be standing with Project Vida, a sister community health care center. Lafayette is also recognized here as a community health care center in our community. Board members, chiefs of staff at our clinic, and managers. Thank you very, very much.

Thank you. Dr. Paz is in commissioners, women's commission, and also appointed by the court for UMC. So thank you for, and especially during the pandemic, I don't think anybody knew how much you were doing in some of the rural areas. And we really, really appreciate that.

I have to give credit to our Chief Nursing Officer here for a lot of that. She was integral in making the engineering decisions on how we get everybody tested and vaccinated. Through that one year, we were able to test thousands of individuals and vaccinate over 22,000 individuals here in El Paso. Santo San Vicente was the first in El Paso to receive the vaccine alongside UMC. So thank you, Cindy.

Well, thank you for saying that. Thank you. Appreciate you.

Go ahead. Welcome. Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners, Judge. On behalf of Project Vita Health Center and Project Vita-related organizations, I'd like to say thank you to you for recognizing us during National Health Center Week. Project Vita is celebrating its 35th anniversary under its current name this year, and we are proud to be serving about 13,000 unduplicated patients. where we also are in 30 different schools in El Paso County and a little bit beyond into Hudspeth. We also have the only community-based, fully bilingual psychiatric residency program that exists in the world as far as we're able to tell. So we do an awful lot. Some of you are familiar with our sister programs that have to do, like Christina said, with being a one-stop shop. So we can help you out with primary care, behavioral care, but also help you get access to capital and help you learn how to open your business most effectively, provide early childhood education all the way up to graduate medical education and housing for so many in between. So thank you for your support for both Project Vita and for all of our health care centers. Thank you.

And another great partner during our COVID situation. Thank you so much for that as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Welcome, David. Good morning again, Judge and Commissioners. My name is David Porras, Chairman of the Board for Centro Sumicente. I've been on the Board for ten years, and I've been the Chair for eight years. So on behalf of the Board, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for recognizing us. for the great work that we do in our community. A lot of work that no one else would be able to do or wants to do as we serve those that are not as fortunate as many of us. I'm also a patient of Centro Somicente, so I can attest that we get the highest quality of care in the county. So once again, thank you for recognizing us and we appreciate your support.

And thank you for the inclusion of veterans, because you do focus a lot on our veterans, so thank you for that.

You're welcome, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Do you want to introduce yourselves? A friend of the county. a very good friend and also part of the Women's Commission, so thank you for being here.

Good morning, Linda Chu. Thank you for having us. I am a newbie on the Centro San Vicente board, so I'm still learning, but I will tell you that the joy that I have gotten from being on the UMC board and this board and the Women's Commission, but in this board and this really amazing staff at Centro San Vicente has been watching them, hearing about their work, and seeing the amazing leadership of Dr. Paz, that's the joy. So thank you all, thank you.

And thank you for everything that you do. I mean, you do everything with so much passion and we really appreciate every time that you're involved in something, things get better. So thank you, appreciate you, thank you.

Good morning. My name is Crystal Durant. I am the CFO for Centro San Vicente. I just want to thank you all for having us here. I think, like Dr. Paz said, this is a really special day for El Paso. August 3rd is just something I think that's ingrained in our head, and so thank you for allowing us to celebrate everything that the health... everything that really, that I think we come together as a community for, right? From healthcare all the way to the housing, et cetera. So thank you for having us here and letting us celebrate this.

Thank you. Thank you for being here. Welcome.

Good morning, Judge. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Cynthia Acosta. I'm the Chief Nursing Officer at Centro San Vicente, and on behalf of the clinic, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the recognition.

Thank you. Welcome.

My name is Daniel Del Toro. I've been with Centro San Vicente 13 years, and I just want to thank you, Judge and Commissioners, for recognizing National Health Center Week. Thank you.

Well, thank you. We'd love to take a picture with all of you, so we'll be down there. Thank you.

Item number 5B, approve and adopt a resolution celebrating and recognizing the cultural contributions of the Salvadoran community.

Okay, good morning. Good morning, Judge and Commissioners. Good morning, everybody. Very proud to be able to present this resolution. One of my best friends is a salvadoreño. I went to his wedding in El Salvador a number of years ago, and so I'm even more happy to be able to read this into the record. I want to begin by saying that the diversity of our county is really one of our greatest strengths. El 6 de agosto celebramos el día del salvadoreño en Estados Unidos y hoy estamos reconociendo la historia, la resiliencia y las valiosas contribuciones de la comunidad salvadoreña. Aunque muchos dejaron el país de El Salvador, su cultura, tradiciones y orgullo siguen muy vivos y enriquecen a comunidades como la nuestra aquí en el Condado del Paso. Con su trabajo, esfuerzo y espíritu, que es emprendedor, fortalece nuestra economía. in our city. And to our Saludernia community, thank you. It is an honor to recognize your contributions. And with that, I will read the resolution and then we can hear a couple of words from the people who accompanied us this morning. Dice la resolución así, considerando que el condado del paso es una comunidad vibrante y diversa, enriquecida por las contribuciones de personas de múltiples orígenes culturales y nacionales, incluyendo aquellas de ascendencia salvadoreña, quienes han contribuido significativamente al desarrollo del tejido social, económico, y cultural de nuestra región. Y considerando que las comunidades salvadoreñas en todo el país, incluyendo la del Paso, celebran el Día del Salvadoreño en Estados Unidos como una oportunidad para honrar su rica herencia cultural, historia y tradiciones, así como su compromiso con la preservación de la identidad salvadoreña para las futuras generaciones. Y considerando que, a través de la diáspora salvadoreña, el espíritu del Salvador, representado por la resiliencia, la determinación y un vínculo in quebrantable con su tierra natal se hace presente en todo el país ya que las y los salvadoreños contribuyen no solo a la prosperidad de las comunidades que los acogen sino también al bienestar de sus familias y comunidades en su país de origen y considerando que El Dia del Salvadoreño en Estados Unidos constituye una valiosa oportunidad para celebrar la unidad cultural, fomentar el entendimiento mutuo y fortalecer los lazos entre las comunidades salvadoreñas a lo largo del país y los condados donde residen. Y considerando que el Condado del Paso reconoce los valores de inclusión, multiculturalismo y solidaridad, los cuales reflejan el espíritu del día del saludareño en estados unidos y expresa su reconocimiento por las importantes contribuciones de las personas inmigrantes saludareñas y sus descendientes al desarrollo y enriquecimiento de nuestra comunidad y por lo tanto se resuelve que la Corte de Comisionados del Condado del Paso reconoce y conmemora el Día del Salvoreño en Estados Unidos el día 6 de agosto del 2026, uniéndose a las comunidades salvoreñas del Paso y de todo el país para celebrar su herencia, su cultura, y sus perdurables contribuciones. Y se resuelve, además, que la Corte expresa su más profundo agradecimiento a la comunidad salvadoreña por sus aportaciones al Condado del Paso y reafirma su compromiso de promover una comunidad acogedora, inclusiva y respetuosa para todas las personas. Firmado este 3 de agosto del 2026, el Honorable Corte de Comisionados del Condado del Paso.

We have a motion to approve from Commissioner Stout, a second from Judge Samaniego. The voting is open. Motion carries.

Con nosotros tenemos el honorable Consul General del Salvador, aquí en El Paso, Ricardo Antonio Hernández Pérez. Por favor, le cedo la palabra.

Bienvenido.

Muchas gracias.

Honorable Judge of the County, Ricardo Samaniego, distinguished members of the Court of Commissioners, Commissioner Jackie Borger, Commissioner David Stout, Commissioner Ileana Holguín, and Commissioner Sergio Coronado, good morning to all. I appear before you today, as Consul General of El Salvador, with a heart full of deep gratitude and pride. In the name of the Consulate General of El Salvador, and what is more important, in the name of the vibrant community of El Paso, which has made this beautiful region its home, I want to express our most sincere gratitude for the resolution signed this day, recognizing our community. It is an immense honor to be present while this Court formally recognizes and commemorates August 6, 2026 as the Day of the Salvadoran in the United States in El Paso County. As the proclamation well highlights, El Paso County is a diverse community enriched by people of multiple origins. By granting us this recognition, they validate the tireless work of our compatriots. The Salvadoran diaspora carries with it an unbreakable spirit. We are characterized by our resilience, our fervent determination, and a deep and constant bond with our homeland. For us, celebrating the Salvadoran Day in the United States is much more than a festivity. Como lo expresa acertadamente esta resolución, es una oportunidad invaluable para honrar nuestra riqueza cultural, nuestra historia y nuestras tradiciones. Es un momento para reafirmar nuestro compromiso con la preservación de la identidad salvadoreña para las futuras generaciones que nacerán y crecerán aquí en El Paso, Texas. It is a space to celebrate cultural unity, promote mutual understanding, and strengthen ties with our communities. Nuestros hermanos y hermanas salvadoreños se levantan todos los días a trabajar con ahínco. Sus esfuerzos contribuyen de manera significativa al desarrollo del tejido social, económico y cultural de esta gran región. Pero al mismo tiempo, como bien lo reconoce esta Corte, su labor es fundamental para el bienestar de sus familias y el progreso de las comunidades que dejaron atrás en su país de origen. Las personas que me acompañan representan a buena parte de esta comunidad. Empresarios en los rubros de servicios, la gastronomía local, Todos ellos trabajan todos los días por sus familias, pero también por sacar adelante a nuestro país. En la primera resolución pude conocer que habían personas del Proyecto Vida. El Proyecto Vida ha apoyado a doctores salvadoreños muy jóvenes que ahora se especializan en el área de psiquiatría en El Paso, que pronto también esperamos puedan servir a esta comunidad, a los compatriotas que radican aquí, pero también a su país. This county has given us great opportunities through public and private initiatives, which we see with great pride. Salvadorans continue to contribute from various areas. There is a very established group of Salvadoran doctors also in private practice and in hospitals that provides services, perhaps some of you will know them, they have many years here. We have transit engineers, we have engineers giving classes in community colleges, in universities, we have great representatives in both sectors, public and private, and that fills us with great pride because we are a community that contributes to the growth and development of El Paso County. Empathy and unity are more important than ever. Therefore, we deeply applaud that El Paso County actively promotes and recognizes the values of inclusion, multiculturalism, and solidarity. By reaffirming its commitment to be a welcoming and respectful community for all people, El Paso shows that it is a beacon of hope and brotherhood in this country. Honorable Judge Samaniego and Commissioners, We receive this recognition not only as a diplomatic gesture, but as a fraternal hug for all our people. Tengan la certeza que la comunidad salvadoreña seguirá siendo un aliado fundamental para el crecimiento, la paz y la prosperidad de El Paso. Muchas gracias por honrar nuestra herencia y por valorar nuestras contribuciones perdurables y sobre todo por hacernos sentir en casa, porque los salvadoreños hemos adoptado el Condado de El Paso como nuestro segundo hogar, como ese hogar que nos ha demostrado su amor estando lejos de nuestra tierra. Que Dios bendiga al condado El Paso. Dios les bendiga a ustedes, a Estados Unidos y El Salvador. Muchas gracias.

Muchas gracias por sus palabras. Gracias.

Los miembros de la comunidad también quieren dar unas palabras. Seguro que sí.

Adelante.

Muy buenos dias, que el Señor les bendiga. Juez, a comisionados de la ciudad de El Paso, es un honor el estar aquí. Mi nombre es Maria Villatoro. Es un privilegio el recibir este reconocimiento que nos dan como comunidad salvadoreña. that they recognize us, that we are here to contribute to this city, that we are here to add, not to subtract. And I am very happy and they will excuse me if I get emotional, but this day for me is a sad day because of what happened on August 3rd. I remember it so exactly in my memory. Cuando mi hijo me habla y me dice, mamá, hay una balacera en el Walmart y ahí está Memito, ahí está otros niños, ¿verdad? Que él conocía, que él era el coach de los niños. Y me dice, mami, tengo que ir a salvarlos, tengo que ir a ver qué hago por ellos. Me está hablando el papá de uno de ellos. y tengo que ir y le dije no me sueldo no cuelgues el teléfono yo voy a estar aquí y estuve en la línea y me decía mamá estoy viendo personas con la cabeza explotada estoy viendo cosas feas mami y me dice ora ora ora y yo estaba orando y pidiéndole al señor que lo cuidara que lo guardara mientras él andaba buscando los niños y desafortunadamente uno de los 23 que fallecieron era uno de los coach, amigo de él, el señor Memo García. Y nos dolió, ¿verdad? Y nos sigue doliendo lo que ha pasado, pero que estas situaciones nos sigan uniendo como comunidad, nos sigan dando fuerza para seguir adelante, luchando, luchando cada momento, ¿verdad? Para sacar esta ciudad, para que vean que esta ciudad es diferente. Y discúlpenme por... Sí me tomó mucho tiempo, pero es algo que tenemos que recordarlo. No podemos olvidar lo que las familias sufrieron, lo que la gente sufrieron. Sé que es un día de alegría, de orgullo para los salvadoreños, pero es un día de tristeza para los del Paso, para los residentes del Paso, que recordamos ese día con tristeza. So we are going to move forward, we are going to be a strong community. We represent the Salvadoran community, but we join the entire Mexican community. americana, venezolana, cualquier comunidad los abrazamos y vamos a trabajar unido porque en la unión está la fuerza. Si estamos unidos nadie nos podrá vencer y si Dios está con nosotros, ¿quién contra nosotros? Si ponemos primeramente a Dios en todo, vamos a salir adelante. gracias a cada uno de ustedes gracias por el trabajo que hacen por esta comunidad y por todo lo que lo que van a seguir haciendo porque yo sé que hay mucho trabajo en frente de nosotros hay mucho que aportar para que esta ciudad resalte yo tengo de vivir acá en el paso desde el 2011 y he visto el crecimiento del paso, el camino, recorro por las calles y digo como Dios ha bendecido esta ciudad, como Dios ha sido grande, vengo de la ciudad de Dallas que es una ciudad grande pero he visto esta ciudad que me ha cogido, me ha abrazado y la he visto crecer y sé que vamos para adelante porque para atrás ni para como dicen ni para agarrar impulso Thank you very much.

Buenos dias, mi nombre es Jimmy Viatoro. Soy el hijo de ella, salvadoreño aquí en El Paso. Le doy gracias por el reconocimiento a los salvadoreños. Este día es muy difícil para mí. Yo fui uno de los testigos de lo que pasó el 3 de agosto. Perdí un gran amigo en Memo García, pero ese día a mí me mostró lo que era El Paso. Una persona quiso venir aquí a dividirnos, pero los unió. Ese día fue terrible. But I look at the work of the authorities, of the police, doing something that I never in my life thought I was going to be a witness. But we all united, we went ahead. I thank all of you because after what happened, the help we received, how we united them stronger. And I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to be here and thank you for the work you have done for our city, for the Salvadorans. este y hay que siempre mantener en oración a las familias de ese día que pasaron la tragedia muy difícil pero hemos salido adelante juntos seguimos en comunicación juntos y como ciudad crecimos juntos más quiero agradecerles a todos ya las autoridades y más al departamento de policías del paso que en ese día hicieron lo que hicieron ese día para mí fue algo Este, que yo nunca pensé que iba a vivir, pero yo miraba cómo trabajaban para salvar vidas, cómo me ayudaban para poder salvar vidas. Y quiero darle gracias a Dios, a todos ustedes y a esta ciudad por ser de bendición a mi vida. Yo vine aquí en el 2011, igual que mi mamá, y vimos esta ciudad crecer y lo que ha hecho esta ciudad para nosotros. Nos ha bendecido. Aquí ha nacido mi hijo. Aquí, este, estamos aquí con mi esposa y queremos darle gracias a Dios por el paso, como dice mi mamá, El Paso ha crecido bastante y va a seguir creciendo. Y gracias por cada uno de ustedes y el trabajo que hace por nuestra ciudad. Que Dios me los bendiga.

Muchas gracias.

Muy buenos días. Honorable Juez del Condado, Ricardo Samaniego. Distinguidos miembros de la Corte del Comisionado de El Paso, Commissioner Jackie Butler, Commissioner David Stout, Commissioner Ileana Holguin, and Commissioner Sergio Coronado. My name is Jose Alvarenga. I am an engineer. As a witness, I am a mechatronic engineer. I have been working at the Community College for 24 years in advanced technology. I am a Salvadoran. It is important to emphasize that we also give thanks to Mr. Ricardo Antonio Hernandez as a Salvadoran consul. To all of you, receive a respectful and cordial greeting. Es para nosotros un verdadero honor encontrarnos hoy en este recinto y tener la oportunidad de expresar unas palabras de profundo agradecimiento por este reconocimiento otorgado al cónsul de El Salvador y a los salvadoreños que hemos establecido nuestro hogar en El Paso, Texas. De acuerdo a lo que comprendo, esta es la primera ocasión en que el PASO County ofrece un reconocimiento de esta naturaleza a nuestra comunidad. Por esta razón, este momento tiene un significado verdaderamente histórico. Pero no se trata únicamente de recibir una proclamación o un reconocimiento oficial, que es muy agradecido. Se trata de sentir que nuestra presencia, nuestro trabajo, nuestros sacrificios y nuestras contribuciones forman parte de la historia y del desarrollo de este gran Estado y comunidad fronteriza. Los salvadoreños hemos llegado a estas tierras llevando en el corazón el amor por nuestra patria, por nuestras familias y por nuestros valores. Somos descendientes de una nación pequeña en territorio, pero grande en dignidad, fortaleza y esperanza. Venimos de la tierra de los volcanes, de un pueblo trabajador que sabe levantarse después de cada dificultad. Llevamos con orgullo nuestros colores azul y blanco y los principios que representan nuestro lema nacional, Dios, Unión y Libertad. Muchos salvadoreños que han tenido que dejar otras tierras, sus padres, sus hijos, sus costumbres y en ocasiones toda una vida, pero al llegar al paso no solamente hemos venido buscando oportunidades, también hemos venido a trabajar, a servir. a construir, a contribuir al bienestar de la comunidad que nos abrió sus puertas. Aquí encontramos una ciudad noble, solidaria y multicultural, donde aprendimos que es posible amar profundamente a la patria que nos vio nacer y al mismo tiempo respetar, agradecer y servir con lealtad a la nación, a la comunidad que nos recibieron. Nuestros compatriotas participan directamente en la construcción, en la educación, los negocios, los servicios, la salud, la cultura. Detrás de cada salvadoreño existe una historia de esfuerzo, de perseverancia y, sobre todo, de esperanza. En nombre de la comunidad salvadoreña, deseo expresar nuestro sincero agradecimiento al Paso County, al juez, y a todos sus representantes, comisionados, por reconocer nuestra presencia y nuestras contribuciones. También agradecemos al señor cónsul de El Salvador, licenciado Ricardo Hernández, y a su equipo por representar a nuestra nación aquí en El Paso, acompañar a nuestros compatriotas y fortalecer los lazos entre El Salvador y esta comunidad fronteriza. Que este reconocimiento no sea solamente una celebración de lo que hemos realizado hasta hoy, sino también un compromiso para continuar trabajando unidos, educando a nuestras nuevas generaciones y construyendo puentes de respeto, cooperación y hermandad. A nuestros niños y jóvenes salvadoreños, quiero decirles, nunca olviden sus raíces. Siéntanse orgullosos de la historia de sus padres y de sus abuelos. Conserven nuestra cultura, nuestras tradiciones y nuestro amor por El Salvador, pero también sean ciudadanos responsables, preparados y comprometidos con la comunidad en la que están creciendo. Hoy podemos decir con orgullo, somos salvadoreños. Somos parte de El Paso. y juntos contribuiremos a construir una comunidad más fuerte, más humana y más unido. Que viva la amistad entre El Salvador y los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Que viva la comunidad salvadoreña en El Paso y que viva siempre nuestro querido Salvador. Apreciamos su tiempo en estos momentos y quiero decir que Dios bendiga to the United States of North America, to El Paso County, and to El Salvador.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Good morning, commissioners. Believe me, I have seen all of you I know him. My dream, I'm Salvadoran, I came here to California when I was 17 years old, I went to school, I wanted to be a politician, then I wanted to do communications, to study communications and all that. Después me fui por otro rumbo. Dios me llevó por esos caminos, lo que es los negocios. He estado trabajando 35 años en la comida. Cuando vine a El Paso, me gustó algo aquí y fue el clima. Yo soy de una región caliente de El Salvador. Se llama San Miguel. El clima se parece mucho acá. Me enamoré mucho de El Paso. Conocí a mi esposa. We saw that this logo represents it. A diverse community. It is a sad day now, but it is also a very special day for us. Thank you for inviting us, Consul. El Salvador is known for volcanoes and pupusas. We represent the pupusa. We saw that something was missing here in El Paso that would represent El Salvador. It was very difficult for us at the beginning, but here we are, being part of history. Nuestro negocio se llama La Pupusa Queen y es muy conocido en El Paso porque representa el plato principal de nuestro país. Para nosotros es un orgullo ser reconocido. Trabajamos duro para nuestra familia y cuando alguien te reconoce se siente muy bonito y es todo lo que sentimos los salvadoreños ahora. Gracias, muchas gracias. Dios bendiga El Paso, que es mi casa. Dios bendiga los Estados Unidos. Dios bendiga El Salvador. Gracias a ustedes por apoyarnos.

Muchas gracias.

Good afternoon. My name is Angelica Corral. Thank you for this day. As the owner of La Poposa Queen, I want to thank the commissioners, Judge Samaniego, . . crear y enseñar a los nuevos muchachos que salen de la high school. Son nuestros principales muchachos que nos ayudan, les enseñamos a trabajar. y los guiamos a ser gente buena, útil, preparada para servir a nuestra comunidad. So generamos empleos, trabajamos muy duro por 14 años y de la pupusa Queen les quiere dar las gracias por esto, por aprobar. Gracias y que tengan buen día.

Igualmente, gracias. ¿Falta alguien?

Dos ya. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? Or at least introduce yourself and tell us your name. Yes?

Welcome. Thank you.

Good morning everyone. My name is Annabel Magnan. I thank you very much. This is a surprise for me. Sorry if I'm wrong, but it's something I hadn't experienced before. I come to visit my brother, Jose Luis. He has lived here in El Paso and it's very beautiful. I come here almost every year for a walk. I love it. I'm from Chicago. Pero me encanta este estado. Y he tratado de venir para acá, pero todavía no se me ha hecho. Pero ahí sigo adelante.

Me gusta mucho la cultura de aquí.

Me gusta mucho la pastia aquí. Hay algo que, no sé, me atrae. Y ojalá que se me haga, ¿verdad? Pero me siento tan orgullosa, muy orgullosísima, que todos ustedes estén apoyándonos Yo soy salvadoreña de nacimiento, pero tengo muchísimos años aquí. Pero nunca olvido ese pedacito que me vio nacer. Soy orgullosa de ser salvadoreña y me siento muy orgullosa también vivir aquí en los Estados Unidos y ser ciudadana de Estados Unidos. Pero uno no olvida sus raíces. Uno no los olvida. Y ver que ustedes, todos ustedes, que me imagino que todos son de diferentes países, están apoyando nuestro país. Eso es... No sé ni cómo explicarme. So, les doy muchísimas gracias por ayudarnos. Les mando muchas bendiciones a todos. Por seguir apoyándonos. ¿Qué más les puedo decir? Lo tienen todos ustedes. Tienen todas las bendiciones del mundo. Y el apoyo de todos nosotros. Y como dijo alguien por allí, hay que seguir apoyándonos todos unos a los otros. Y si es cierto, este estado ha crecido mucho porque una de las primeras veces que yo vine aquí, no había tanto tráfico. Ahora el tráfico está tremendo y se da cuenta que esto está creciendo demasiado y si crees es porque por algo, porque la gente le gusta este estado. Visitamos al Consulado de El Salvador, qué maravilla, qué maravilla. A mí una persona tan amable, que incluso yo tengo también pasaporte salvadoreño y le dije a mi hermano, tengo que venir otra vez el otro año para venir a renovar mi pasaporte. Y no lo voy a renovar donde yo soy, voy a venir hasta aquí a renovarlo. Porque la amabilidad, I mean, no hay como otra. So, les agradezco a todos, en nombre de todos los salvadoreños y comunidad hispana, de que Dios me lo bendiga a todos y el Consulado de Salvador también. Muchísimas gracias por tanta amabilidad. Pues no sé qué más que decirles, más que Dios lo bendiga a todos.

Así que sigan adelante. Igualmente.

Well, you can't imagine what a great example for the countries, right? Because one feels the appreciation of not letting culture go and please reintegrate your culture with others, share it. porque tenemos que aprovechar que realmente es lo que debemos de hacer. Ya sé que ha habido cambios, pero la idea era de que vinieran de otros países y traer quienes son ustedes para poder nosotros conocer Yo tengo un privilegio de que mi sastre es una señorita, una señora que es de El Salvador y a veces le quiero nomás llevar ropa para platicar con ella porque es una persona que el ejemplo que están dando ustedes, no se imaginan, ella se vino sola huyendo de situación de violencia en su familia. y ver lo que ha hecho, una casa bien bonita, la manera que maneja, no sé cómo le hace porque llegan gente uno tras de otros y a todos es respetuosa y platica de lo que a ella sucedió, lo que le sucedió en su vida, pero con un optimismo que jamás siente mal o víctima y siente agradecida de que aprendió mucho y tiene mucho que compartir. Entonces me ha ayudado tanto a mí ver el mundo un poco diferente de cómo salir de una situación difícil a algo tan increíble como lo que ha hecho ella. Entonces, les agradezco mucho. Y como les digo, hay que compartir su cultura porque tiene una cultura muy bonita. Al cónsul, muchísimas gracias. Muy bendecido con los comentarios que han hecho aquí. Y qué bonito tener ese tipo de representación a ese nivel. que es muy bonito este nosotros tenemos también un consul que queremos mucho a Mauricio Ibarra que la misma manera que veo que tiene un interés que cuando la gente viene del país de donde vienen de que puedan sentirse bien estar aquí con nosotros y sigan Hablando de esa apreciación, porque es increíble no olvidar las raíces, pero tener tan gran respeto por el país que están y ese balance es algo que siento que es cuando vamos a tener mucho éxito. Muchísimas gracias por estar aquí con nosotros. Como siempre, el Comisionado Stout siempre busca reconocer situaciones y a personas que se nos olvida porque ahí están, pero él los resalta y nos damos cuenta de qué privilegio tenemos que estén aquí con nosotros. Muchas gracias.

Thank you, Judge.

Once again, to all of you, thank you for sharing this morning with us and for allowing me to present this resolution, as I said at the beginning. El Salvador has a very important place in my heart. One of my best friends, my mentor, a very good journalist that I met. I had the opportunity to work with him on several occasions many years ago. His name is Carlos Toledo. He left El Salvador and he gave me the opportunity to get to know his country. He invited me to his wedding. It's a beautiful country, beautiful beaches, volcanoes, landscapes, the people, very good people, and all the Salvadorans that I've met here in the United States. I've lived in Washington, D.C. for a while, and there, you know, a very large community of Salvadorans in Washington, D.C., very hard-working people, very nice people. I know that they are also very resilient people. They have survived a civil war and then intervention from the United States and foreign policy from the United States that many times pushed a lot of people to come here and then many times here we did not receive it as we should have received it. a story that I really respect for your community and for your people because I know that you have fought, you have done many things to survive in this country and you love this country and adore this country and I want you to know that we also see you and we appreciate what you contribute, especially here in El Paso. The consul is telling me that there are about 1,000 Salvadorans here in El Paso and in the area that he covers with his services, 1,800 to Midland, so they are growing. And obviously they have to go to the Poposa Queen because I have said many times that if they have not tried the poposas, they are great and they are one of the best that I have tried in the United States and also in El Salvador. Felicidades, felicidades y otra vez muchas gracias. Vamos a tomar una foto con todos y la resolución, por favor.

Item number six is public comment. We have three speakers signed up for public comment this morning. I'd like to start with Mr. Pierre Andre Usarga. I'd also like to remind all speakers in public comment that public comment is limited to five minutes. Everybody will be timed. Thank you.

Starting now. Welcome, Pierre. Thank you, Judge, County Commissioners, my dear fellow American-bred, American-born Americans, heterosexual Americans. I say these words as constitutional and legal criteria to become members of the American Political Party Committee. What I mean by words is American-bred, American-born, American heterosexual citizens. I am Pierre Andre Boya-Usarraga. I am the Federal Election Commission's 2028 United States American Presidential and Commander-in-Chief Candidate-Elect of the American Political Party Committee and of you, the American people. I wanted to talk, I want to talk to you all, the county of El Paso, the attorneys, and again, my dear fellow Americans about the complications of the Republican and Democratic electoral processes regarding the presidential election. As you all know, I'm here looking for Electoral College members of the American Political Party Committee, but in regards to the left and the right, you all have a complicated process, and it goes like this. The Republicans and the Democrats, Your Honor, have to have a state convention, one, two. State convention for the right, state convention for the left. Then you have to have primaries just to get your Electoral College That's one, two, three, four elections to get your electoral college. Then you have to have another set of state conventions and primaries to get the presidential nominee. So that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight elections just to get your presidential nominee. And then you have the general election, Your Honor, commissioners, for the presidential election. and commander-in-chief candidate, whether it be of the right or the left. That's nine. You're an attorney. Attorneys, you can verify this. Nine elections. Whereas with the American Political Party Committee, I only need one petition, one process. 60 electoral college members per state. That's 3,000 members. Now some of you are concerned with the vice presidential candidate. I've been working just as hard as trying to find myself, America, a vice presidential candidate. And so I want to mention some of the names of the hardcore American citizens who I've been reaching out to over the past two years looking for a vice presidential candidate. And I'm looking at the time in case some of y'all are wondering. The first name is Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chairman of Meta. Number two, Mr. Oscar De La Hoya, former boxer, businessman, and chairman of Golden Boy Promotions. Number three, Mr. Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and chairman of National Action Network. Mr. Percy Miller, artist and businessman. Mr. Dan Belzerian, US military veteran and congressional candidate. Mr. Kevin O'Leary, Shark Tank investor and businessman. Mr. Damon John, Shark Tank investor and businessman. Mr. Charles McDowell, founder and chairman of Wesley Financial Group. Mrs. Alina Paulina Luna Gamburski, U.S. Military Veteran and Congresswoman. Ms. Nancy Mace, Congresswoman. Ms. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman. Ms. Jasmine Crockett, Congresswoman. Mrs. Marjorie Taylor Greene-Glenn, former Congresswoman. Mrs. Charlie Erica Kirk, Founder and Chairwoman of Turning Point USA. Mrs. Maya Wiley, Attorney. Yes, sir. lawyer and professor, three more names, Mrs. Sarah Palin, former governor, Mrs. Kristi Noem, former governor, Mrs. Lydia Monahan, freelance journalist, and Ms. Caitlin Collins, CNN journalist. I only have about five seconds. I owe you all some seconds, but I want you to consider this information until next week. God Almighty, thank you for your time. God Almighty bless America. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker this morning is Mr. Raul Castaneda.

welcome good morning judge commissioners let me first tell you it's an honor and a pleasure to be in front of you right now it really is and i'm not here to badmouth anybody i'm just here to represent the people that can't vote the three to 12 year olds okay because i go to schools I ride the bus. I ride the trolley. And you meet so many people. You should try it sometime instead of coming in your automobile. Ride a bus to work. You get to talk to a lot of people. Go visit the schools. But anyway, get to Euskadi Park. Euskadi Park, close and dear to my heart. I was born here in 1954. I learned how to swim out there. I learned how to water ski out there. was awesome and then we had western playland that was that was the attraction back then unfortunately whoever was the commissioner here back then could not negotiate again with western playland and they went away and that park lost its meaning it really did now you all have money to redo it Let's not do it for the old people, the people that can vote. Let's do it for the young people that can't vote, okay? But we need them. We need them to grow strong because as we're getting older, we're gonna need them to be doctors and nurses to take care of us, okay? So let's do something for them. And what I've, Hear from them is they want an amusement park back over there. We don't have to go to Western Plain. And trust me, if you want me to, I'll go to Six Flags over Texas. I'll go to Disney and see what they can come. But this is what they're asking for. They're asking for zip lines to go across the lake. Wouldn't that be beautiful? And then the other thing is they're asking for is a carousel and a train to go around the lake. And also they want them to build a nice roller coaster, a big one that would bring thrills to their hearts. We don't need to justify the older people that want to see birds and ducks and all that stuff. That's what you have zoos for. And the first thing we need to do with that money is dredge that lake. Because I remember back in my days, it was at least 10 feet deep, and it didn't stink. And the fish were big. They were healthy. So we need to spend about $6 million and dredge that lake to at least 10 feet, between 10 and 12 feet, so that the water is better and the fish will grow better. Then we need to put, like, invest, and they cost $1,000 each for the two, the little paddle boats like they have at End of the Mountain Gods. Have you all been out, I'm sure you've all been out there, and you see them and you rent them. That's money for us here, for the county, okay? So we need to invest in stuff for our youth to get out there and want to do stuff. We have baseball parks all over the county, okay? We can afford to get rid of a couple of them and build a nice little amusement park there. But that's what I'm about is representing the people that cannot vote and don't have the strength or the car to get out here and talk to you all. That's all I want is for you to be great listeners and do something about it, okay? Let's take care of our youngsters because that's our future. And that would make the quality of life great here. Another thing I'm working on, I want to see the old hospital be a negotiation with a Mayo Clinic. Imagine if we had a Mayo Clinic here where we have a hospital where they can do the operations there, the doctors are there, something goes wrong, they're right there on the spot. We don't need to give that to Texas Tech University. We need a Mayo Clinic over there to take care of our aging people, okay? We don't even have, you see the commercials on O'Keeffe streets or something like that about how they take care of the elderly? They pay millions of dollars to put that commercial, but we don't have one here in El Paso. And I think the closest one is in Albuquerque. And that is really, my sister goes over there and she says that's the greatest care she's ever gotten. She says she feels important. She feels like they really care about her there. And that's the kind of stuff we need here. And I commend the people that were here from Lafayette and the other places that are here because we need them. We need those pieces here. but most importantly i just want to say thank you for listening to me and i hope you all can do something to take care of our youngsters thank you all god bless you and god bless you thank you for being here appreciate you do we have anybody else in the audience that would like to speak in public comment oh i'm sorry we have one uh

We have one last comment.

This is a written submission from Elizabeth Crawford. Good morning, Judge Salmoniego and commissioners. Over these five years since I first came to El Paso, I have been reading more and more about the families affected by the Walmart shooting. Many days when I pass through the Eastside Transit Center, I am reminded of the horrible tragedy as the plaque in memory of Arturo Benavides brings me to tears. What occurred that day is incomprehensibly wicked and heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go up to the Lord for those suffering in the aftermath of that tragic day forever etched in the story of this city. I would also like to ask some related tough questions. What if instead of Hispanic Americans, the victims were people with Down syndrome at an adult daycare center? Or what if a shooter chose to attack an all girls prep school because he felt superior to females? We would be equally outraged. I would like to say that August 3, 2019 occurs every single day in countless large cities across America, yet even worse, as it is sanctioned by government and by much of our society. Just across the El Paso border in New Mexico, contractors are constructing an enormous abortion center. New Mexico is an abortion tourist state, and many women coming for abortions from other states do so for late-term abortions. It is stated that well over 60% of Down syndrome babies get aborted in America. Furthermore, many women from Asian nations who practice gender selection and now live in America use the abortion centers of our nation to dispose of babies simply because they are female. And lately in Canada, there has been a case of a same-sex couple angry that a hired surrogate hadn't aborted a baby, now two years old, that was born with a cleft palate. As this summer we grieve the tragedy of the Walmart massacre, may we also grieve and stand against the massacre of little ones destroyed every day in America and across our world, at times simply because of their physical traits. Life in the womb is a gift from God. Though spoken to Israel a few thousand years ago and specifically a call of God to his chosen nation to repent, there is still much extended application to us as Americans living centuries after this call to repentance was penned. 2 Corinthians 7.14, the word of God. If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. We mourn the horrific events of August 3, 2019, and we also mourn a nation that daily commits atrocities against the unwanted in the womb. Thank you for the opportunity to share, and I hope that you have a very good day. End comments.

Please come to the microphone, sir. I'm out there on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Escalante Park riding bicycles with the veterans. So we're there and we welcome anybody to come out there. We ride right now early because of the heat. We're there between 6 and 9. You don't have to bring your bicycle. We have three wheelers. You're not going to fall off them and we're going to put a helmet on you, okay? But we really would love you guys to come out there. When I'm out there, I take the time and go look at that beautiful memorial out there. But there's one thing that I would ask you guys to do is to put a small memorial with all their names as you exit or you're coming into the El Paso airport. Just on the other side, there's room to put something because people need to see the hatred that existed towards Hispanic Americans here. And we need to remind people. Or put it down there where people visit, tourists visit, because the tourists don't go to Escalade Park. But go down here to put it here at the Plaza de los Lagartos, okay? I used to enjoy going down there when they fed the alligators back in the 50s and 60s, the big pieces of chicken and stuff like that. And then I'd go across the street to the Coney Island. Who remembers the Coney Island hot dog place? It was world famous there, okay? Ten cents for hot dogs, I remember. But anyway, thank you. Just a comment, sir.

Thank you for the invite, thank you.

Moving on to item seven from the regular agenda, item 7A, receive a presentation from the El Paso Central Appraisal District on the County of El Paso's 2026 Certified Appraisal Role.

Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. Good morning, Judge, Commissioners, Carmen Arieta Candelaria, Budget and Finance Director. With me today are two members of our El Paso Central Appraisal District. This is part of our kickoff for the budget presentations that we'll be having. So our first presentation is from the El Paso CAD. And with me today is Dinah Kilgore and David Stone, and I'm going to turn that over to them.

Thank you, thank you so much. Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. Good morning. Dinah Kilgore, Executive Director, El Paso Central Appraisal District, and with me is David Stone, Deputy Chief Appraiser.

Thank you.

We're gonna get back to business here. It's been really great to hear all of the resolutions and everything, but unfortunately, we do have a lot of business, and we got some numbers to give you some information. We did certify on the 24th of July, and we certified at 98%. Those totals were sent over to all of y'all, to the finance departments of the county so that they could start working on those numbers. Okay, I had to find the clicker. So let's start off with some numbers for you guys. 25 and 26, you can see the number of residential parcels, the multifamily parcels, the commercial, the business personal property, and other parcels. We did have a little bit of an increase in residential parcels. Commercial had a tiny bit of an increase. Multifamily went down a little bit. A lot of those were turned over to single family. So I wanted to show you that. The next one that we have, this is a little hard to see, but I'm sure you have it there. The main thing I wanted to show you is that the total parcel is about right over 450,000 parcels in El Paso County. Your 2025 taxable was just over 73 billion. Your 2026 taxable is 74.5, almost 74.6 billion. So you did get a little bit of an increase, about a 2.13% overall increase in your values this year. This is what everybody likes to see. This is a breakdown. It shows you the 25 and 26. In residential, in 25, you had right under 27 billion. You have 28.5 billion in 2026. You see your multifamily, your commercial there, 12 billion in 25 and 12.7, 26. You see your business personal property, 4.3, almost 4.4 in 25. I'll get into this a little bit later. It went down to 3.2, and that is due to the changes in legislation. We've got some other numbers to show you. One of the things I wanted to let you know is with Metta, El Paso Electric's building, also a solar farm out in the northeast, along with Metta and what's going on. and Amazon on the west side. So there are a lot of commercial that will be picked up either complete or partial going into 2027. So we are on top of that also to keep track of that. David.

Judge and Commissioners, David Stone, Deputy Chief Appraiser. This chart shows the typical decrease between the preliminary totals that are released on April 30th and the certified totals that are released on or about July 25th. and it shows every year there's a decrease because the property owners will protest their values, that the five-year average is right around 5%, and this year we had a 5.62% decrease, which is a little bit above the five-year average. This was not a reappraisal year. We did not reappraise all the properties this year, which we have been for the last several years, especially since COVID, because we're just not seeing the change in market value that we had been. This shows, historically speaking, over the last 10 years, the change in taxable value for the County of El Paso. We did go up again this year about $2.5 billion, but as you can see from the slope on the chart, our increase is decreasing. We're not increasing as much as we have in prior years, but we're still increasing. This shows the comparison in market value between residential and commercial property. Both have been increasing over the last 10 years, but as you can see, the rate of increase on the commercial property is much less than the rate of increase on the residential property. But we still got almost a $2 billion increase in residential value. and probably close to 250 million on the commercial value this shows our new construction as you can see it's kind of streaky back around covid we didn't have very much new construction now we have a lot of new construction but we didn't increase very much in new construction this year, but we had about the same amount of new construction as we did last year. Fortunately for the county, a lot of the new construction that we're seeing is happening outside of the city limits of El Paso, and it's out in the county, so y'all are seeing the benefits of the new construction.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the protest season. In 2025, we had 46,000 protests overall. This year we had over 51,000 protests. We're seeing an increase every year, a big increase this year. There are a couple of tax agent companies out there that are really marketing, not just El Paso County, but the state of Texas and other states, that they can assure them that they can get a discount. A lot of people are clicking on to get more information. Next thing they know, they're being represented by this company. So we are watching that. We've had a lot of people come in and withdraw protests because they didn't want that company. So that is one of the things that we are watching, not just here in El Paso, but in this state. There are some legislators that this has been brought to their attention, so they are looking into that. But we are seeing big increases in protests across the state. one tax agent equated for almost 30% of protests across the state of Texas, just one tax agent. So we are anticipating that that's gonna go into the future, so we are going to be ready for that. You can see residentially, that's where most of the protests are, 41% or 41,000 protests and residential. We always try, and if I can use this as a little bit of a pulpit, we always try to tell people You don't have to pay someone to do the protest. You can file your protest. You can come in. You can meet with an appraiser informally, come up with a decision. Over 70% of all of the protests are settled informally. I think this year we hit 80-something percent. So that's a big amount that can be done informally. Then you're done. You move on and you have your day off. You have the summer. You don't have to worry about it. So we always try to put that out there that they can come in We do not have anything to do with taxes, as you all know. Again, I'm going to put that out there. We have a lot of people that will protest just because they want their taxes lower, but their home is what it is. And we'll tell them, well, would you sell it for less? No, no, no, I'd sell it for more. Well, I'm sorry, but in the state of Texas, that's how we have to appraise it. I'm very proud of our district. In 2024, we're getting ready in 2026 for another property value study. In 2024, we passed all taxing entities, all school districts were within the confidence level. And in our maps review, which is our methods and procedures study that the comptroller does on the odd years, 2025, we made 100%. So every year we've been able to make 100%. So we are looking at the market values. We are keeping things at market. We are watching that. This is a big change. We are watching legislation going in there just now. Some of the committees are starting to meet. Some of the folks are getting together. But for El Paso County, because of the House Bill nine on the personal property, you lost about a billion, just over a billion dollars in value. Now, when you apply your rate, what that equates to as all the personal property accounts over 20,000 were zero amount. You saw before we had right under 27,000, right around 27,000 accounts. Over 20,000, almost 21,000 have a zero value on there, which is great for the businesses, but then again, that's a billion dollars that's taken off of the appraisal role. There is some talk with legislatures. Nothing's happened. Again, like I said, committees are just meeting. Y'all know you have your lobbyists out there, so you've already started meeting with them as to if that needs to be adjusted. That was a constitutional amendment, so we're not sure how that's going to go forward, but we are watching that also. Overall, I think the El Paso County is in pretty good shape. We are watching the market. It is stable, but we still have some increases. So you'll have some areas that we'll see a little bit of a decrease. But overall, we are still a very healthy market here in El Paso County. Financing is very steady, very healthy. A lot of it has to do because it's done in-house, what I call in-house El Paso County. The credit unions and the banks finance We don't have to go outside so much. So I'm thinking we're going to have a pretty good year coming up in 2027, adding some more value. We will be, again, watching. We're already talking to META to sit down and have a conversation with them. Just FYI, the El Paso Electric and the Western Refinery were agreed to with waivers, so there will be no lawsuits on our two largest property owners here in El Paso County. That's about it.

Thank you, Carmen. Any additional anything that as it relates to to us?

I'll be talking about the property tax later on and the impact of the taxable values on the tax rate specifically for the county. Thank you. I have a couple questions. I'm sorry, Commissioner Steltz.

Hello, Ms. Kilgore and Mr. Stone. Thank you all very much for the presentation. I have a couple of questions. First of all, who sets the rules by which you are governed?

Legislators.

The state legislature.

Now, the legislators set the rules, they set the laws. The comptroller's office can also set a rule that we must follow if the legislatures give them direction.

So can you explain for the public, I understand there's a rule that you all have to abide by, you have to be within 95% of what the market value of property is. The comptroller's office is who verifies that for you, or how does that process work? Who makes sure that that's being done correctly?

Yes, sir. So all appraisal districts in the state of Texas must be at 95% of value, between 95% and 105% towards school funding. If we fall below that and we cannot defend it, then the schools could very potentially lose funding and could also be in what they call a grace period. Now, for communities like Houston, I believe Houston, Travis, Dallas, if you're over a million, over a billion, excuse me, a billion in population, that is 90% that you have to be within confidence level. We are very lucky. Again, our property value study, that's the one that Comptroller sends out a field reviewer. They do a random sampling and a stratification of all different categories of property in the county. They do this throughout the state. They break it into two tiers because they can't hit 245 counties at one time. So they will come in, they will do their study, they will send us their study, then we will review their study. If we see anything wrong, we have information that they did not have, then we can make sure that they get that information so that we stay at that 95%. The last property value study we had, we were at 99%, I believe, with the state. We've held anywhere from 96%. to 99% on our property value study. The MAPS review is a separate review, again, set by legislation that the comptroller generates and sends out their field reviewers to make sure we're following the property tax code. So if we're not meeting the deadlines, if we certified at a value that was below 95, those types of things, then they come in and review us to see if we are following what is required by state legislation.

So it's the state legislature and the comptroller again that basically make the rules and govern the appraisal process. I've seen a lot of misinformation put out there, especially during campaign season. Any commissioner like myself or Commissioner Butler or the judge, does this commissioner's court have anything to do with the process when it comes to setting values?

No, sir. In fact, unfortunately, the county also has unfunded mandates that are generated by state legislation and the legislators and what they vote on. So when it comes to the appraisal process, no entity is involved at all. The county is not involved. The city, none of the other entities, the school districts are not allowed to be involved due to state law.

Okay, so when you have individuals who are putting out there to the public that the commissioner's court has authority over how property values are set, that is absolutely incorrect. It's misinformation. It's not true.

Correct. For some reason, a lot of people think we are a department of the county. We're not. They think we're a department of the city. We're not. We're an entity that was set up by the legislators to be independent and to be equal and uniform without any coercion or any influence from any taxing entities. And that's why the comptroller does two audits on all appraisal districts within two years. They audit us to make sure. We are following that. So you're exactly right, Commissioner Stout, when you are campaigning or somebody's talking to you about, well, it's all your fault. No, you can blame us. We're the bad cad. But we are, again, following state statutes and what the legislators have put into place. The personal property exemption is a big one. That's hit everyone, but that is a state law that was put into place for the entire state of Texas that we just have to monitor it and make sure it's accurate to give you those numbers. So we'll continue to do that. That's one of the things that pops up.

i i appreciate uh i appreciate that you know i just wanted to to set the record straight because there are unscrupulous individuals uh that are out there trying to misinform the public about uh this court and and and even the city as well i think uh and and and telling people that we are we are at fault for property values going up or down. I just want the public to understand that it's important to point this type of thing out because it's unfair, it's unscrupulous, and we need to do better, I think, as a court, and hopefully doing better informing the public and making sure that they understand what's correct and what's not correct, because a lot of times you have people that will say anything to get a vote.

Commissioner Stoughton, I want to thank you for allowing me to explain that. We explain it every time we can. We go and speak, Mr. Stone and myself, go and speak to multiple types of neighborhood organizations and senior citizen organizations, and the first thing we say is, you know, this is who we are. We are not part of the city or the county, but we are part of the entire process that happens. So, Commissioner Stout, thank you for allowing me to reconfirm that information. Appreciate it.

Yes, Commissioner O'Ging.

Good morning. I had a question on the slide with the parcel counts. Yes, ma'am. So it looks like we lost about 600 multifamily parcels, and that seems kind of a high amount. Or is that pretty common? It seems kind of significant.

I also noticed that and I thought, why are these multifamilies going down? But the multifamily parcels are not just apartment complexes, they also include like duplexes, triplexes, you know, that are considered more, not like a business, like an apartment. And I checked where the loss came from and it came from duplexes mostly. And I think what happened was when the owner lives in half the duplex and he rents out the other part, the part that he lives in is not classified as multifamily, it's classified as single family because they live there. So I think what happened is we had, I think it was 400 that shifted from being classified as a multifamily duplex to a single family occupied duplex.

One thing is consider under classifications of multifamily, they cannot get a homestead exemption. So to be able to get their homestead exemption, it has to be a single family permanent resident type thing. So sometimes you may have a duplex, but each one is owned by someone different, and they each have their exemptions because they're not related. So then they would fall under the single family.

Okay. Okay. That's interesting. Thank you.

Commissioner Cordonella?

I just want to thank Dinah and David for the work that y'all do. You know, like Commissioner Stout said, there's a lot of misinformation. Not only they blame Central Paisel District or us for kind of colluding, but they blame y'all for setting tax, for raising taxes. And so, been there, done that, but I think you all do a great job of explaining the process that Central Appraisal District does. And it's really only a temporary deal that we do, right? Because the state comes in, what I call the big gorilla comes in and says, you're either right or you're wrong, and you need to be up it. And when we think that the Central Appraisal District thinks that the state is wrong, then that enters into a different process, right? That we can actually do something about telling them that they are wrong or there's no agreement, that's when the lawsuits happen. Can you explain that to people?

Sure, take it in the short, so to speak. Yes, when the comptroller's office does their property value study and they send the study to us, we have a certain length of time to protest that study, just like a property owner here in the county can protest their notice value. So if we see that they are off for whatever reason, we'll file a protest. We'll submit our information, our evidence. There was one time, and plus if they disagree with our evidence, we can continue it and go to a formal hearing there. The last time we did that was years ago and it had to do with water. They gave us the, they rated it too high. in in the rate in the water and so we did go all the way and got it adjusted so that is difference now that's for us that's as far as we can go as a district on what the property value study says what the comptroller said for homeowners which is not so much homeowners but business owners they hire tax representatives um it is a business and you know we all Yay for business. But they will file a protest. They'll have a hearing with a formal hearing. They get a board order and then they will file a lawsuit. Right now we have right under 1,400 lawsuits that will not be able to go to court on 1,400 lawsuits. It's too timely and too expensive. But we have mediations and those mediations are about $2,000 a day for a mediator. So this is all... Again, taxpayer dollars trickling down into us. So they are allowed to do that. That's part of the statute, part of the code, that a property owner can file a lawsuit or arbitration and have an arbitrator or do a lawsuit and go through a mediator and then go to court if it takes that. So we work on that constantly to try to get those numbers down. So thank you, Commissioner Coronado, for bringing that up.

Judge, I have one more, I guess, I don't know if it's a comment or a question, but I know you said that 70% of the folks that protest, they do it basically pro se, no attorney involved, right? Correct. Does the appraisal district, or maybe even the county, we should look into providing some type of training or some type of help for people to kind of navigate that system and understand? Even myself, I've done it in the past and it can be daunting for me because you have to show pictures if you have damage or find properties that are similar to yours. I remember one time I was presenting in front of, I think there were three different members, the appraisal review board, but there was an appraiser there KIND OF ARGUING, IT WAS KIND OF LIKE A LITTLE TRIAL, RIGHT? AND SO I HAD TO MAKE MY CASE AND a trained appraiser who knows what they're talking about when I don't was making their case on behalf of the appraisal district. And so it can be daunting for individuals that may not have an attorney or may not have the information or as much knowledge as I have gained over the last 10 or 12 years that I've been in office and have learned about this. Is there some type of program or some type of training that the appraisal district provides to folks so that they understand going into the process what exactly it entails and how things work? Because I think it would be a lot better. I know, I mean, and this is not on y'all, but I just feel like sometimes it's set up for us to fail. The process, it's harder for us, I think. Maybe that's something that the county can look into, providing a service of that nature.

Just to comment on that, the Greater Association of Realtors hosted, I know they hosted a lot of trainings around the county. In Precinct 1, they came out to Montana Vista. We had maybe 20 to 30 people attend, and they did that training in Spanish, and they go step by step with the residents to tell them what protest looks like, what they should expect, kind of, and then they coached anybody who was interested in moving that forward. So I found that really helpful. I'm glad to see that the protest numbers for residential property owners were up this year, so hopefully some of those trainings are working. I know that the Realtors Association made a concerted effort to do that across the county. But I don't know if there are other resources besides that.

Well, we do that also. We go, anybody that invites us, and even if they don't, we go out there and visit with them and we give them, during that time of year, we give them an idea of who we are, how to protest. We stress the deadlines, we talk to them about that. It's also, there's instructions on our website and on the comptroller's website. And we have links to the comptroller's website on our website. So there's a lot of that information. One year, when we go out and speak, we'll actually take blank protests to help somebody. If they ask, well, you know what, I need some help, we will help them. One year, we went out and made a bunch of appointments to go out and talk to different groups, and we had a very low turnout. So we found that it just worked out better for us. Put it on our website to go out and talk to groups. Just part of like y'all's neighborhood groups that you have that we can go in and talk to. We do a lot of, in the notice, there's a lot of information. It's amazing that people don't read. There's a lot of information in there on how to protest, what to bring. the numbers to call, and that's why we tell everybody, come to an informal. Informals are so much more, they're not recorded, they're not open meetings, and they can come in and they can talk to an appraiser and find out what they need, and then if they need to go to a formal, they can, they don't have to do it that day, they can do it another day, but there's a lot of information out there, and we do try to hit everybody, but El Paso's a big county, we've really grown. And so trying to hit everyone at the same time. But we do have available tutorials and so does the comptrollers.

Yeah, I would just urge the public, I mean, protest every year. If your property value went up, just go through the process every year, even if you don't get to where you want to be. I think it helps the Central Appraisal District as well to have a better grasp on what the actual values are, because a lot of times people will bring in private appraisals that they've had done. And it helps, I think, because I think you've said in the past maybe 2% of people who buy and sell homes on a yearly basis actually give you all the information about what they sold it for. And so I think it helps overall.

That is correct. Texas is a non-disclosure state, so trying to get sales information. Board of Realtors is really good, but they will not give us that information either, even though we've asked them to help us out here. So we do have to make a lot of phone calls, visit a lot of people. Again, it's mass appraisal, so we may have some outliers that we leave out. And we always tell everybody, even if you're okay with your numbers, with your value, that's what you would sell it for. But look at it anyway. Do we have the right information? It's property owner's responsibility to make sure if we're right or wrong, if we have the wrong information, if we have you on as a pool and you got rid of the pool, you need to tell us. If you added on an extension and we picked it up as the main house and you don't have any heating or cooling, these types of things I think it's very important for homeowners and business owners to stay in touch with the appraisal district and let us know of those changes. It's amazing how many people will say, well, I'd sell my house for more than that, but I don't want to pay the taxes on that high, so I want you to lower it. Well, then we have to, again, explain how we have to appraise and why we have to appraise the way we do. So thank you, Commissioners.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you both. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. All right.

Item number 7B, receive a presentation from Crimestoppers and take appropriate action.

Thank you, County Judge, members of the court, Carmen Maria de Candelaria, Budget and Finance Director. Once again, our second presentation for today is from Crime Stoppers. And they are here today to give you some information. And so with us today is Ernie Glock, who is the president. I'm going to turn it over to him, and he can introduce his team.

Good afternoon. Well, I'll wait for the judge to get back.

Chair, if I can have you point the microphone towards you.

Thank you.

How about that test? Thank you. Thank you judge and commissioners for having us today. Obviously on the first slide you see here, Crime Stoppers is a non-profit 5013C organization where we assist law enforcement with the tips that come in anonymously and then distribute them to multiple agencies for resolution. The tips we get are forwarded to various entities, police, sheriff, constables, and others. And then they will go and pick up people who have warrants or look for people where charges have been filed. And that's what we do. So we provide a vehicle or a way for citizens to make calls completely anonymously and Texas law requires Crime Stoppers to keep all calls anonymous. We don't ask for their name, we don't get their email, we don't get their cell phone number. There's a method and a format that we use that provides an anonymous number where they can later retrieve a cash reward for giving us a tip. What's very important in doing it this way is a lot of people are afraid to give tips in El Paso. And they're afraid to give tips all over the country. But in this particular case, by law, we don't ask their name. If they give us their name, we have to immediately purge it from any recording. The calls are not received here in El Paso. They're received through a call center outside of El Paso. And that call center then gives us, so when somebody calls up, they don't call up and say, hey Ernie, how's it going today? How's the weather? They won't ask because they don't know who's answering the phone. And that's very helpful in many crimes. Obviously there's crimes with drugs involved. There's crimes where family members are involved. There's domestic violence. There's also child abuse, and people are afraid to make those claims because the police will come and they'll say, oh, let me talk to Adriana or let me talk to Bill. He made this claim. So this provides an anonymous vehicle for people to do tips. We're also focusing now a lot on the schools where people can give tips or individuals or students can give tips about bullying. When you're in school now, if you make a tip about bullying, the principal or the entities in the school district will call in the parents. Well, obviously, it's no longer anonymous once that call is made. In our particular case, they can make a claim. Then it's forwarded to the administration of the school district. Then the school district will be pointed in the direction to start looking. And then when they look, then they can make changes or address the situation and then whoever made the claim doesn't have to worry about their name being used. It's completely anonymous. So this started in 1978 as you can see in the slide and we raise all our money through grants or fundraisers and through your generosity over the years we've been able to keep the lights on and the doors open because we focus on getting out into the community and making El Paso a much safer place through tips. We have a great police department, we have a great sheriff's department, the constables and the other law enforcement agencies here, but no one is better than the public. The public is everywhere. The public sees everything. So now, the more we can get the word out to the public that Crime Stoppers is still around, Crime Stoppers is now modernizing, so we can take tips by phone, through the website. There's a number of ways to do tips. And we also are educating the population that it's not just about the crime of the week. It's any crime, any time. Any crime, any time, the public can call our tip center and give us a tip. So this year alone, compared to 2025, we're way ahead of schedule. We have, if you look on the slide, this year alone, we have 56 arrests. More than half of those arrests are arrests related to the county itself. There's other arrests through the city, but More than half of the 56 are from the county itself. We use constables, sheriffs, and other people. We provide the tips. Cases, we have 105 cases. And then the tips, 657. Calls, 1300. We've already paid out in rewards almost $20,000. And the narcotics, we've already captured $9,430. So this is only for six months. So if you look on the scale on the little chart to the right, we're up 86% in arrests, 43% in cases, 25% in tips issued. So that's where we are today. So if I go to the next slide, the county partnership, Obviously, crime stoppers and law enforcement, we go after the wanted fugitives. And these people are obviously not good folks. And with social media and other methods, and the sheriffs and the constables and other county agencies, we're able to find these people, get them off the streets, and help protect the population of El Paso. So anyway, as you can see, we also have the 10 most wanted that we put on our website, and we also are on the news media. And as they are arrested, we replace the 10 and go up. We also put out crime alerts when alerts are happening. And then we also help the local businesses because some of the businesses are hit over and over and over again. And those businesses, they call the police. Many times it takes time for the police to respond. As I heard in several other presentations today during the during the discussion, our traffic has increased. So obviously when there's a lot of traffic, crimes are taking place, the officers only have so much time to get there. So by using Crime Stoppers and bringing us that information, then we can give it back to law enforcement, even though when they get there, the crime has already taken place, the people are gone, we have a vehicle for people to make anonymous tips where we can go back and find these people who have done these things. As I alluded to earlier, campus Crime Stoppers, we're working hard in the schools. We've given out a bunch of backpacks just this week alone for back to school. In those backpacks, we have the Crime Stoppers phone number for the children to call, the parents to call, and we're really pushing to report crime on campus. In these days, there's a lot of guns around, and we want to try and keep those guns off campus. One way to stop this guns and knives and contraband getting onto campuses is by their people who know these people who have it, but they don't want to tell on them because they don't want to be snitches or get in trouble. The Crime Stoppers vehicle lets them do that anonymously. So when we do these presentations in schools, we tell them, look, you can call us, your name will never be used, and you don't have to worry that someone's gonna say you snitched on somebody who's bringing a gun to school or someone who's bringing a knife to school. And with the public's help, we can make a big difference. And through your generosity, it's been a big difference so far. So here also we, if, let me go to the next slide. Oh, there we go. We have a hub here in El Paso Central, and we work with a lot of other nonprofits to also fight crime. The Plant a Seed, they work with human trafficking. So we work closely with those other entities in the community to try and help get tips in about trafficking, and abuse. So we've had several events with them and it's been a success now and we're building on those successes. So as I said in our hub, we've had veterans in there, we've had plant a seed in there, we have multiple meetings. It's just a meeting place for some of the nonprofits who are also helping to try and fight crime. But all of those put together, we are the vehicle where people can make tips and let us know what is going on. All those people many times help and assist the people who have been trafficked or could be trafficked. In our case, we help prevent that. So we found, you know, people who have taken children to homes and narcotics and guns and all of these things have all come through tips. That's a big part of our outreach. So let me go to the next slide, the community impact. So since 1978, and I wanna say something about El Paso, El Paso was the first chapter of Crime Stoppers in Texas. A lot of people don't know that. So it started in Albuquerque, and then the next chapter was here in El Paso. So we're the first in Texas and since that time Crime Stoppers has grown and it is not only nationwide, it's now worldwide. We've had some tips that we get tips and we forward them to other cities. For instance, we just had an arrest in Hawaii because we got a tip here. We then called the Hawaiian Crime Stoppers and they gave law enforcement the tip and they were able to find somebody all the way in Hawaii from El Paso. So El Paso was the start of this program, now it's nationwide, and it was a big start for us here. So as you see, we've recovered millions in stolen property because we get tips, cars are stolen, trailers are stolen, all kinds of things, and obviously people are victimized through these thefts. Many of them can't afford or they don't have insurance. on the things that are stolen. So through tips and their recovery, they're then eventually returned to the people who lost those items. Narcotics, 48 million in narcotics has been seized since inception. Huge numbers, obviously, again, through tips given to law enforcement. And then law enforcement looks. Once they find there's a problem, then they act on it. uh... rewards issued we've given out since inception a million three hundred thousand almost a million three thirty three in awards for tips and there are many people who actually make a tip and sometimes they don't even claim the tip so that number could have been much much greater but there are those people who make a tip and they just want to be a good citizen so they're not looking for the reward They're just looking to do the right thing. So our vehicle is not all about money for everyone. So that number, the $1.3 million, would be much greater if everyone claimed their tips or claimed their rewards for their tips. The funds that we get from donations and grants and so on, they help fund the call center that answers these calls because an amenity is very, very important here. It has to stay anonymous and we also have to follow state law. Part of that is it can't be answered in El Paso. People say, well, why can't you answer it here? Well, the reason is people recognize people's voices, people talk here. They say, oh, I'm on the call center for Crime Stoppers. We can't have that. To keep that chain, it has to be broken so they don't know who did it. And we also want to provide a very secure method for making those tips. So that's why we use that line. And the campus Crime Stoppers is something that we're really, really pushing because you have to start early. And there's so much that young people see that they don't know how to report it, they don't know who to report it to, and that's why we are focusing a lot on not only the new methods, social media and other ways to get the word out that we don't only do Crime of the Week, Or we don't only do 10 want to 10 most wanted. We will do any crime and with any crime. Then we forward it to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Obviously the county has the most land, so many, many calls come in and are routed through the county's law enforcement divisions for resolution. And I have here today John Purchase, Pedro Villagrana, who is our vice president, and Javier Sombrano, who is our liaison from law enforcement and has done a great job in mentoring us. So if y'all have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

I just have a question, curious. Do y'all ever get calls from folks that are I DON'T KNOW, TRYING TO GET YOU TO ARREST A MIGRANT BECAUSE THEY'RE HERE UNDOCUMENTED OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THOSE TYPES OF CALLS?

You know, as far as tips, the information that comes in, we get a variety of tips. Now, really the majority of the tips that we get on is going to be really related to narcotics. As far as on migrants, the types of tips that we've gotten has been more on human trafficking. But as far as somebody being in the country illegal, we have not gotten any of that type of tip. And what we do when a tip comes in, Crime Stoppers just forwards that information over to the appropriate law enforcement agency to investigate. And an important thing, too, it's also important to remember that when a tip comes in, that's not the probable cause or meaning that a crime has occurred or that that person is guilty of a crime. That is just information that is given to law enforcement. That's something that we maybe need to look at or something to investigate further.

And what Javier was saying... The agencies that receive the tips vet the tip. We also get tips that are beyond El Paso. People who've lived here, moved away, and now feel comfortable to say something. Several crimes that I actually am aware of were solved by people who moved away and then made tips to law enforcement because they were away and they had a method through Crime Stoppers to make that tip. So all of the tips that come in, they're vetted by law enforcement. So they're not looking for, to answer your question, Commissioner Stout, they're not looking for somebody's housekeeper who may not be legal or somebody's landscaper who may not be legal. We're really focused on the human trafficking, the crimes against person, the crimes that really affect individuals' lives in that way. The abuse, that's where we look. That's where we focus pushing the tips out to.

Commissioner Butler?

I don't have a question. I just wanted to say thank you very much for the thorough presentation and overview and for what you all do and your board and everybody involved with Crime Stoppers and for the work you do to protect the integrity of anonymity. I think that's really key and it's important that the community understands how sacred that is for them to be able to provide the tips. I became a fan of Crime Stoppers through Commissioner Leon and his leadership, and I know he was a huge supporter of Crime Stoppers, and so I'm glad that we could continue that support.

Well, through your support, that's how we've stayed around, because it's very important to receive support from people like yourselves, because all of us, we're volunteers, with the exception of John. Javier and Roger, who are the liaisons for us who are volunteers. So with your help, we can continue on with this process and keep it growing.

Thank you for your service.

Appreciate it. I know I had a deep appreciation through Commissioner Leon. As you know, he was your big ambassador and advocate. So I got to learn a lot about, like what he says, to avoid all the things that can happen and the safety issues of one call that processes versus that it becomes a crime. So...

Well, I think Chief Leon liked Crime Stoppers so much, and I knew him well, was because when a crime happens, it costs a lot of money for the county to provide investigators and time spent in dollars and time and looking and preparing the report. Crime Stoppers helps streamline that process when somebody makes it. So I think that's why he also liked it. Thank you.

Were you going to comment? Oh, that's what he did. Well, thank you so much, and we appreciate that, and we appreciate the partnership, and I know we're very supportive of what you do.

And thank you for all the years of support to Climb Stoppers.

That's helped us grow.

Thank you. Thank you all. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.

It's posted for action. No?

That's just a... We do not need action today. Okay.

Thank you.

the the funding is continues to be provided for in the budget as proposed so thank you no further action on item 7b item number 8a county administration receive a presentation and updates on the county's 2026 to through 2031 strategic plan we do have a request from the department to delete this item We have a motion to delete from Judge Samaniego and a second from Commissioner Butler. The voting is open. Commissioner Stout?

Yeah, I don't know what's going on. Aye.

Sure. Commissioner Olguin? Aye. Thank you, Commissioner. Motion carries. Item number 8B. Pursuant to Property Tax Code Section 26.04c, designate the El Paso County Tax Assessor Collector as the officer or employee to calculate the no new revenue tax rate and the voter approval tax rate for El Paso County.

Good morning, members of the court, budget and finance department director. I'm here representing this item. This is a requirement pursuant to the property tax code section 26.04 C. that requires the governing body of a taxing entity to designate an official or an employee of the taxing unit in order to calculate the no new revenue tax rate and the voter approval tax rate. on various forms that are stipulated by the Texas Comptroller, as well as requires this designated official or employee, otherwise called the DOE, has certain posting requirements as well, and so the tax official The tax assessor collector has been calculating these forms in the past and that is the official that we are recommending that the county designate as the designated officer or official for the county that will enable the county to comply with the property tax code section 26.04 and beyond. So there's an order in the back of this agenda item AND IT IS UP FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION AND VOTE.

WE HAVE A MOTION TO DESIGNATE THE TAX ASSESSOR COLLECTOR FROM JUDGE SAN MANEGO AND A SECOND FROM COMMISSIONER OLGUIN. VOTING IS OPEN. MOTION CARRIES.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Thank you, Carmen. Item number 9A, auditor. Discuss, provide direction, and take appropriate action regarding an internal revenue request to agree to extend the time to assess employment taxes for the tax periods ending March 2023 through December 2023.

Judge, Commissioners, Eric Rosales and Gaglione, Assistant County Attorney. We're asking before the court takes action on this item if the court could consider a motion to pull this item into executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code 551.071. That's to discuss legal rights and responsibilities. We'd ask that you take the item when you get to the rest of your executive session items.

We have a motion from Commissioner Coronado, a second from Commissioner Holguin. The voting is open. Motion carries. Item number 10, Litigation, Justice and Law Enforcement. Postponed July 27, 2026. Approve and authorize the county judge to sign the intergovernmental agreement between El Paso County and the Isla del Sur Pueblo on behalf of the Tegua Tribal Police Department, authorizing the Sheriff's Office to accept the donation of seven vehicles from the Tegua Tribal Police Department pursuant to Texas Local Government Code Section 81.032. Contract number 20260480. If we could please have a motion to delete this item at the request of the Sheriff's Office. We have a motion to delete from Judge Samaniego. Second from Commissioner Stout. The voting is open. Motion carries. Item number 11A, tax assessor collector. Accept the 2026 no new revenue and voter approval tax rate calculations for the El Paso County Hospital District. No new revenue rate, 0.236904 per $100. Voter approval rate, 0.254994 per $100.

Hi, good morning, or almost afternoon. Good morning, welcome. Judge, commissioners, my name is Yvette Sanchez. This is my colleague, Claudia Rosales. We're here on behalf of Mr. Ruben P. Gonzalez, County Tax Assessor Collector, to present to you the rates for 2026 no new revenue and voter approval. Again, we're just here to present the rates. You will not be adopting any rates today. So for public knowledge, just to go over what the no new revenue and voter approval rates are. The meaning, the no new revenue rate is the tax rate that would generate about the same amount of revenue received on property tax the prior year. If the property's values rise, the no new revenue rate will go down and vice versa. THE VOTER APPROVAL RATE IS THE CALCULATED MAXIMUM RATE ALLOWED BY LAW WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL. OKAY. SO I BELIEVE, WAS IT A? UMC? For 11A, this is for the hospital district. The 2026 no new revenue rate was calculated at 0.236904 per $100 of value. The 2026 voter approval rate was calculated at 0.254994 per $100 of value. So you can see there last year, the 2025 adopted tax rate was 0.40892 per $100 of value. So we are asking today that you please accept the 2026 no new revenue and the voter approval rates for El Paso County Hospital District.

We have a motion to accept from Judge Samaniego and a second from Commissioner Butler. The voting is open. Thank you, Commissioner Coronado. Motion carries.

Thank you.

Item number 11B, accept the 2026 no new revenue and voter approval tax rate calculations for El Paso County. No new revenue rate, 0.451133 per $100. Voter approval rate, 0.504717 per $100.

Okay, and going over the no new revenue and voter approval tax rates for 2026, El Paso County. Here showing 2026 no new revenue rate at 0.451133 per $100 of value. The 2026 voter approval rate, 0.504717 per $100 of value. 2025 adopted tax rate was 0.458889 per $100 of value. Today we're asking that you please accept the 2026 no new revenue and voter approval tax rate for El Paso County.

We have a motion to approve from Commissioner Stout, a second from Commissioner Butler. The voting is open. Your vote, Judge. Thank you, sir. Motion carries.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Have a great day.

Would you like to go ahead and break for the afternoon?

You wanted to cover which ones?

I think item 12A will take, it's up to the court, but I think item 12A will take a little bit of time. It's up to you all whether you'd like to do that and then break or if you want to take a break now.

If we could take the 12 o'clock, is there anything that we could have prior to that that's short?

Nothing I think that we would do within three minutes, sir.

I think that

GO AHEAD AND BREAK?

OKAY.

ALL RIGHT. COMMISSIONER'S COURT WILL BREAK FOR ONE HOUR. IT IS 1158 AM.

Seven years ago, El Paso experienced a tragedy that changed our community forever.

Today, we honor the 23 lives lost.

We read their names with remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And we stand together, united in resilience and hope.

Andre Anchondo. Jordan Anchondo. Arturo Benavides.

Jorge Galvio Garcia.

Leonardo Campos Jr. Adolfo Serros Hernandez.

Angelina Silva Anglesby.

Maria Munoz Flores.

Raul Estrada Flores.

Guillermo Memo Garcia.

Maribel Hernandez Loya.

Gerhard Alexander Hoffman.

David Alva Johnson. Luis Alfonso Juarez. Maria Eugenia Legarreta Roth.

Ivan Manzano.

Gloria Irma Marquez.

Elsa Mendoza.

Sara Esther Regalado Monreal. Margie Record.

Javier Amir Rodriguez.

Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra.

Juan De Dios Velazquez.

Bye. Bye.

Come on.

So today we are at Azcárate Park where we are celebrating the 4th of July. Of course, we all know this is a very special year because it's America's 250th birthday. So we're really excited that we can provide this opportunity, this public celebration for our community. And we gave away 250 commemorative coins that were specially designed for the County of El Paso by the El Paso County Historical Commission. We're really glad that we see so many families out here enjoying themselves, getting ready for the big fireworks display.

I can't even tell you, the emotion is unbelievable to see what's happening now and see that we're celebrating 250 years at a park that is so iconic to El Paso. And then on top of that, having a partnership with Ford Bliss. If we're celebrating 250 years, that's because of what veterans did for our country. They died for our country, they served our country, and here we are.

I think the kids are really enjoying seeing the tanks out there that Fort Bliss was able to bring to Azcárate Park. And I think what makes the experience really special is talking to some of the soldiers who manned those tanks. So we're really grateful to Fort Bliss for their collaboration. We hope that we can count on them to join us every single year at our Fourth of July celebration.

You know, it's awesome being a part of an event like this, especially 250 years, a lot of heritage, a lot of history behind it, and actually being able to wear this uniform and say I was here at 250, and to be part of that, it's an absolute privilege.

I don't know the names of the tanks, but it is awesome just even just being able to see it up close. I've never seen a tank up close, but I was learning that a tank over here in front of me is 73,000 pounds, and it's just awesome to see how there's men and women that are dedicated to serve our country. Just enjoy your family today, you know, enjoy your family, enjoy music, and just enjoy life, and God bless America.

Every day, El Paso County works to improve the quality of life for our residents. Sometimes that work happens here at home. Sometimes it takes us across Texas, across the nation, and around the world. County leaders advocate for infrastructure, public safety, veteran services, transportation, and mental health priorities important to our residents. Through legislative meetings, funding requests, and various policy discussions, your county is working to ensure El Paso's voice is heard. Strong partnerships help bring resources, expertise, and opportunities back to El Paso County. Through collaborative efforts with our state and federal partners, our position on critical matters can be shared and heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. Participation in organizations such as the National Association of Counties, Texas Association of Counties, and other professional networks also allows county leaders to learn from successful programs across the country and bring innovative ideas back home. El Paso County's commitment to economic growth extends far beyond our borders. Throughout the year, elected officials and staff travel across Texas, the United States, and internationally to promote El Paso as a premier destination for business investment and expansion. These efforts allow us to build relationships with industry leaders, showcase our region's unique advantages, and compete for new jobs and economic opportunities. The true measure of success is not where we travel to, but what we brought home. At the midpoint of 2026, our grant portfolio remained strong and productive. To date, we have applied for a total of 50 funding opportunities, with 21 awards secured, resulting in more than $15.6 million in grant funding awarded. Every trip represents one purpose, serving the people of El Paso County. Whether advocating in Austin, collaborating in Washington, or building partnerships across borders, our mission remains the same, creating opportunities, delivering services, and building a stronger future for our community.

Thank you.

Seven years ago, El Paso experienced a tragedy that changed our community forever.

Today, we honor the 23 lives lost.

We read their names with remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And we stand together, united in resilience and hope.

Andre Anchondo. Jordan Anchondo. Arturo Benavides.

Jorge Calvillo Garcia. Leonardo Campos Jr. Adolfo Serros Hernandez.

Angelina Silva Anglesby.

Maria Nunez Flores. Raul Estrada Flores.

Guillermo Memo Garcia.

Maribel Hernandez Loya.

Gerhard Alexander Hoffman.

David Alva Johnson.

Luis Alfonso Juarez. Maria Eugenia Legarreta Roth.

Ivan Manzano.

Gloria Irma Marquez.

Elsa Mendoza.

Sara Esther Regalado Monreal. Margie Record.

Javier Amir Rodriguez.

Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra.

Juan De Dios Velazquez.

Thank you for watching.

Thank you.

So today we are at Azcárate Park where we are celebrating the 4th of July. Of course, we all know this is a very special year because it's America's 250th birthday. So we're really excited that we can provide this opportunity, this public celebration for our community. And we gave away 250 commemorative coins that were specially designed for the County of El Paso by the El Paso County Historical Commission. We're really glad that we see so many families out here enjoying themselves, getting ready for the big fireworks display.

I can't even tell you, the emotion is unbelievable to see what's happening now and see that we're celebrating 250 years at a park that is so iconic to El Paso. And then on top of that, having a partnership with Ford Bliss. If we're celebrating 250 years, that's because of what veterans did for our country. They died for our country, they served our country, and here we are.

I think the kids are really enjoying seeing the tanks out there that Fort Bliss was able to bring to us out of the park. And I think what makes the experience really special is talking to some of the soldiers who manned those tanks. So we're really grateful to Fort Bliss for their collaboration. We hope that we can count on them to join us every single year at our Fourth of July celebration.

You know, it's awesome being a part of an event like this, especially 250 years, a lot of heritage, a lot of history behind it, and actually being able to wear this uniform and say I was here at 250, and to be part of that, it's an absolute privilege.

I don't know the names of the tanks, but it is awesome just even just being able to see it up close. I've never seen a tank up close, but I was learning that a tank over here in front of me is 73,000 pounds, and it's just awesome to see how there's men and women that are dedicated to serve our country. Just enjoy your family today, you know, enjoy your family, enjoy music, and just enjoy life, and God bless America.

Every day, El Paso County works to improve the quality of life for our residents. Sometimes that work happens here at home. Sometimes it takes us across Texas, across the nation, and around the world. County leaders advocate for infrastructure, public safety, veteran services, transportation, and mental health priorities important to our residents. Through legislative meetings, funding requests, and various policy discussions, your county is working to ensure El Paso's voice is heard. Strong partnerships help bring resources, expertise, and opportunities back to El Paso County. Through collaborative efforts with our state and federal partners, our position on critical matters can be shared and heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. Participation in organizations such as the National Association of Counties, Texas Association of Counties, and other professional networks also allows county leaders to learn from successful programs across the country and bring innovative ideas back home. El Paso County's commitment to economic growth extends far beyond our borders. Throughout the year, elected officials and staff travel across Texas, the United States, and internationally to promote El Paso as a premier destination for business investment and expansion. These efforts allow us to build relationships with industry leaders, showcase our region's unique advantages, and compete for new jobs and economic opportunities. The true measure of success is not where we travel to, but what we brought home. At the midpoint of 2026, our grant portfolio remained strong and productive. To date, we have applied for a total of 50 funding opportunities, with 21 awards secured, resulting in more than $15.6 million in grant funding awarded. Every trip represents one purpose, serving the people of El Paso County. Whether advocating in Austin, collaborating in Washington, or building partnerships across borders, our mission remains the same, creating opportunities, delivering services, and building a stronger future for our community.

Seven years ago, El Paso experienced a tragedy that changed our community forever.

Today, we honor the 23 lives lost.

We read their names with remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And we stand together, united in resilience and hope.

Andre Anchondo, Jordan Anchondo, Arturo Benavides, Jorge

Calvillo Garcia. Leonardo Campos Jr. Adolfo Serros Hernandez.

Angelina Silva Anglesby.

Maria Nunez Flores. Raul Estrada Flores.

Guillermo Memo Garcia.

Maribel Hernandez Loya.

Gerhard Alexander Hoffman.

David Alva Johnson. Luis Alfonso Juarez. Maria Eugenia Legarreta Roth.

Ivan Manzano.

Gloria Irma Marquez.

Elsa Mendoza.

Sara Esther Regalado Monreal. Margie Record.

Javier Amir Rodriguez.

Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra.

Juan De Dios Velazquez.

Thank you.

Come on!

So today we are at Azcárate Park where we are celebrating the 4th of July. Of course, we all know this is a very special year because it's America's 250th birthday. So we're really excited that we can provide this opportunity, this public celebration for our community. And we gave away 250 commemorative coins that were specially designed for the County of El Paso by the El Paso County Historical Commission. We're really glad that we see so many families out here enjoying themselves, getting ready for the big fireworks display.

I can't even tell you, the emotion is unbelievable to see what's happening now and see that we're celebrating 250 years at a park that is so iconic to El Paso. And then on top of that, having a partnership with Ford Bliss. If we're celebrating 250 years, that's because of what veterans did for our country. They died for our country, they served our country, and here we are.

I think the kids are really enjoying seeing the tanks out there that Fort Bliss was able to bring to Aztec Park. And I think what makes the experience really special is talking to some of the soldiers who manned those tanks. So we're really grateful to Fort Bliss for their collaboration. We hope that we can count on them to join us every single year at our Fourth of July celebration.

You know, it's awesome being a part of an event like this, especially 250 years, a lot of heritage, a lot of history behind it, and actually being able to wear this uniform and say I was here at 250, and to be part of that, it's an absolute privilege.

I don't know the names of the tanks, but it is awesome just even just being able to see it up close. I've never seen a tank up close, but I was learning that a tank over here in front of me is 73,000 pounds, and it's just awesome to see how there's men and women that are dedicated to serve our country. Just enjoy your family today, you know, enjoy your family, enjoy music, and just enjoy life, and God bless America.

Every day, El Paso County works to improve the quality of life for our residents. Sometimes that work happens here at home. Sometimes it takes us across Texas, across the nation, and around the world. County leaders advocate for infrastructure, public safety, veteran services, transportation, and mental health priorities important to our residents. Through legislative meetings, funding requests, and various policy discussions, your county is working to ensure El Paso's voice is heard. Strong partnerships help bring resources, expertise, and opportunities back to El Paso County. Through collaborative efforts with our state and federal partners, our position on critical matters can be shared and heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. Participation in organizations such as the National Association of Counties, Texas Association of Counties, and other professional networks also allows county leaders to learn from successful programs across the country and bring innovative ideas back home. El Paso County's commitment to economic growth extends far beyond our borders. Throughout the year, elected officials and staff travel across Texas, the United States, and internationally to promote El Paso as a premier destination for business investment and expansion. These efforts allow us to build relationships with industry leaders, showcase our region's unique advantages, and compete for new jobs and economic opportunities. The true measure of success is not where we travel to, but what we brought home. At the midpoint of 2026, our grant portfolio remained strong and productive. To date, we have applied for a total of 50 funding opportunities, with 21 awards secured, resulting in more than $15.6 million in grant funding awarded. Every trip represents one purpose, serving the people of El Paso County. Whether advocating in Austin, collaborating in Washington, or building partnerships across borders, our mission remains the same, creating opportunities, delivering services, and building a stronger future for our community.

you

Seven years ago, El Paso experienced a tragedy that changed our community forever.

Today, we honor the 23 lives lost.

We read their names with remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And we stand together, united in resilience and hope.

Andre Anchondo. Jordan Anchondo. Arturo Benavides.

Jorge Galvio Garcia. Leonardo Campos Jr. Adolfo Serros Hernandez.

Angelina Silva Anglesby.

Maria Munoz Flores. Raul Estrada Flores.

Guillermo Memo Garcia.

Maribel Hernandez Loya.

Gerhard Alexander Hoffman.

David Alva Johnson. Luis Alfonso Juarez. Maria Eugenia Legarreta Roth.

Ivan Manzano.

Gloria Irma Marquez.

Elsa Mendoza.

Sara Esther Regalado Monreal. Margie Record.

Javier Amir Rodriguez.

Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra.

Juan De Dios Velazquez.

Thank you.

Good morning. Good morning.

So today we are at Azcárate Park where we are celebrating the 4th of July. Of course, we all know this is a very special year because it's America's 250th birthday. So we're really excited that we can provide this opportunity, this public celebration for our community. And we gave away 250 commemorative coins that were specially designed for the County of El Paso by the El Paso County Historical Commission. We're really glad that we see so many families out here enjoying themselves, getting ready for the big fireworks display.

I can't even tell you, the emotion is unbelievable to see what's happening now and see that we're celebrating 250 years at a park that is so iconic to El Paso. And then on top of that, having a partnership with Ford Bliss. If we're celebrating 250 years, that's because of what veterans did for our country. They died for our country, they served our country, and here we are.

I think the kids are really enjoying seeing the tanks out there that Fort Bliss was able to bring to us out of the park. And I think what makes the experience really special is talking to some of the soldiers who manned those tanks. So we're really grateful to Fort Bliss for their collaboration. We hope that we can count on them to join us every single year at our Fourth of July celebration.

You know, it's awesome being a part of an event like this, especially 250 years, a lot of heritage, a lot of history behind it, and actually being able to wear this uniform and say I was here at 250 and to be part of that, it's an absolute privilege.

I don't know the names of the tanks, but it is awesome just even just being able to see it up close. I've never seen a tank up close, but I was learning that a tank over here in front of me is 73,000 pounds, and it's just awesome to see how there's men and women that are dedicated to serve our country. Just enjoy your family today, you know, enjoy your family, enjoy music, and just enjoy life, and God bless America.

Every day, El Paso County works to improve the quality of life for our residents. Sometimes that work happens here at home. Sometimes it takes us across Texas, across the nation, and around the world. County leaders advocate for infrastructure, public safety, veteran services, transportation, and mental health priorities important to our residents. Through legislative meetings, funding requests, and various policy discussions, your county is working to ensure El Paso's voice is heard. Strong partnerships help bring resources, expertise, and opportunities back to El Paso County. Through collaborative efforts with our state and federal partners, our position on critical matters can be shared and heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. Participation in organizations such as the National Association of Counties, Texas Association of Counties, and other professional networks also allows county leaders to learn from successful programs across the country and bring innovative ideas back home. El Paso County's commitment to economic growth extends far beyond our borders. Throughout the year, elected officials and staff travel across Texas, the United States, and internationally to promote El Paso as a premier destination for business investment and expansion. These efforts allow us to build relationships with industry leaders, showcase our region's unique advantages, and compete for new jobs and economic opportunities. The true measure of success is not where we travel to, but what we brought home. At the midpoint of 2026, our grant portfolio remained strong and productive. To date, we have applied for a total of 50 funding opportunities, with 21 awards secured, resulting in more than $15.6 million in grant funding awarded. Every trip represents one purpose, serving the people of El Paso County. Whether advocating in Austin, collaborating in Washington, or building partnerships across borders, our mission remains the same, creating opportunities, delivering services, and building a stronger future for our community.

Seven years ago, El Paso experienced a tragedy that changed our community forever.

Today, we honor the 23 lives lost.

We read their names with remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And we stand together, united in resilience and hope.

Andre Anchondo. Jordan Anchondo. Arturo Benavides.

Jorge Galvio Garcia. Leonardo Campos Jr. Adolfo Serros Hernandez.

Angelina Silva Anglesby.

Maria Nunez Flores. Raul Estrada Flores.

Guillermo Memo Garcia.

Maribel Hernandez Loya.

Gerhard Alexander Hoffman.

David Alva Johnson. Luis Alfonso Juarez. Maria Eugenia Legarreta Roth.

Ivan Manzano. Gloria Irma Marquez.

Elsa Mendoza.

Sara Esther Regalado Monreal. Margie Record.

Javier Amir Rodriguez.

Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra.

Juan De Dios Velazquez.

Thank you. Come on up.

So today we are at Azcárate Park where we are celebrating the 4th of July. Of course, we all know this is a very special year because it's America's 250th birthday. So we're really excited that we can provide this opportunity, this public celebration for our community. And we gave away 250 commemorative coins that were specially designed for the County of El Paso by the El Paso County Historical Commission. We're really glad that we see so many families out here enjoying themselves, getting ready for the big fireworks display.

I can't even tell you, the emotion is unbelievable to see what's happening now and see that we're celebrating 250 years at a park that is so iconic to El Paso. And then on top of that, having a partnership with Ford Bliss. If we're celebrating 250 years, that's because of what veterans did for our country. They died for our country, they served our country, and here we are.

I think the kids are really enjoying seeing the tanks out there that Fort Bliss was able to bring to Azcárate Park. And I think what makes the experience really special is talking to some of the soldiers who manned those tanks. So we're really grateful to Fort Bliss for their collaboration. We hope that we can count on them to join us every single year at our Fourth of July celebration.

You know, it's awesome being a part of an event like this, especially 250 years, a lot of heritage, a lot of history behind it, and actually being able to wear this uniform and say I was here at 250, and to be part of that, it's an absolute privilege.

I don't know the names of the tanks, but it is awesome just even just being able to see it up close. I've never seen a tank up close, but I was learning that a tank over here in front of me is 73,000 pounds, and it's just awesome to see how there's men and women that are dedicated to serve our country. Just enjoy your family today, you know, enjoy your family, enjoy music, and just enjoy life, and God bless America.

Every day, El Paso County works to improve the quality of life for our residents. Sometimes that work happens here at home. Sometimes it takes us across Texas, across the nation, and around the world. County leaders advocate for infrastructure, public safety, veteran services, transportation, and mental health priorities important to our residents. Through legislative meetings, funding requests, and various policy discussions, your county is working to ensure El Paso's voice is heard. Strong partnerships help bring resources, expertise, and opportunities back to El Paso County. Through collaborative efforts with our state and federal partners, our position on critical matters can be shared and heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. Participation in organizations such as the National Association of Counties, Texas Association of Counties, and other professional networks also allows county leaders to learn from successful programs across the country and bring innovative ideas back home. El Paso County's commitment to economic growth extends far beyond our borders. Throughout the year, elected officials and staff travel across Texas, the United States, and internationally to promote El Paso as a premier destination for business investment and expansion. These efforts allow us to build relationships with industry leaders, showcase our region's unique advantages, and compete for new jobs and economic opportunities. The true measure of success is not where we travel to, but what we brought home. At the midpoint of 2026, our grant portfolio remained strong and productive. To date, we have applied for a total of 50 funding opportunities, with 21 awards secured, resulting in more than $15.6 million in grant funding awarded. every trip represents one purpose serving the people of el paso county whether advocating in austin collaborating in washington or building partnerships across borders our mission remains the same creating opportunities delivering services and building a stronger future for our community

Thank you.

Seven years ago, El Paso experienced a tragedy that changed our community forever.

Today, we honor the 23 lives lost.

We read their names with remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And we stand together, united in resilience and hope.

Andre Anchondo. Jordan Anchondo. Arturo Benavides.

Jorge Galvio Garcia. Leonardo Campos Jr. Adolfo Serros Hernandez.

Angelina Silva Anglesby.

Maria Munoz Flores. Raul Estrada Flores.

Guillermo Memo Garcia.

Maribel Hernandez Loya.

Gerhard Alexander Hoffman.

David Alva Johnson.

Luis Alfonso Juarez. Maria Eugenia Legarreta Roth. Ivan Manzano.

Gloria Irma Marquez.

Elsa Mendoza.

Sara Esther Regalado Monreal. Margie Record.

Javier Amir Rodriguez.

Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra.

Juan De Dios Velazquez.

Hey. Hey. Come on.

So today we are at Azcárate Park where we are celebrating the 4th of July. Of course, we all know this is a very special year because it's America's 250th birthday. So we're really excited that we can provide this opportunity, this public celebration for our community. And we gave away 250 commemorative coins that were specially designed for the County of El Paso by the El Paso County Historical Commission. We're really glad that we see so many families out here enjoying themselves, getting ready for the big fireworks display.

I can't even tell you, the emotion is unbelievable to see what's happening now and see that we're celebrating 250 years at a park that is so iconic to El Paso. And then on top of that, having a partnership with Ford Bliss. If we're celebrating 250 years, that's because of what veterans did for our country. They died for our country, they served our country, and here we are.

I think the kids are really enjoying seeing the tanks out there that Fort Bliss was able to bring to Azcárate Park. And I think what makes the experience really special is talking to some of the soldiers who manned those tanks. So we're really grateful to Fort Bliss for their collaboration. We hope that we can count on them to join us every single year at our Fourth of July celebration.

You know, it's awesome being a part of an event like this, especially 250 years, a lot of heritage, a lot of history behind it, and actually being able to wear this uniform and say I was here at 250 and to be part of that, it's an absolute privilege.

I don't know the names of the tanks, but it is awesome just even just being able to see it up close. I've never seen a tank up close, but I was learning that a tank over here in front of me is 73,000 pounds, and it's just awesome to see how there's men and women that are dedicated to serve our country. Just enjoy your family today, you know, enjoy your family, enjoy music, and just enjoy life, and God bless America.

Every day, El Paso County works to improve the quality of life for our residents. Sometimes that work happens here at home. Sometimes it takes us across Texas, across the nation, and around the world. County leaders advocate for infrastructure, public safety, veteran services, transportation, and mental health priorities important to our residents. Through legislative meetings, funding requests, and various policy discussions, your county is working to ensure El Paso's voice is heard. Strong partnerships help bring resources, expertise, and opportunities back to El Paso County. Through collaborative efforts with our state and federal partners, our position on critical matters can be shared and heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. Participation in organizations such as the National Association of Counties, Texas Association of Counties, and other professional networks also allows county leaders to learn from successful programs across the country and bring innovative ideas back home. El Paso County's commitment to economic growth extends far beyond our borders. Throughout the year, elected officials and staff travel across Texas, the United States, and internationally to promote El Paso as a premier destination for business investment and expansion. These efforts allow us to build relationships with industry leaders, showcase our region's unique advantages, and compete for new jobs and economic opportunities. The true measure of success is not where we travel to, but what we brought home. At the midpoint of 2026, our grant portfolio remained strong and productive. To date, we have applied for a total of 50 funding opportunities, with 21 awards secured, resulting in more than $15.6 million in grant funding awarded. every trip represents one purpose serving the people of el paso county whether advocating in austin collaborating in washington or building partnerships across borders our mission remains the same creating opportunities delivering services and building a stronger future for our community

Seven years ago, El Paso experienced a tragedy that changed our community forever.

Today, we honor the 23 lives lost.

We read their names with remembrance, respect, and gratitude.

And we stand together, united in resilience and hope.

Andre Anchondo. Jordan Anchondo. Arturo Benavides.

Jorge Calvillo Garcia. Leonardo Campos Jr. Adolfo Serros Hernandez.

Angelina Silva Anglesby.

Maria Nunez Flores. Raul Estrada Flores.

Guillermo Memo Garcia.

Maribel Hernandez Loya.

Gerhard Alexander Hoffman.

David Alva Johnson. Luis Alfonso Juarez. Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rudd.

Ivan Manzano. Gloria Irma Marquez.

Elsa Mendoza.

Sara Esther Regalado Monreal. Margie Record.

Javier Amir Rodriguez.

Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra.

Juan De Dios Velazquez.

Thank you. Come on!

So today we are at Azcárate Park where we are celebrating the 4th of July. Of course, we all know this is a very special year because it's America's 250th birthday. So we're really excited that we can provide this opportunity, this public celebration for our community. And we gave away 250 commemorative coins that were specially designed for the County of El Paso by the El Paso County Historical Commission. We're really glad that we see so many families out here enjoying themselves, getting ready for the big fireworks display.

I can't even tell you, the emotion is unbelievable to see what's happening now and see that we're celebrating 250 years at a park that is so iconic to El Paso. And then on top of that, having a partnership with Ford Bliss. If we're celebrating 250 years, that's because of what veterans did for our country. They died for our country, they served our country, and here we are.

I think the kids are really enjoying seeing the tanks out there that Fort Bliss was able to bring to Azcárate Park. And I think what makes the experience really special is talking to some of the soldiers who manned those tanks. So we're really grateful to Fort Bliss for their collaboration. We hope that we can count on them to join us every single year at our Fourth of July celebration.

You know, it's awesome being a part of an event like this, especially 250 years, a lot of heritage, a lot of history behind it, and actually being able to wear this uniform and say I was here at 250, and to be part of that, it's an absolute privilege.

I don't know the names of the tanks, but it is awesome just even just being able to see it up close. I've never seen a tank up close, but I was learning that a tank over here in front of me is 73,000 pounds, and it's just awesome to see how there's men and women that are dedicated to serve our country. Just enjoy your family today, you know, enjoy your family, enjoy music, and just enjoy life, and God bless America.

Every day, El Paso County works to improve the quality of life for our residents. Sometimes that work happens here at home. Sometimes it takes us across Texas, across the nation, and around the world. County leaders advocate for infrastructure, public safety, veteran services, transportation, and mental health priorities important to our residents. Through legislative meetings, funding requests, and various policy discussions, your county is working to ensure El Paso's voice is heard. Strong partnerships help bring resources, expertise, and opportunities back to El Paso County. Through collaborative efforts with our state and federal partners, our position on critical matters can be shared and heard by those making decisions at the highest levels. Participation in organizations such as the National Association of Counties, Texas Association of Counties, and other professional networks also allows county leaders to learn from successful programs across the country.

GO AHEAD. COMMISSIONER'S COURT COMMISSIONER'S COURT COMMISSIONER'S COURT HAS RECONVENED INTO REGULAR HAS RECONVENED INTO REGULAR HAS RECONVENED INTO REGULAR OPEN SESSION. OPEN SESSION. OPEN SESSION. IT IS 1.15 P.M. IT IS 1.15 P.M. IT IS 1.15 P.M. WE'RE ON ITEM 12A, ECONOMIC WE'RE ON ITEM 12A, ECONOMIC WE'RE ON ITEM 12A, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. DEVELOPMENT. DEVELOPMENT. POSTPONED JULY 27, 2026. POSTPONED JULY 27, 2026. POSTPONED JULY 27, 2026. RECEIVE A PRESENTATION AND RECEIVE A PRESENTATION AND RECEIVE A PRESENTATION AND

Good afternoon, Judge and Commissioners. Zonia Sigala with Economic Development Department. Today I'm presenting a proposed update to the Economic Workforce and Heritage Tourism Development Policy related specifically to the business size classifications used throughout our Chapter 381 incentive programs. As staff identifies opportunities to improve the policy by eliminating gaps in the current business classifications and providing clear guidance for applicants, today's presentation will explain alternatives, how to close the gap on employee and current revenue criterias. present two possible options based on eligibility structure, and three, request direction from the court regarding which option you would like staff to incorporate into our new policy. Under the current policy, newly adopted policy, businesses are categorized by both employee count and annual gross revenue. However, there are two concerns with the existing classifications. First, micro businesses generated less than $50,000 in annual gross revenue do not fall within any business category. if their employee range is between 11 to 19 full-time employees. This creates an eligibility gap for new businesses, startups, and micro-businesses that otherwise may qualify for county assistance. Second, the small business and medium business employee ranges overlap, creating ambiguity regarding which classification should apply. Staff believes these inconsistencies should be addressed to ensure the policy is applied consistently and transparently. Under option A, businesses would be required to meet both the employee threshold and the annual gross revenue threshold applicable to their respective category before being classified as an eligible business. The classifications are as follows. A micro business would have fewer than 20 full-time employees and annual gross revenue of less than $250,000. Category number two, small business, would have 20 to 499 full-time employees and annual gross revenue between $250,000 and less than $2 million. And the third category, a medium business, would have 500 to 999 full-time employees and an annual gross revenue between $2 million and less than $50 million. By requiring businesses to satisfy both the employee and the annual gross revenue thresholds, option A provides a structured, consistent, and objective framework for determining businesses' classifications and eligibility. and it eliminates the annual gross revenue gap. The second option is option B. Similar to option A, it eliminates the revenue gap and updates the employee classifications. However, under this approach, a business would only need to satisfy either the full-time employee count or the annual gross revenue threshold in order to qualify within a business category. Staff would also evaluate whether the business demonstrates a measurable contribution to the local economy as part of the incentive review process with their application. This option provides greater flexibility because it recognizes businesses that may generate significant revenue while maintaining a relatively small workforce, while others may employ many individuals but generate lower annual revenues. Option B allows those businesses to be considered without being excluded solely because they do not satisfy both requirements.

Okay.

Sonia? Yes. I'm sorry, before you leave that, can you go back to that slide for just a second? I wanted just to share a couple of examples that came to mind when we were talking about the policy. There are several aerospace manufacturing small local businesses. And they may not, they could have fewer than 20 employees, but their annual gross revenue would be greater than 250. And I thought that's one of our target areas. That's an example of where we would disqualify them. They wouldn't qualify under small because they wouldn't have that many employees, but they wouldn't qualify under micro because they're above the annual gross revenue. And when I went and spoke at a business organization this last year, couple of the businesses we followed up with and they didn't qualify and I thought these are the exact kind of businesses the court has talked about supporting these local businesses that are trying to add a line or add something to their offering but they were either too small in number of people or they had higher than the gross revenue amount so I I'm sure we all I would think that if you gave yourselves option B, you're still not obligated to give anything to anyone, but it would give you more options and flexibility in determining which businesses to offer some type of incentive to. So, sorry, Sonia.

So with that, I would like to close it out. Thank you, Bessie, for that example. And we would appreciate any feedback you all have or answer any questions. We do have our legal team, so thank you, Yvette, for being here. But we're open to any questions you all have. Thank you.

Option B would take care of the problem that you were just describing, right?

Yes, sir.

What would option B?

Thank you all so much. We appreciate it.

So Sonia, will we bring back a, we want them to adopt it today or will we bring back the, okay, so we want, we'd ask for a motion to approve today. With option B.

Yes, we do have both backups. Backup documents. With clean and red line. Right, yes.

So we'd ask for the motion to approve option B amendment to the policy.

Okay, we have a motion from Commissioner Stout, a second from Commissioner Coronado to adopt option B. Voting is open.

I vote aye.

Thank you, Commissioner Butler. Motion carries.

Real quick, sorry.

Before you all go, I also wanted to bring up kind of the context of economic development as well. Just having spoken to a number of folks in the community, you know, heard some other best practices and such. Also, see if we can, I don't know if the court's willing to or not, but in the future, if a company is not willing to tell us their name before we're making negotiations with them, no NDAs signed, and no negotiating with companies in the future without knowing who they are. I think the time for that has passed, and I think our community needs to know and needs to be transparent from the beginning who we're dealing with.

We can bring back language, Commissioner, that would add that to the policy.

Thank you. Thank you, Betsy.

Thank you.

Item number 13A from budget and finance. Postpone July 27th, 2026. Receive a presentation and update regarding the El Paso County fiscal year 26 budget.

Good afternoon, Judge Domenico, members of the court, Carmen Arieta Candelaria, Budget and Finance Director. The first presentation here is regarding our 26th budget update, where we're at as of the end of June. So here providing the overview is our fiscal year 26 budget that was adopted. Again, you see our total budget of $635,665,000. Our general fund is $495,486,000 and I'll be talking about that today. So first looking at the revenues where we're at at the end of June, our last month that was closed. Here you can see that we have received $14,469,000 in the month of June. And then our year-to-date revenues are $379,389,578 as compared to a budget of the $495,486,415,579 represents our current year revenues. So we have a remaining budget still to collect. Our current year revenues of $36,189,600. Of course, the use of the fund balance there remains at the same amount of $79,907,000. We have collected 91.29% of our current year revenues, almost to the finish line. We still have three months in the fiscal year to go. Overall, 76.57% of our reserves remain. So here you can see first and foremost on our intergovernmental revenues, excuse me, our vehicle inventory, our vehicle inventory taxes number, our intergovernmental revenues, charge for services, and our miscellaneous have already exceeded our budgeted amounts. In intergovernmental revenues, you see that 1,352,000. That is comprised primarily of our Loan Star reimbursement, our Operation Loan Star monies that we received, and then our Disabled Veterans Exception reimbursement that we received in this year. We do not budget for those items, and therefore we see exceeding that budget, which is a good thing. Our charge for services, that continues to exceed our budget. That is primarily due to our federal inmate revenues that we have received. Here is our projections, and I think we're continuing to see this or better. We're seeing some improvement even in the month of July that will probably best this revenue projection. Overage of $21,745,000. So we have... We see here on the last column the variance between budget and projection in the property taxes, $2,044,000 in better than budget. On sales and use tax, that continues to go up, so we think we're going to end the year there, $5,917,000. I talked a little bit about the intergovernmental revenues there. We're seeing the $2,945,000. that we're projecting to be better. Again, those items that I indicated, the Operation Lone Star, the disabled veterans exemption, and also we did receive supplemental revenue for JPD, related to JPD, of 452,000. And then again, our charge for services continues to exceed our projections. I do want to add that I want to thank the auditor's office for working with us over these last few months. We're pretty much in line with their projections as well as you see when they report out as well. Here's our comparison year over year. You can see right here our actuals for fiscal year 26 and what they are to date and how much we've collected, again, representing that 76.57. And then we also provided the fiscal year 25 and their actuals where we were at the end of June 30th of 2025 at $344 million there. At that point in time, we had collected 73.67%. Somewhere from the actuals perspective, we are $35,305,000 better, or over 26, over 25, and then 2.53% actuals variance from the percentage, again representing the same numbers that I indicated, improvements in the property tax, intergovernmental revenues and then again our charge for services. We see a difference in the interest and that is really due mostly to an interest rate reductions year over year. So that's reduced about $1.8 million comparatively. looking at our expenditures at the end of June. So here we have our revised budget of 502,256 that incorporates our carryover in the budget there. And so our June expenditures for this month, 33,132,000 of spend. Our actuals through June 30th, 289,938,000. And our encumbrances are at $20,256,000. Those have remained relatively steady these last few months. So remaining budget to spend is $192,062,000. At this point in time in the year, we're at about 75%. That's one of our markers. We're nine months into the fiscal year, 75%. So overall, we spent 61.76% overall, taking into consideration that we have included our $46,521,000 of unappropriated fund balance in our general government line. Under public safety, while percent has been spent, committed to date is 77.78%. That includes our encumbrances as well, but if you were to look at just the actual spend, public safety is at 72.16 without encumbrances. But I do want to note that based on our most recent analysis for the Sheriff's Office, specifically in that category, we do anticipate that the Sheriff's Budget will more than likely exceed the current budget, but we continue to monitor that to try to mitigate the expenditures in these last two months. We have been working with the Sheriff's Office very closely to make sure that they come in as close to budget as possible. We also show that the inmate meal contract will more than likely require an adjustment because of the current spend and so we continue to look at that and that adjustment will come back to the court as well as more information as necessary in order to advise the court of where we are in that particular, with regards to that particular budget. From the comparison standpoint, year over year, from 25 to 26, at this point in time in 26, we have, again, spent that $289,938,000. So we've spent 57.73%. And then looking at where we were in 25, we had spent $285,352,000 against a revised budget of $472,214,000. So at that point in time we had spent 60.43% of our budget. So at this point in time, we have spent $4,585,000 more when you look at it from dollar-to-dollar perspective, but we've spent a 2.7% less at this point in time. Again, this analysis doesn't include encumbrances. It is just a spend analysis that we look at. Now looking at the GEO bond as of the end of June 30th and where we're at, and we're still spending in issuance A. We have that $12 million. Of course, we've already sold the debt for issuance B, and we'll start tracking that as soon as we have expenditures there. But we've spent to date in issuance A $3,754,000. We've encumbered $5,117,000, and we have a remaining budget of $3,115,000 there. WITH THAT, ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS WITH REGARDS TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2026 REPORT?

MS. CHAIR KUDLOW? I'M ON TRACK FOR THE SPENDING ON THE PARTS OF THE GEO BOND THAT YOU PRESENTED.

We are on track as far as the spend down for this, yes. So we have, we generally have about three years to spend the money before we may get into issues with our tax exempt status, for example, if it were to ever be audited. So we are on track to spend and I've discussed it with the CIP team and feel confident that they'll expend that money within the timelines according to the project deadlines.

And to add to that, it was a year ago last month that we received the money. So we are in one year where we have 3.1 million remaining. What I would say is very critical. There are some things that are coming that will be bigger spend downs quickly, like the shelter project, the shelter bundles, and things like that. But there are projects that... we need that we've been either going back and forth on legal negotiations or legal matters on. Making a decision and moving one way or another on those is really critical to that spend down. So one that you all are familiar with that we've been working on is the negotiations at Gallegos Park for the land acquisition and the property acquisition. That will help move things very quickly once it is final and payments are made. But because it's been taking a little bit of time, it makes the spend down look a little bit slower. But when it happens, it will happen rapidly and be a big spend down. So any of those types of property acquisition issues or negotiations are sometimes a delay, but then once we get them resolved, it's a quick turnaround. But if there's any that are still pending, we have to quickly make a decision and move forward.

Thank you.

Item number 13B, postponed July 27, 2026. Budget hearing. Receive a presentation regarding various financial and budget information for consideration in the fiscal year 2027 budget and take appropriate action.

Thank you again, Judge Domingo, members of the court, Carmen Arieta Candelaria, budget and finance. So this is our first, I call it the preliminary budget hearing. This was to be presented last week in conjunction with the release of your book. And so this is an opportunity for you all to review the budget prior to the August 10th budget hearing date. So we'll have a lot more information during that day, but just wanted to give you a preview since you did receive the book, just a brief overview of what's in the recommended budget book. And so this, some of the numbers that you'll see here will be updated on our August 10th presentation. So this is basically our budget development adoption calendar, just a high-level overview of all of the activity during these last months of the fiscal year as we look towards the next fiscal year, 2027. So you have our budget development phase that we have passed. with the delivery of the book, that first book to you all. And then now we're into the property tax rate adoption and budget hearings. You heard today from the CAD, you heard and received the information from the tax assessor collector regarding our no new revenue rate and our voter approval rate. And so in these next few weeks you'll hear about the property tax that you would consider to adopt and then ultimately we will provide a proposed book to you at the end of the month. We also have some public notices that we're required to file and so that is all of this activity in August. And that leads you into your budget adoption in September. So we hold a public hearing. that's open to the public where we adopt the annual budget and then of course we file the adopted budget at the end of the month in September. And then October 1st is our beginning of the fiscal year. So with the recommended book, we really focused on these five top priorities. You've heard these priorities several times and that's what we utilized in order to build that recommended book. This is what we filed or we presented to you in our recommended book, a total budget of $696,772,296, comprised of those five funds. The general fund, $542,352,990. Our special revenue fund, $86,950,774. Our debt service fund of $49,064,940. That's where we service our debt obligations for the year. Our enterprise fund is $6,107,024. That has remained the same as I know the court is considering to adopt new rates. And so we just carried the budget for 26 over there and did not change that. And then our capital projects, $12,296,568. If you look at the asterisk, it does include, for a general fund, it does include an appropriated unallocated fund balance that you'll see in the presentation. So overall, this is the year-over-year comparison, our adopted budget, 26. And then our recommended budget. Our adopted budget for 26 is $635,665,000 and our recommended budget is $696,772,000 or a difference of $61,107,215 primarily coming out of the general fund of $46,866,000. Now I'm going to go into the general fund more specifically just to give you some preliminary estimates. Again, reminding you that the auditor's office is the one that certifies the revenue for 2027 and this is using preliminary numbers. The appropriated fund balance that we're using So, excuse me, the total available funding sources are comprised of two items. Our appropriated fund balance that we use to support our budget and then our current year revenues. So those two components are shown here for fiscal year 26 and then fiscal year 27. So the adopted budget is again the $495,486,000 per year budget. comprised of appropriated fund balance of $79,907,000 against, and then our current year revenues of $415,579,000. Our estimated budget that we're utilizing an appropriated fund balance of 101,862,404. And then our current year revenues are 440,490,586. And I'll go into those in a little bit more detail. But overall, our variance between the appropriated fund balance year over year is the $21,955,000. and then the difference in the current year revenues of $24,911,000 making up that $46,866,000. So now let's looking at just our estimated general fund balance that we utilized for fiscal year 2027. So what we did is we, this is our estimated fund balance. It's $115,877,000 and that was our original budget estimate and I understand that that number will change based on the auditor's estimate that has changed and will be presented to you on August 10th. But what we did is we estimated the unassigned fund balance that we would use in the fiscal year 2027 budget. Again, subject to change. 95,462,404 that was used in the calculations, and then we added the assigned fund balance for economic impact fund. If you will recall, we assigned 6.4 million, we set it aside outside of the unassigned fund balance, but part of the total fund balance, we set that aside for our economic impact fund for the fiscal year 2027. So those two numbers added is the $101,862,000. Now looking at our revenues here. So we have our total revenues here compared to year over year, $440,490,000 for fiscal year 27. And then our certified revenues, $415,579,000. So these are the numbers that we got preliminary from the auditor's office. They will change. as she refines her estimate. So looking first at a variance of $14,081,000 in the taxes line item, or 3.77 increase, that is comprised of two numbers primarily, the increase in the property taxes that we estimate and the sales tax estimate that has also increased, making up those two, making up that variance in that particular line item. The other one that I'll call your attention to is the charge for services, the $11,565,634. That increase of 55.43% is primarily due to the federal inmate revenue. If you recall, in charges for services in fiscal year 27, we only budgeted for three months in the fiscal year. And then in 27, now we're budgeting a full year. at 275 inmates a day at the new rate that we negotiated during the year of $134. So that's why you see that large increase there. And then lastly, I'll focus on the interest. Again, that was due to a revised estimate. Rates are going down, and so we anticipate that that number will be decreased, 1,685,000. And again, we will provide you more detailed information on August 10th as we drill down into those numbers. These are our key revenue assumptions that these revenues are based on, which may change as we head into that August 10th and then the final estimates. The federal inmate revenue was estimated, as I indicated, 275 at a rate of 134 for the entire year, 13,450,000. Our property taxes that are included in the recommended budget are estimated at the no new revenue with an estimated 2% valuation growth. Now we have the actual certified values. So that'll add, that number will change slightly, okay? The current budget was estimated based on the no new revenues at the time that we filed this. The sales taxes are estimated at $85,350,000. Again, utilizing the auditor's estimates, which reflects the increase that we've been tracking in prices of taxable goods and services. And then the estimate also includes those new revenues for the medical examiner fees, as well as the new public works fees that have been approved by the court. On the expenditure side, this is what the expenditure side looks like by program. So we have the $495,486,000 that was adopted in 26, and then for fiscal year 27, $542,352,990, or that difference on the expenditure side as well of $46,866,603. So there's several increases here on the administration of justice. our general government, public safety, public works, and resource development that I'll go over. But overall, we're looking at a 9.46% increase on the expenditure side. Our increase in the administration of justice is primarily due to those increases in salaries and benefit amounts for the judicial salaries and increases and health benefits that were originally allocated in the prior year in a general government account. and our contingency account. And so what we did is we did an adjustment during the year and we moved them over to the administration of justice. That's why you see the difference between the adopted budget and the recommended budget in that particular line item. We do have a decrease in public works because we shifted over. the SO maintenance departments over to public safety. We did bring forward an amendment during the year for your consideration and you did approve that where we shifted three departments from public works over to safety, excuse me, over to the sheriff's office, public safety. The increase in resource development is due to increase in the economic impact fund appropriation that is funded by the unassigned fund balance. And I do have a slide today to show that. And then in the general government, the increase is 17.36. These are just some of the increases. We'll have a longer list in August 10th when we bring forward, but these are some of the items that were included in the budget. There was a decrease in the elections office because there was a reduction in election costs. That's a reduction of $595,000. IT also had a reduction in their budget due to their reduction in the target to meet the target, the 2% target of $609,000. We did show an increase in the fleet operations maintenance repair due to increased collision and replacement costs of $160,000. We did increase our ops contingency account for the proposed salary increases for non-collective bargaining employees plus those benefits. That was a total of 5.4 million that's included in the budget. We did reduce the contingency though because those salaries are now included in the administration justice program and so therefore they don't need to be in the operations contingency. That's a million dollars. Due to the improvements that we made in the grant match and actually budgeting those costs directly in grant match accounts, we were able to reduce the grant match by $1.5 million. And then our increase in the fund balance appropriation. This was due to the increase in the fund balance year over year. So we did have a large increase in our fund balance. of which that also, now you have the other side of the appropriation, right? So you go from $46,521,000 to the $73,000,000, which shows now the appropriation in the adjusted, because of the adjustment in the fiscal year 2025 budget, actual amount. And then our increase in the CIP funding that goes from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 and increase there of $2,000,000. What's also included in the preliminary budget that you see here, you'll see on August 10th as well. So we did have an increase in the recommended budget for the SO budget in the Sheriff's Office budget. This is not the final budget, but this was where we were at this point in time with regards to that specific budget. So we had an adopted budget in fiscal year 26 of $136,423,000. The requested budget from the Sheriff's Office was $160,322,684, or an increase of $23,899,000. Now, when we went through an appeals process with the Sheriff's Office and we were able to reduce $8,518,000 off of that request, primarily related to overtime and capital, and so that reduced to the net increase of $15,380,783. bringing the recommended budget that's included in your book of $151,803,000. As I indicated, we continue to work with the Sheriff's Office, continue to try to refine that number and to bring it down. Okay? Yes. Yes, ma'am.

I do think it's important, and you may have mentioned this, but some of those are increases that are natural that we generate. Like, we always reserve the salary increase over in G-Admin for the cleat negotiations. And then the next year, we move all of that into their full budget. I think that's the first item, the $3.6 million. So that's an increase that would have happened if the sheriff had held a flat budget. we would have increased it 3.6 by moving those increases from the prior year into his budget. So a portion of that 15.3 million is, for example, that 3.6. But the remaining, and also a portion of it is the 4.1 million that we transferred uh... public facility maintenance into public safety for the sheriffs so a portion of that are those things that would have occurred the remainder is a request from the sheriff's office for the increase and again we're still uh... have been in the appeals process on those requests because as you know the court had requested everybody decrease uh... their budgets some of those also uh... another one that we would have considered or negotiated into the budget would have been the jail detention center mill contract because it has a increase built into it. So that's another one that we would have expected to see that increase as well. So just wanted to clarify that the entire 15.3 million is not necessarily coming from the department as an increase, but there is a request from the department for an increase. Correct, yes.

Thank you, Betsy. Okay, now looking at the funding for COLA and STEP increases, we have this bifurcated into two areas because of our non-collective bargaining employees and the covered Sheriff's Office employees. by contract and the constables per policy. So on the left-hand side, you see the recommended budget. It does include a $5.4 million for 1.5% COLA and a step, which costs out 2.5% for all non-collective bargaining employees effective January 1, 2027. That is included in the budget. And then on the other side is the $3.7 million for collective bargaining contract. It's 2.5% for STEP and 2.5% for COLA for covered sheriff office employees and for constables as for policy. That would be effective October 1, 2026. So that is what's included in the budget. As I indicated earlier, the funding for the Economic Impact Fund. So here you see what happened in fiscal year 26. We did budget as a general fund appropriation of $2,865,807. So we funded that through, as I indicated, the general fund allocation. In fiscal year 27, we are going to use the assigned fund balance that we assigned on September 30th, 2025 of $6,400,000. So that difference is part of the resource development programmatic increase of $3,534,193. So here you can see the year over year and the actual difference and then the funding of where we're gonna fund this economic impact fund. The funding for CIP and small capitals, we did include the $5 million for the CIP. Our target was $10 million, but due to funding constraints, we were only able to allocate $5 million. We were looking at trying to fund a small cap allocation of $2 million, and we were not able to recommend that amount. So there is no small cap allocation in the budget currently. We do have an option for the Commissioner's Court's consideration. We have some end goals that we look for for CIP of about $18 million and an end goal for the Economic Development Program of $10 million. So one of the, for your consideration, is to reduce the Economic Impact Fund allocation by 2.4 million and then reallocate those funds to the Capital Improvement Program to address those needs, and doing this would help us achieve 40% of our intended end goal, that $18 million and that $10 million, respectively. So that would be, if you were to take the $2.5 million from the $6.4 million, that would leave you $4 million in the Economic Impact Fund, and then it would increase your allocation overall for CAP to $7 million. Okay.

Or $7.4 million. If I can add on there, I would really ask the court consider this. The capital improvement program, we have delayed that for several years. Christian pulled reports for me. We used to get maybe six interim emergency requests a year. We're up to like 35 emergency requests and it's because of this delayed maintenance because we haven't had the funding available. So I do think the shifting the funding from the economic impact fund to the capital improvement will actually in the long run help us save because emergency repairs are a lot more expensive than planned repairs. So I hope it's something the court will take into consideration and give us support to move that 2.4 million into capital improvement. And as Carmen mentioned, it'll make both of them at about 40% of their goal if we do that.

Okay, now looking at what's our next steps. So the next three slides really just is a detailed outline of all of the dates that we're working towards. This is the budget process, and this kicks off the next presentation on the tax rate. really kicks off that notification of where we're gonna notify the public about what our proposed tax rate is going to be. Tomorrow we'll have a joint meeting with UMC as well to receive their presentation on their operating and capital budget. And then on August 10th, and we do have another meeting on August 11th if it's needed, for a budget hearing to hear on the budget for the for our county. And then here is the slide on the tax rate adoption itself. So we have that ad that will run in the newspaper and then we also have an ad that runs on the public television station. And so we have those two to take care of and then we have the public hearing. And then on August 17th, where we will discuss and have you consider the proposed tax rate. So we want to have the public hearing and then have the proposed tax rate on that same day. And then you'll also hear a public hearing on the county hospital district. These are just at the time when we put this together. These were the dates that we were working with. There may be a slight change because of the hospital district. And so we will determine when those dates are actually going to be. For the county side, we did propose that the tax rate would be heard on August 17th, bless you, and then that the court would also adopt a property tax rate on that day, okay? And then here is the elected official salaries. This is the timeline that we're following. Again, you'll hear on August 10th if there's any proposed salary expense or allocation increases, and then we follow that process to ensure that the public is aware and that we provide you with the information that's necessary in order for you to go through this a grievance process if there is a grievance that is ultimately filed. But then on August 30th, we do publish that newspaper notice as well about these salaries, okay? So this is just really the process that we've set out related to the dates.

In the budget we have budgeted for, across the board to all of our employees, we have budgeted for a cost of living adjustment and a step increase. And for those who are not on a step plan or not statutorily covered, including elected officials, those other groups, we have budgeted a 4% cost of living adjustment. I double-checked that, and this isn't true for some elected officials, it's been longer since their wage has changed, but most elected officials, the last wage change was in 2023, and the cost of living since that time has increased 9.1%. So this will not, and that's as of today, this will not make them whole, but it would bring them closer to where... covering the cost of living since the last time their wage was changed. So we'll be discussing that further next week, but I wanted to share that information with the court.

So with that, any questions with regards to the 27 budget?

Judge, I had just a real quick question on the, as we're planning on publicizing the tax rate and our budget and everything, I just want to continue to push for making sure that we, at the same time, show the public what percentage of our budget and what's the dollar amount in our budget that is going towards unfunded mandates from the state, and also what is the change from last year to this year in the increase in unfunded mandates, because I think We need to continue to inform the public correctly about why our budget is what it is and what's driving it, and 70% of that is coming from the state.

Yes, Commissioner. We're working on the ad right now, and so we are planning to publish that as well.

Thank you.

Judge? Thank you, Judge. Carmen, remind me, the proposal that you presented to the court right now with respect to the 27 budget entails a 2% valuation increase. What was, remind me, what was provided to us by the Central Lopezo District this morning?

I believe it was the same amount. The increase?

Yes, in the valuation. I thought it was really close to that, but maybe a little bit less.

It was very close to that. I'll have to, I can go pull my report.

I didn't take a picture of that, but.

I mean, we get the numbers from them. It was the same numbers. I looked and it was the same.

But your presentation was depending on 2%, right? And what was the overall valuation increase in percent?

So, the numbers that we calculated, I had estimated. 2% valuation increase? It was a 2% valuation increase, right. So, but, and I had the same number. I think my number was 1.5 billion. This was a little bit more than 1.5 billion, something else. There's another slide. Is that on there?

I don't recall if they put the percentage increase over.

On the growth and the new construction growth?

The total valuation increase, which would include the personal property, which I know we're losing a little bit of that, and basically we're just shifting it over to the real property owners, right?

Correct. So on this particular slide, I had originally estimated a lesser change. So I think I had projected 4.7%, and theirs is 5.62% drop. So my number was a little bit higher than their number, but less about a percentage off of their number. I based it on the historical trend. And so in my presentation, I was off about that 1%. This term.

Here Carmen and Commissioner Coronado shows the change and basically from what they had originally thought it was gonna be and then after like all the lawsuits and all the protests, what it went down to. So I don't know if that's the same number that you're asking for.

No, I'm asking about what the actual percent valuation now after the protest, what does it protest?

From basically the certified from last year to the certified from this year. the increase, right, is what you're asking for? Yes.

There should be a slide on there that shows that.

It's not actually, I think they just referenced the number. I'm calculating it right now.

I don't remember if they gave us a percent or not.

They did.

And I should have kind of noted it down, but.

Mr. Coronado, I think it was on one of the prior slides that was being shown. Yeah, if you go back. And it's 2.12%. It was just slightly over 2%. Right there.

Right there. Right there. Right there. Okay, yeah. Right, and that's the number that I had showed in my calculations.

2.0463%, right?

Actually, it's the third column.

Is that what it?

That's.

From the end. Yeah. 2.1262. Oh, 2.1262, yeah.

Yeah, there it is, 2.12. So we're, we're gonna do a little bit better on the valuation than what your projection at 2% was, right?

Mine was higher. 2%? I thought you said yours was 2%. No, you said ours was based on a 2% growth. Yeah. 2% growth. Yeah, I was just talking about just the new growth. Is that what you were referencing?

The total valuation difference.

Let me look at it. I don't remember.

If I recall right, I think you presented 2% to the court right now, right?

On your presentation?

Yeah, and so this one is 2.1. We're going to fare just a little bit better, which is a...

I'm looking for it now. I don't think I had a percentage, though.

I think it was 2%. Right, but that 2% was referencing the new growth, not the increase of the new growth, right?

Right.

Well, new valuation, that is, it's the total valuation, right? So it is a 2%, right? So we're gonna fare a little bit better with the certified values at being 2.1, whatever, 2%, right?

So back on July 3rd, I had estimated $75,303,000,000. It's a little bit higher, 4.69% change as compared to their 5.62% change. So my number was a little higher than their number, but included in that was the growth that I did indicate was 1 billion 434 so yes you're correct we are going to fare a little bit better just a little bit better right yes sir about 0.12 percent yeah so on 70 what was it 70 total it ended up 73 billion right it was 74 billion 575 million that's what i recall 70 74 billion 575 1,814,000.

Yeah, so we are gonna fare just a little bit better. Just a little bit better. I think that at least a little bit of good news that we're gonna, that we're not below on the new valuation once the protests and everything's in.

Right, so yes, the new taxable value that we originally asked for was 1.4 billion and their number that they gave us

Yeah, the actual percentage of the protest change went up, but the new growth made up for it.

Right, 1,513,870,000. Yeah, you're right.

So I think that's a little bit of good news. The other thing I think that the court needs to consider when the budgeting comes up, I know that we save some money with respect to the hiring freeze, but I think that actually hurts the organization in terms of efficiency and it hurts it in terms of productivity. And all our other services suffer, including our parks, including everything. So I'm kind of just mentioning that to the court that I think we need to consider either eliminating the hiring freeze for this next year, or at least reducing the time frame when that hiring freeze has to take effect. What is it now, Betsy?

16 weeks, sir. 16 weeks.

16 weeks.

And that generates a savings of $4.2 million.

Imagine not having the benefit of one-third of the year's productivity in any one personnel for any department. The smaller the department, the more it affects it.

And Commissioner, we do have policy. If there is no 16-week hiring waiting period, we do already have policy about you have to wait until, like if someone leaves and they had six weeks of vacation, you have to wait until that six weeks is lapsed so that we don't overspend budget. So there's already a built-in hiring waiting period if the court chooses to lift that.

Yeah, I think a six-week is probably...

We can do some analysis on that and bring it back.

Yeah. That would be my recommendation to our organization. And, of course, I think we also need to look at a couple of areas where we probably need to increase the personnel in some of the departments. Some are really critical because we're looking at that essentially we'll end up you know, more than making up in savings in terms of the overall fluidity of especially in the criminal justice area of the jail population and the court cases that are doing. I think it's going to help tremendously in terms of saving resources for the county if we do that. And the other area I think we need to look at is our water department with Munzer that I think we need to get them some help. There's gonna be a lot of opportunities for grants from the, well for sure from the state and hoping after November from the federal government as well. that I think maybe we can get back to that, but I think that department's going to need help to be able to apply for these grants that I know are going to be available, and that's only going to benefit for, you know, what we're trying to focus on in terms of making sure we alleviate not just the clean water and sewer, but also the flooding issues that we have, and we have a lot of that.

Yeah, I think, you know, the proposal that we've talked about in the past in bulking up our, not just grants division, but also our federal advocacy, our intergovernmental relations team, both at the state and federal level is exactly in line with what you're talking about. Yeah, exactly.

So just on that note, we do have several studies we're in the process of working on. And we also are working on the special meeting for the court to sit down with all the justice system partners to analyze and discuss some of these issues. And of course, we're working on the RFP for the study for the sheriff's office. I've noted the support for our water and wastewater infrastructure division. And then we have set aside some funding in this coming fiscal year based on some of the things that the court reduced at our last special session, strategic session. Some of the things you reduced, we took and set aside some of that funding to have a resource not identifying how yet for federal advocacy whether it be a contract or whether it be a staff but we've set aside some money in the fiscal year 27 proposed budget for that as well and we can go over that in more detail but we would not we would bring back different ways to do it and the cost of those different ways for a final decision

And the other thing I think that maybe the court should consider is what would be, Betsy, if y'all could calculate what the difference would be rather than giving the employees that aren't covered by collective bargaining, they haven't had any increases in the last three years as well. I mean, I know we're at one and a half as a proposal, but I'm thinking 2%. If the other collective bargaining, they're getting two and a half percent. I mean, at least if we could try going to 2%, I don't know how that would fare, especially since now we have, Carmen tells us we have 0.12% to the good on the valuation.

We'll bring back that amount.

Okay, thank you.

But did we say earlier that non-collective bargaining folks were going to get a 4%? We're looking at a 4%? No.

We're looking at 1.5% in COLA, 2.5% in STEP. 2.5% in STEP, okay. Yes, sir.

Some would not be eligible for the steps.

There's a couple groups that are not on any step plan, and those are the ones that we're proposing a 4%, which is still behind the cost of living, but is an advancement.

Carmen, thank you for the presentation. I know it's your first full year as a budget director, and so thank you for your work on this. I just wanted to bring up something that I've talked to you and to Betsy about, which is our reliance on the federal inmate revenue, which makes me very wary. Even though we know that our federal inmate revenue has increased steadily this year and has really helped to make up for some of the gaps in our budget, and I know that it's critical for us to be able to fund some of these necessary increases for the next fiscal year. The possibility of what happened to us, what happened to the county over the last several years happening, reoccurring due to policies and influences outside of our control really makes me nervous. And last time we spoke, Carmen, you said that you would be able to recommend maybe some policies related to the federal inmate revenue that would reduce our reliance on that federal income stream over a number of years. Is that something that you can bring back to us? Do you have a timeline for that?

I don't have a timeline, but I know I've discussed it with Ms. Keller, and that is where we could identify those areas that we are one-time spend, like capital. specifically going through and identifying those areas so that in the event that we did have that reduction, then we'd have a corresponding reduction on those one-time expenses. But we're still discussing that and can bring back a policy in order to be able to do that.

So both your capital and your economic impact fund expenses are usually one-time expenses. So if you had a sudden loss of revenue and if it was tied together, it would not, we would, just like what we've done the last few years, you'd have to cut your capital and cut your economic impact fund. But those are areas that we can more quickly change course on and can be more responsive to reducing those budgets. So that would be one way to be less reliant on that federal detainee revenue.

Yeah, I just think, you know, being fully aware of the consequences of that federal inmate revenue being reduced and almost fully removed a couple of years ago. The cuts that we had to make as a county, one of the big reasons why we had to increase the tax rate last year to bring our fund balance back up because we were dipping into it um i i just think it would be in the best interest of the of the of the county to to try to make sure that whatever uh revenue we get from the federal inmates goes to one-time expenses and so um i would really appreciate an opportunity to see those policies as we move through this uh budget cycle i agree and i think that is something that is a is um would be prudent

And I think we are trying to be more conservative and more aware. I know that when I first joined the court, we estimated a much higher, our daily average number. And so I think this year it's 275, which is thankfully what we have been seeing, actually lower than what we've been seeing. So I think we definitely are aware of that and are trying to be more conservative so that we're not so reliant, so much of our budget isn't reliant on the federal inmate. So I'm glad that we're doing that, that we are trying, but we're definitely much more conservative than we were even just a few years ago.

And then just lastly, I agree with Commissioner Coronado. I would like to see the plans for the staffing, which isn't part of today's discussion, and maybe on Monday it will be. How does this new budget impact hiring freezes and staffing plans for the next fiscal year?

And just as far as staffing plans, there is no money specifically for new staffing in the next year's budget. We do have money in contingencies based on outcomes of studies. So if a study comes back and recommends some changes, or if we do an analysis of like the shift differential needs for the DA's office for DEMS, there is some money we've set aside in contingencies for that, but we haven't identified it. because it's pending those outcomes, those reviews. The other thing I want to mention is the staffing review, and I don't know that I've seen this yet, but on the hiring freeze committee or on the hiring freeze policy, I also have not seen yet the breakdown on the $4.2 million savings. How much is that? How does that compare to previous years when we did not have the... Hiring waiting period because we still had savings previously So not all of that is truly due to the hiring freeze period So I just we we can get that information and bring that back to Judge I don't know.

Are you finished? Yes one other thing I think where are we on our our I guess our analysis of the sheriff's request for staffing increase. Where are we on that?

Yes, sir. We are working on an RFP to bring a consultant on. We're meeting with the sheriff's office regularly. We were at a meeting last week at the end of the week. with the sheriff's leadership, the sheriff and Chief Soria to go through that. There was some more changes that were made to the RFP during that meeting and I think we're finalizing it by early next week and we'd be ready to go to purchasing for that. There's money in the budget in FY27 for that study and for, again, depending on what the outcomes of that are, some funding to address those.

Because what I see is the request or what the proposal is for the overtime is $8 million.

It's $11.

Excuse me?

It's $11 million.

$11 million. And that's, what, about 7%, 8% of the total budget for the public safety? Is that right?

Just of his budget?

Yes, just of his. And if we are putting that much, the quicker we get the resolution to what staffing we can agree that they need, the better savings we're gonna have on that 11 million.

We agree.

With about seven, eight million, we can have the benefit of that 12 million and spend only eight. Just saying.

And in addition to that, one of the things that we'll also be talking about is, so the overtime has mostly been related to the jail, but you'll recall that previously we received a study about our long-term growth and about the need, the historical staffing levels for the patrol side as well and other units. So we definitely have into FY28 and beyond, we have those, the full year impact of any of those changes. We also have the animal shelter coming on in FY28. the medical examiner's facility, upgraded parks that will need a additional maintenance level. So we really, I know we're talking about FY27, but we do need to be thinking long term. The impacts from these studies for a full year and these other things that are coming on in FY28. So the next couple years are gonna be pretty robust for us and managing our budget.

So even the more so that this year is really critical in terms of setting what those goals are for the next two, three years when those other facilities come online.

and looking how we can be as efficient as possible. So, you know, the cost of overtime versus staffing and how we can do that as well. And there will be some revenues that come on with some of those. You know, with the animal shelter, you also will see some revenue come on board from those operations that we would expect and some decreased expenses that we have through other means of animal welfare now.

Okay.

Thank you, Judge.

No action on 13B. Item number 13C, pursuant to the property tax code section 26.05D, propose a tax rate or pursuant to the property tax code section 26.05A, adopt the tax rate for El Paso County.

Thank you again, Carmen Arrieta Candelaria. budget and finance director for the record. So this is the fiscal year 27 proposed tax rate presentation. So here is our historical tax rates since 2021, over the last five years, showing all of our tax rates from our M&O, maintenance and operations, our debt rate, interest and sinking, and then our total rate, as well as the decrease year over year and the percentage increases since 2021. So I'm going to point your attention to the conversation for today, which is the 2026 tax rate. And so I've listed the ones that are going to for your consideration. So first we have our no new revenue rate for 2026 is calculated by the tax assessor collector. So our M&O rate for the NNR is 0.388134. Our INS is 0.062999 for a total rate of .451133 or a decrease off of last year's total rate of 458889 is a decrease of .007756 or 1.69. I've also calculated a few other rates for your consideration. So 2026, our current M&O rate, so just taking the 2025 rate M&O of 395292 and adding it to the tax rate, to the debt rate that we need to pay off obligations, is .062999, so a total rate of .458291, or still a reduction, a .13 reduction of .000598. Now we look at our no new revenue rate plus our new debt rate. So taking the NNR and just reducing the difference between our INS rate of .063597 to our new rate of .062999 and applying that to a no new revenue M&O rate, that gets you .387536 or a total rate of .450535 or a decrease of .008354 or 1.82% reduction. And then our voter approval rate, voter approval tax rate is .441718 for M&O and .062999 or total rate .504717 or an increase of .045828 or 9.99% reduction. 10% increase in our voter approval rate. And let's look at our fiscal year 2027 county rates and compare those to, compare them to 2025 based on our taxable value. So that first row shows your taxable value. at the end of 2025, so $71,976,647,000, which is comprised of $70,476,000,000 of the taxable value of the existing property. So we had an increase of new properties and improvements of $1.5 billion. showing a, but overall our taxable increase was 4,631,559,000 or 6.90. Now, the new taxable value that we're using for 2026 that we use, of course, to fund our 27 budget is the $74,575,814,000, which is comprised of the $73,061,000,000 of our existing properties. And here underneath that is the $1,513,870,000 that we had in new property. So total, we had a total taxable increase of 3.61% or $2.599 billion in overall taxable growth, of which the 1.5 billion is included in that number. So you can see there on the next row under total tax rate, that is the tax rates that I just went over, the composition between the M&O rate and the interest and sinking fund, or the debt rate. And then at the very bottom is what we would generate, what our expected property tax revenue would be given those numbers. So last year we generated 330,292,917. comprised of an M&O revenue of $284,517,000 and a debt amount of $45,774,000. So just applying the no new revenue rate, and again, that allows us to generate the same level of revenue that we get, excluding our new growth, we would generate $336,436,000 or $289,454,000 for our M&O and then $46,982,000 to finance our debt obligations. And then looking at the current M&O rate, if that was something that you wanted to consider, we would generate 341,774,000. Again, that change falls to our M&O of 294,792,000. The amount remains the same. And the no new revenue, just looking at the M&O change, there we would generate 335,990,000. Again, that would be a slightly lower amount than our no new revenue rate if we were just looking at just the M&O component. And then our voter approval rate, that 10% increase in our rate would generate $376,396,977 or $329,414,927. And our debt rate would stay the same. So if you wanted to change the no new revenue rate by 1%, that would give us an additional $3,364,000. If you wanted to change it by a penny, so going from 45,1133 to 46,1133, that would generate four million, excuse me, $7,457,581. Now historically we have, let me go back. Historically we have, I understand that the county has posted and published the voter approval rate, so that would be the last column. But this is giving you all of these different scenarios with regards to what we end up publishing and putting out for the public. Just to give you a little bit information about our surrounding entities' property tax rates, this is the last five years by tax year of all of the surrounding entities. In this example, it's EPISD representing 41% of the tax bill. City of El Paso, almost 29%. El Paso County, 17.4%, UMC almost 9%, 9.1%, and then the community college at 3.9 for a total representing all of the tax rates on the right-hand side of the slide. So with that, I do have motions here that I can assist you with the adoption of the proposal of the county property tax rate. This would be where we would publish this in the newspaper. You're not adopting a tax rate today. You're just making a motion to publish this notice in the newspaper. Any questions with regards to the numbers?

I don't have a question, but I do have a comment that I want to make. So I know that our practice has always been to propose the voter approval rate, because we still need some flexibility as we finalize the budget. But again, I feel like when we do that, all we're gonna do is cause a major panic and anxiety in the community, cuz all they hear is the word proposed, voter approval rate. without necessarily understanding that we're not actually adopting the tax rate today. And it happens every year. Every year it happens. And for most of these years, we don't, I think we've only done it once where we adopted the actual voter approval rate in the last at least five years. But every year when we choose that as the rate that's going to be proposed, it just causes a huge amount of anxiety in the community. And then we try to explain that that's not actually the rate that was adopted, but it's difficult for people to understand that. So I just, and I know that I make that comment every year, that's why I don't agree with proposing automatically the voter approval rate, even though I understand we do need flexibility as we're finishing the budget. But I just think we have to be very careful about the rate that we decide to publish today, even though, I mean, we know how hard our staff has worked, Carmen, you and your team, to bring back a no new revenue budget to present that for 27. But I think if we just automatically publish the voter approval rate, people are going to think that that is what is actually going to be our adopted tax rate.

So what is your proposal?

I mean, I would want maybe the current MNO rate plus the new debt rate. That gives us some flexibility, some cushion.

I guess Betsy would discuss that once you do that, you can't back off of it, right?

That's correct.

Well, you can't go above it. You can't go above it. But you can go below it. You can go below. So this is in your financial policies, but you always have the ability to do anything by law, which would be any rate between the the new revenue and the voter approved rate. So your policy says that as a matter of policy, after receiving the calculated rates, the commissioner's court will as a matter of policy propose the, your policy says rollback, but that's now voter approved tax rate as a means of establishing a budgetary ceiling as well as to meet statutory publication requirements. This will allow the court to consider programs and projects in alignment with its annual strategic plan. The court's intent and goal during the budget hearings is to manage the potential impact on the final adopted rate for the fiscal year. So you could go with the current M&O plus new debt rate. That would give you some flexibility. It would give you about $4.3 million in revenue flexibility.

I have over the years advocated for doing what the policy that we've set says, and it's up to us to try to work with our media partners, so thank you. We do have some media there in the back to make sure that we're getting out to the public what actually is happening here today. We're proposing a ceiling, it's not the actual tax rate. You know, since I've been in office, there have been very few times in the last 10 or 12 years that we've actually not gone below the voter approval rate or what used to be known as a rollback rate. But it gives us flexibility. I think it's the most fiscally responsible and conservative option because we're We don't know what could happen between now and by the time we get to proposing the tax rate. We have a budget that's being proposed, but there may be things that are coming up that are unforeseen. It just gives us the maximum amount of flexibility that we may need to do what's right for the public and make sure things get funded. You know what I mean? We've all over the years repeatedly voted for things to be in the budget and I think it's important for us to understand that if we vote for something to be in the budget, then we have to vote to pay for it as well and this allows us that flexibility to do so. I, for one, have always been one of the Commissioner's Court members that have, when I say I want something in the budget, then I am willing to vote for what it takes to pay for it as well, and this has given me the flexibility to do that, and I think that's important for, the community to understand. I think the whole of this commissioner's court is going to work as hard as we can, and we have directed our staff to work as hard as they can to come in at the no new revenue rate. But that being said, I'm going to go ahead and make the motion to propose the voter approval rate. I'll second that.

We have a Judge Commissioner, it's Eric Rosales-Nagaglu, an Assistant County Attorney. Our Budget Director actually has a very specific motion. Okay, then I'll read that. Thank you.

I'll have the Judge read it.

Go ahead, Judge. You can make the motion if you'd like.

Let me read the... Proposed a property tax rate for El Paso County of 0.504717 per 100 assessed value for the 2026 tax year, which consists of a rate of 0.441718. per 100 assessed value for maintenance and operations of the county and a rate of 0.062999 per 100 assessed value for payments of the principal and interest on the debt of the county. Further schedule and publish notice for a public hearing to receive public comment on the proposed rate as follows. the public hearing is to be held on monday august 17th 2026 at 9 30 a.m in the in the judge alicia archicon commissioner's courtroom third floor room 303 enrique moreno county courthouse 500 east san antonio avenue please note that the public has two options in which to participate in the public hearing members of the public may attend in person at the enrique moreno courthouse AS NOTED EARLIER OR MEETING OF THE PUBLIC ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE AND ADDRESS THE COMMISSIONER'S COURT DURING THE PUBLIC HEARING AS WELL AS ANY MEETING. TO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC COMMENT PLEASE VISIT El Paso County or epcounty.com slash government.asp or https double slash formsoffice.com slash g9 epmege gxu. Agendas will continue to be posted online at https forward slash Twice up EP County prime government.com slash public slash portal to watch online. Please visit HTTPS double slash forward slash www.youtube.com slash at El Paso County Commissioners Court.

Judge, may I ask one question before there's a vote on that? So those public hearings in the past, we've had them at 530. This proposes to have it during the day. And I don't know if the court, if that's what your wish or if it's just a...

I mean, I can amend the motion to reflect 5-3 as we have traditionally done in the past. That way it gives ample opportunity for folks that may be working regular hours.

It's up to you all, but I know you traditionally have done them at 5-30. I think we should keep the 5-30.

Yes. Yeah, so can we amend the motion to reflect that change? Yes. Okay.

Yes. So the hearing will be held at 5.30 p.m. on August 17th, correct?

I'm in agreement with my second on that.

We have a motion to approve from Commissioner Stout, a second from Commissioner Coronado. Voting is open.

Judge Mayer.

Motion carries, one vote against, Commissioner Olguin.

Judge, Commissioner.

I know we've already done the vote on this and passed it, but just for the public to know, this is a ceiling. We've just received the certified values here recently. We have to put those in conjunction with not just what the no new revenue rate's gonna be based on the new valuation. I wanna see the exact figures. and what we're gonna have, and what these other needs are that we're still looking at before I decide what the rate is gonna be, and this just gives us flexibility. Can you put that slide back of the historical tax rates that this court has set over the last four years? I think it was in yellow. Or orange, something like that.

This one?

Yes, yes, that's it. So if you look from 2023 forward. The. Total rate without the point. You know the. The 5 cents had been 40 cents, right? 37 cents 39 cents. This one would be 38 cents at the no new revenue rate, right?

Right.