Commissioners Court - Regular Meeting

Yes, good morning, everyone. So today we will be led in the Pledge of Allegiance by Mr. Ray Borrego of the San Elisario Veterans Association. Mr. Borrego, welcome and thank you for being here with us.

If you ever have a chance, go down to Saneli and to his Veterans Museum. He's an amazing, amazing veteran. Thank you, Ray.

Thank you, Pastor. What a great way to start the week. Thank you for your words. God bless you all.

Yeah, thank you so much. On behalf of myself and our commissioners, we welcome you. I'm sure you feel the energy. It's going to get better, I can assure you. And, you know, we've got so many veterans here today, and, of course, being the Veterans Capital of the USA, it's such a great honor to have them here. There's one of the items that they'll be here to support, and just... Here in the pastor, of all the things we've got, we've got a pretty heavy, we go from great resolutions to some business that really impacts our community. So we thank them for that. I want to give thanks to, we had a bl

Thank you very much, Judge. I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to thank a couple of groups of people that responded to the heavy rains and flooding that happened, particularly in East El Paso over the weekend. Precinct 1 had a few inches of rainfall. We saw Mother Nature's power on Saturday. We had lots of people without electricity for a few hours on Saturday into Sunday. So I wanted to thank our utility workers, El Paso Electric. They were outside in my neighborhood at all hours of Saturday night trying to restore power to people who were affected by power outages. I want to thank o

Thank you for that, Commissioner. Well, once again, thank you. We're wishing all of you an amazing Monday, but just a beautiful week in itself. So we thank you for being here today.

Hearing none, I'm going to move to approve, Cesar.

Dr. Tiffany, I love to say Dr. Tiffany because there's that formality about her and then there's this incredible. I'm gonna go ahead and read the resolution first and then you'll come right after that. That way we can get the vote done and complete.

Like I said, it's quite an honor because she really represents and has a tremendous love for El Paso. And guess what? She's a veteran. Can you imagine that? Thank you. Whereas El Paso proudly holds a distinction as a veteran's capital United States of America and uniquely situated at the intersection of two countries, three states and three cities stands as a symbol of resilience, diversity, service and unity. Whereas music and movement are universal languages that transcend cultural and generational boundaries, bringing people together while promoting wellness, understanding, and community co

Motion carries. Also want to recognize our Grammy Award winner, Roger Argenis, here in the audience. You mind standing up, please? and a great friend. And now, Dr. Tiffany, we'll hear from you and your performance.

Especially the aye-aye. That got me right off to start. So thank you so much for, I mean, this is such a, I mean, what a privilege to have you. And she's been in the county. She's done things for the veterans nonstop. And so very, very, very proud of her. Roger, would you mind saying a few words on behalf of?

Also, for you, both of us putting this on the map and the quality, if you saw the quality of the video, it was just amazing. I mean, it's just a beautiful video. that's gonna highlight and break away a lot of our narratives of who we are, because it shows who we really are, not who people think that we are. So once again, thank you so much, and we'd love to take a picture with all of you, thank you.

Oh, thank you so much for saying that. Thank you.

Such a pleasure to have such young people involved in sports and also putting us on the map, so I'll read the resolution. Whereas the Cowan Stingray Swim Team exemplified unparalleled teamwork, dedication, tenacity, and resilience throughout the 2026 Summer League competitive season. And whereas the team solidified their excellence by securing top three finishes across age group six to 12 at the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation Regionals, earning 12 coveted spots and whereas the stingrays proudly carried the spirit of El Paso, Texas to the state level competition competing with distinction ag

Thank you. We are so proud of you and you know some of you that learned how to swim at the age of 15 and they're already in competition. It gives you a sense of an understanding. I also want to thank you. I happen to have known Mr. Cowan And thank you for continuing to making him, I remember how hard he worked. I was actually a lifeguard at a Washington swimming pool and I got to meet him there and everything he did to have that. So thank you for that as well. But thank you and I hope all of you young people understand how important and how successful you are and like I've always said, make su

Well, thank you. Mr. Sanchez, thank you so much. If you don't recognize him, he's from Cathedral, the principal there at Cathedral, and we're very, very proud of him as well. So I'll read the resolution, and then we'll... Whereas Christian Alvarado was born in El Paso, Texas March 17, 2009 and has demonstrated exceptional determination, discipline and passion for sports becoming an inspiration of the borderland community and future generation of athletes. Whereas Christian Alvarado began his athletic journey in martial arts at the age of three displaying extraordinary talent and commitment fro

How amazing was that rendition? Oh my goodness. Mr. Sanchez.

Well, thank you for everything that you do as well. Mr. Sanchez is the very proud brother of Aaron Sanchez, the Master Chef that you see all the time. That's his brother, a very proud brother that you have. Thank you so much. Christian, you want to tell us a little about yourself? This is quite an amazing journey that you've taken.

Do you want to have Woodworth here? Anybody?

Don't you get the feeling that you haven't seen anything yet? I think this gentleman is going to be amazing. You can see his discipline, his commitment to El Paso and his love for El Paso. And you know what makes it even more beautiful? When he gave thanks to God. That was very moving for a young adult. Thank you.

So it's my honor, and you'll see what I mean by this incredible, incredible family. Whereas in June 2026, El Paso County Commissioner's Court recognized and celebrated the rich history, cultural significance, and enduring tradition of Lucha Libre, honoring its lasting impact as a symbol of heritage, athleticism, and community pride through the borderland region. where El Paso is home to some of the nation's most respected wrestling families, such as the Delgado family, whose remarkable legacy includes more than 80 years and four generations of professional wrestlers, beginning with Don Fernand

Thank you. Would you like to say something?

Oh, that's so kind of you. What a great promoter. What a beautiful promoter.

incredible but you know i people don't realize the collateral impact that the family has in the charities and the things they do i've gotten involved with them and it's amazing how much they want to do for their community and as you could see uh with their beautiful uh daughter and son following up and continuing this legacy. But we're trying very hard to sort of revive La Lucha Libre because it originated here. It's part of our culture. And I think that El Paso would benefit by really bringing that sport back up again. And obviously the Coliseum would be an ideal place because it's so iconic.

Thank you, Judge and Commissioners. It is my honor to bring forward this resolution today in support of Job Corps and their graduating class. As you may remember, Job Corps has a special place in my heart. My mom was a counselor at Job Corps for many years, many years ago, and really believed in the mission of Job Corps to lift up the youth in our community. So I'll go ahead and read the resolution, and then we'll hear from our guests.

Whereas the youth of our nation are among our greatest assets, and investing in their education, technical skills, and professional development strengthens our workforce, economy, and communities. And whereas the David L Carrasco Job Corps Center has proudly served the El Paso community for 56 years, providing tuition-free academic education, career technical training, and workforce development opportunities to young adults throughout El Paso and the surrounding region. and whereas the David L. Carrasco Job Corps Center empowers students to earn a high school diploma or high school equivalency

Thank you so much. I can tell you the amount of lives that have been changed because of the program and individuals like yourself. When I was a probation officer, I had a really strong connection, but something's in the air with Job Corps. About a month ago, I got a call from David, Dr. Carrasco, who is at School of Divinity, and they're going to do a movie about Dr. Carrasco and the Job Corps Center. Then I get this phone call, someone found a banner mural, like 18 by 18, beautiful mural that was done by the youth of Job Corps. It has right in the middle, it says that it was done by, Pando I

Thank you, Mr. Aguilar, Ms. Valle, for being here and continuing to make sure that we're able to celebrate Job Corps alongside you every year. Thank you to each of the students for sharing your stories with us and your accomplishments. And we look forward to seeing you again. And please know that El Paso is here to support you. And thank you. We're so proud to have Job Corps here in El Paso. Thank you. Let's go ahead and take a photo.

Thank you, Judge. So we've recognized a lot of incredible student athletes this morning and of course a family, the legacy of a family involved in a very important athletic field here in our community. And so we're getting ready to recognize another incredible group of athletes. And I know that the students couldn't be here with us today, but I think that they're gonna be appearing by video, so hopefully they're getting connected. But I know that we do have George Gaspard, the president of the Border Youth Association with us. And oh, some of the students I think were able to make it wonderful

Amazing, amazing. You wanna introduce yourselves, please?

Oh my goodness, thank you so much. I hope each and every one of you, you really feel what you've done and what you've accomplished. And when you said they still have some time left over, we want to see you here, okay? We want to see you back here. It's not over. And it's not over. So thank you very much for what you do. Commissioner Holguin, today we highlighted and we're showing the kind of talent and skills here in El Paso, unbelievable. And you're part of that elite group. So thank you. Commissioner Holguin?

Thank you, Judge. Yes, it's phenomenal how many incredible student athletes El Paso County produces, and you all are definitely in that group. And I have no doubt that next year we'll be celebrating you all bringing home the national championship. So good luck.

If we could have you come up for a photo.

Not on my phone, sir. You don't have direct questions at me during this interlude.

Thank you for being such a great role model. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much, Cesar. If I could just provide a very brief introduction and then pass it over to our staff for their presentation that they have. First of all, I want to thank all of our veterans who are here. Thank you for joining us. I know many of you came from communities that are further away, Tornillo, Faven, Socorro, San Elisario. Thank you so much for being here this morning, and thank you for your support for this item. Just to give a little bit of background, so the Neighborhood Improvement Program, which this court has funded for the past several years, allows neighborhood

Commissioner Butler. Yes, Commissioner Butler.

If it's okay with Commissioner Orguina, I'd like to make a motion to approve. Thank you, Commissioner.

Oh, we do have public comment. I'll second the motion, but if we could hear public comment. Thank you, Daniela.

Well, just once again, I'd like to thank all of our veterans for being here and thank you for everything that you do to honor and remember all of our veterans and those that have already passed. Thank you all.

Thank you for your service, but thank you so much for continuing to serve your community. It's just very impressed with everything that you do. And of course, Javier, somehow, in some ways, always behind us and supporting it. Commissioner O'Geen, thank you so much.

Good morning, Judge and Commissioners. I just wanted to give a little background on this item. As you all know, I've been working with the Texas Conference of Urban Counties. I'm the policy chair for on their board and we have been working for a number of weeks on a lot of the language that's in the resolution. This is not a partisan issue. I think you're starting to see across Texas and across the country both Republican and Democrats are looking into this issue and are concerned about what's going on, especially in Texas with the rapid influx of data centers. Really, I think the doors were o

Sorry. Perfect. Thank you for that clarification. Even better. But the resolution establishes principles for response to a large-scale industrial development, including water use, electrical reliability, transparency, ensuring that project-related infrastructure and service costs are borne by development rather than ratepayers and taxpayers. The letter is going to ask the governor to ensure El Paso receives the same level of review and policy consideration as ERCOT communities and to make the state's review meaningful and transparent and not just a political ploy that's going to go away after

Yeah, if we can send a copy to the state delegation so that they're aware of the resolution and the letter that's being forwarded to Governor Abbott if the vote passes today.

Cesar, we were gonna take a lunch break, but I've seen Mr. Gonzalez here all morning, so I'd like to take that item. Okay, sir. Just one second.

Yeah, just one comment with regard to Commissioner Stout's presentation of the resolution. I just want to point out that I think the governor's doing something good, but to exclude the El Paso area from the rest of the state just because we're not connected by the electrical grid, to me is just, so all the other factors that he's concerned with it, he's not concerned about El Paso. It just shows you how we are being run in this state leadership. But the other comment I do want to make is that Mehta has agreed to adhere to a lot of the governor's issues that he's got. But there's no... I guess

Betsy, any feedback from HR or anything that we need to understand? Yes, sir. The impact of the decision?

And Betsy, I think you were checking to make sure that the required paperwork and application had been completed.

Not sure if our district clerk has any comments. Okay.

So, Carmen, the recommendation would be to maintain the 209-846 in the uniform line item, but reduce that from the three manly and ops contingencies?

Let me, commissioner. Yeah, the active motion, though, I'm confused. I don't understand that that's what they were asking. It doesn't include the 209K.

I'm okay with that because, you know, we need to honor the contract as much as possible. We've already voted on that issue and so I'm

The full $3.209 million? Yes. Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure that's correct because it was, I thought they were increasing it to the overtime.

That way it's still available if it's needed.

So then we don't have to take action on item five, which was the closing item? Correct.

But that was in their budget that they submitted. Yes, ma'am. OK.

The impact is $475,000 minus the $58,000 reduction. All right.

which is back here pending adjustment to their budget but the new positions the three new positions in the capital request those are going to account for those yeah those were not included in the recommended book but they are included in jpd's budget that is now going to go into our recommended book correct so that's still going to be an impact into our recommended book

Judge, may I? It's a 300,000 capital addition for specific or it's just to add to their CIT budget?

The other question I have is that they're trying to engage in a collaboration over the mental health issue. Is that part of next year's budget with?

Yeah, the collaboration with respect to the mental health issues. The collaborative if with one of the state reps, it's doing it.

No, I'm just asking. I know it's a different matter. I'm just asking is there that if that other amount is there an amount already in that proposal or waiting till the following budget year? Because that hasn't been instituted.

Right. Has that been included already in their budget?

And I think that should be like a... primary importance for our state delegation to ask for this coming session.

Is there a reason why, I know we talked about this briefly last week, but the $300,000 for capital that GPD is requesting, that wouldn't be taken out of the CIP budget that we just approved?

Well, but we just approved the 2.4 million additional to CIP.

Are there any other departments that we took out their CIP requests?

Are you suggesting commissioner that JPD make that 300,000 capital request through the CIP process rather than specifically included in their budget?

I was thinking out loud. I think because JPD has a separate board and a separate process for approving their budget, I think I'm okay with the CIP request. I just want to make sure that we're fully accounting for all of the CIP somehow. So it's not just the 2.4 million, it's the additional requests from these other departments.

Judge, I'm sorry. I don't know if you're finished, Commissioner. I am. Judge, one other thing. One other thing I remembered, Betsy, with respect to the JPD's welding program.

Okay. I just want to make sure we were still on that.

So option E, for example, would be an additional 1.7 impact in addition to the 9.2. Yes, that's correct. That's already included in the recommended budget. Yes, ma'am.

Betsy? Yes, sir. And with that 1.7 million, you're saying we could take it out of the fund balance?

Yeah, and I think the court's done a very good job in making sure we build that back up, because we were really getting very, very low on it. And now not only are we complying with our policy, we're one and a half times the policy.

I'll go ahead and make the motion to approve option E. I brought this up last week. I really think that the commissioner's court should continue to try to push up the minimum wage. It's still not even a living wage. In El Paso County, we're still behind the ball when it comes to actually being a living wage. WE ASKED UMC TO DO SO AS WELL. IT'S MUCH EASIER TO DO IT INCREMENTALLY THAN TRYING TO JUMP FROM 15 AND A HALF TO $18 MINIMUM WAGE IN A YEAR OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. I'D LIKE TO MOVE THAT WE APPROVE OPTION E.

I'm with you, Commissioner. My issue is ordinarily I wouldn't want to do those increases out of fund balance, but because last year, actually last year, we went without giving our employees a raise in order to increase our fund balance. And I think it's very healthy now, and I think it's probably prudent to do that. The problem I still see with it is that next year, we're going to need... probably higher on the maintenance and operations side because of all the other projects that we've approved that we're building right now that's really going to provide a big jump you know to our maintenance

Yeah, I mean, I think we have a very healthy fund balance. Again, work that's been done over a number of years, right? And I think it was two years in a row that we actually forego, we had foregone giving increases to our- To 23. To our staff, right? Some other things like provide extra extra days extra days off. To try and to try and make up for some of that, but. You know, last year we we made the decision to increase by a pin and a half. To to bulk up our fund balance to have to have a cushion. And I just want to remind the public that we we not only did we. to make that increase, but also

We reduced it by twice that much, by 3%.

Yeah, that says barely a little over 1% each year since we gave them a raise.

THANK YOU. NOT JUST THOSE EMPLOYEES COVERED BY THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT BUT EXCLUDES THE CONSTITUENTS BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT TECHNICALLY UNDER COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT, RIGHT?

I AM SUPPORTIVE OF RAISING OUR MINIMUM WAGE TO $16 AN HOUR. It's an inevitability that we have to increase our minimum wage and take care of every employee at the county. I for all of these action items that we're taking today, my preference is not to increase taxes at all and to stick with the no new revenue rate. So I'm supportive of it conditionally.

um as long as we can um uh keep the preference to to that um to reduce fund balance the fund balance yeah and this motion doesn't doesn't state where it's coming from we'll have to make that vote later but i think i don't i don't think i've heard anybody on the on the on the dais say that we want to raise the we want to change the from going from the new revenue rate

Yeah, and I know that in the upcoming slides, we also have the proposed increase to the retirees, and I think that's very, very, very important. So that's an additional, that's going to be an additional impact. But we can't leave our retirees behind either.

So even if we approve this 1% increase, that's not going to get the retirees to the level they were at in 2025, right? They're still going to be below that level?

And are y'all recommending we do it also from fund balance?

And I just want to point out that these increases that we're doing this year, whether it's cost of living or STEP, for employees and retirees or for our sheriff's association is because of the difficult decision that this court made last year. It was not a unanimous decision and I would like for folks to understand that this is why sometimes we have to make these decisions. It's important for us to continue to help make sure that our employees are paid the way we feel they should and compensated the way we feel they should, even our retirees. And I, for one, have always voted to pay for the th

How is the process going for those who wish to get an exemption from the 16-week hiring?

If I could just comment. You'll notice that we've approved either partially or fully a majority of the requests. I think it's because the committee does recognize that these are important positions. While we are trying to save as much as we can in salaries, we also don't want the departments to forego very needed employees. So I think, though, to Commissioner Coronado's point last week, we may want to look at maybe reducing the period because 16 weeks is, you know, that is, like you mentioned, a third of the year. So I think it's important to continue the policy to try to continue to reduce an

Judge? I disagree. Do we have the figure on what the savings are without the policy?

Give me a rough estimate. What are we saving per year with the policy? in dollar amounts, not percentages?

So, Carmen, if you take the- Historically, average it out over the last three, four years?

My opinion is we either need these people or we don't. Either we need them or we don't. Let's just save money and let's cut everybody's salary every year a certain percentage every other year by a certain amount. That's what we're doing, each department.

I get it, but we're already exhibiting some savings without that policy. And now what we're doing is we're hand-stringing people in some departments from filling those positions that they need. Do we need them or we don't need them?

I, I, yeah, I think, I don't think we're in a place yet where we should get rid of the policy completely, but I definitely think that we can reduce the number of weeks. Maybe between the eight and the 12, maybe 10 is the, you know, the, the middle ground.

That would be for the eight weeks minimum. I don't want to go any further above that. I really think where our priorities are. When we decide whether these positions that we have, whether we need them or we don't, then if we decide we need them, then we need them, period. We need to find the savings somewhere else. Sorry, but we either need them or we don't need them.

and the smaller the department is, the more they hurt. So what we're doing is hurting the smaller departments and the ones that are really critical, like for example, you know, all the judges courts. Those are obviously necessary, right? But commissioner's court in the past actually kept the hiring freeze on court reporter and we got sued. And we lost. I'm just saying.

I think we should reduce the waiting period to eight weeks. I'd be fine with eight weeks. And I think that, you know, keep in place the review committee and demonstrates a little bit of constraint in hiring quickly and also help to boost some savings.

Judge, we appreciate your feedback. Judge?

Yes. And, you know, and it's not just departments like Norma's. It's departments like even smaller. It's the county clerks. It's, for example, the offices of all the JPs. They're smaller departments. So when somebody... vacates that position, it really stresses that organization there, that department. It is, you know.

And it wasn't this court who did that, by the way. It was many years ago.

I think you all know I've been here practicing for about the same time.

Judge, I think Betsy's suggestion for the eight weeks to make sure that all vacation, potential vacation time is paid out is a reasonable next step. And then we can always come back and look at the hiring waiting freeze again, just depending on how things are going. So I would move to reduce it to eight weeks.

We'll have Commissioner Gruden, I'll second.

We'd like to be, but I'll second it. I wish we could just get rid of it and whatever savings we get from the vacancies, as long as it takes, I think that's what we should do.

Elected official salaries that we had a discussion on last week, including the county attorney salary, was that supposed to go into effect as of October 1st or as of January 3rd, like the rest of the increases?

Yeah, I mean, I'd just like to point out that there's been a ton of public misinformation. I mean, at worst, not knowing what the heck's going on in Commissioner's Court and people misinforming the public, or at best that, or at worst, just outright trying to sully the reputation of members of the Commissioner's Court for for quote unquote voting to suppress other elected officials and other county employees salaries because we didn't get it. So I really would like the record to reflect that any increases that were going to be given to elected officials would not start until January. So Commis

They've accused us of lining our pockets.

of doing what happened and I really hope that members of the Commissioner's Court who may have differing views about the way that we did things aren't in cahoots with some of these folks and trying to I would just hope that members of the Commissioner's Court would be also respectful and not be working with these members who are unscrupulous members in this community who are trying to misinform purposely and sully, again, the reputation of colleagues of y'alls. And I hope everybody on this Court would stand up and say, you know what, that's not true. You know what, that's not right. when they

Yeah, neither you or I would have benefited from that decision. And I think, I really think that going forward, treating everybody similarly situated, I mean, those are the lofty goals of any organization. And yet we are disregarding those things with regard to equity and treating everybody the same.

And I thought it was pretty clear from our discussion that those decisions that we made would go into effect in January, 2027. I thought that was pretty clear, so I'm sorry to hear that you received comments contrary to that. But I know anyone that I spoke to, I always made sure that for all the changes that we made, everyone understood they were going into place in 2027, January 27, not October.

And Judge, while we're waiting for the voting to come up, I just wanted to take a moment to thank our county attorney, Christina Chanchez, for doing that, for taking that step. It certainly wasn't something that you had to do, but it really shows your character and your leadership, the fact that you are doing it. So thank you.

Let me just say one thing on that item, Judge. Sometimes some of our constables are asked to, and it's not something from their own choosing, but sometimes they're asked by other departments, including the feds, to assist in certain situations, including EPPD, Sheriff's Office, all, you know, and if they are able to, sometimes, I've talked to some of them, sometimes because they don't have that extra overtime, sometimes they say no. This allows them at least some discretion to be able to help out those other organizations, those other law enforcement departments when they're asked. So I just w

If I could, Judge, I agree that our constables do so much additional work. They all go above and beyond. The reason I'm going to be voting no on these requests is because I don't think it's fair that all of the other constables' offices and every other department, really, except for very few, have met their 2% cut, and that's my hesitancy in restoring these requests, because all of our other constables did have to meet those cuts, as did a large majority of our departments. But it's not because I question the work that the constables do. They do incredibly important work, but we did ask all of

I do, but it doesn't seem to be. I don't know why it didn't keep going. Okay.

So they're asking for their overtime budget to be made whole entirely from what they requested?

They requested $28,247, and then the recommended was $19,536. That to me seems about $9,000.

Well, because my understanding, and this is only because I met with the precinct one constable, is that they did cut about 1.5% of their budget. And so... That's one of the reasons I was okay with the action before this one. So did the constable of Precinct 4 cut any?

Well, in that case, I see it differently than the situation with precinct one constable in various ways.

I'm hesitating to second Commissioner Coronado. Okay. Do you understand what I'm saying?

It doesn't look like there's a second then. Yeah. That's good.

So what is the, I mean, do we have an actual budget for these funds? Because I didn't see that in the backup.

But I think I'd like to have more consistency. I don't think we've ever said we might do this. Let's come up with some money. And we're right in the middle of trying to understand the situation. And to me, I've talked to both ESD chiefs, and they're still not convinced that's the right thing to do, and I feel like we're already going ahead and saying, well, we're moving in a different direction from the discussions we should be having with you.

But we agreed that, you know, one of the reasons, and I argued that point, was that don't worry, we're not going to spend money. We're just going to look at this. And now we're budgeting $500,000. And I just feel we're doing it in reverse. I've never seen any time that we say we might do this, let's come up with the money. And so I'm just concerned that it's not a good optics for the discussions we're having with different people trying to figure this out, that we're already moving ahead.

But Betsy, I think the judge's point, though, is that at least I don't feel like we have already gotten to that step. I feel like we still have a lot of work to do before we get to that step. So I think that's... And I don't mean to speak for the judge, but I feel like that's the point that he's making, is that we're already setting aside money. I thought we were still in having these conversations. I know there was a working group that was put together to try to figure out, because certainly I don't think we want to reinvent the wheel. The ESDs, I think, are our subject matter experts. So we

Commissioners, Judge, I know that this has been an ongoing discussion and the last time we did discuss it, we did talk about budget implications and if we are going to in any way implement and enforce not just a county-wide fire code, which we passed last year, but the outdoor business order, which is a priority for residents in my precinct, we absolutely need a plan. And a plan without a budget will not move the needle on this process at all. And so I really appreciate the opportunity to set aside this funding. We may not need it. We may not need all of it. We might need more of it depending

I'm going to make a motion to approve. I think Commissioner.

You know, we've made a decision that we wanted to look forward to make sure that we have a little more input and regulatory authority over these issues that have come up, including these fires we're having out there, these outdoor businesses, all this. If we don't allot money to it, we're not going to be able to decide one way or another. We've already decided that we want to do that. How we do it is a different issue, but I mean, I agree with Commissioner Butler. Even if we don't dedicate that full amount, but we need to take some money so we can start talking about these issues. Otherwise, w

To me, it's the optics, Commissioner Coronado. It's almost like we don't know about this, but we have $500,000 somewhere. And we haven't even concluded what we're going to do. ESD feels very strongly that whatever we're doing, we're duplicating. We don't know if that's a fact. But I just feel like our constituents are sitting, oh, let me just grab $500,000 and see if maybe we might need that money. Typically, the way I've seen it is you make a plan, you make a decision, and then you try to figure out what the budget is for that decision that you've made. I don't think we're there yet to be abl

Because this is funding that would further reduce our fund balance. It sounds like the court from our discussion today is in agreement that these additional expenses that we've been adding today will most likely be taken from the fund balance so that we're not raising taxes on our residents. And 500,000 is a pretty significant amount, I think, from our fund balance for something that we're not exactly sure yet how it's actually gonna happen.

We'll call the vote. Cesar, you want to call the vote?

Judge? Since we're on other requests, I do have a request. And I don't know how we should do this, Betsy, but I would like to see if we can dedicate $100,000 to the Economic Impact Fund, dedicate it to both school or scholarships for the Promise Program. That is developing forward. It'll help us with some issues related to either books or some people that don't have the full funding after they apply for financial aid. They have a little gap left. that we provide that extra funding for some of our Promise Program participants. I don't think it's a lot, but I think that the program is growing. W

But are you requesting that or are you requesting an additional $100,000 from our fund?

No, no, just that it'd be dedicated out of the fund.

I've got other ideas that we're gonna be able to get some more money to. without any impact to our budget.

Is there going to be a list after this, I think? Yes, can you go to the next? So these are policy considerations that were brought up during the conversation and are

Yes. Last week we discussed the issue related to the Darrington amount that was, I didn't see that.

Obviously, it's two different roads, right?

THANK YOU, CARMEN, AND YOUR STAFF AND EVERYBODY FOR, I KNOW IT DIDN'T TAKE YOU A LONG TIME TO DO THIS. THANK YOU. IT TOOK A LOT. I'VE BEEN WORKING THEM OVER TIME, I'M SURE, BUT THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION.

Did we ever find out what the cause of the meal increases going was? Why we're having to pay the 1.5 million for meals?

Chair Chief Chaites has an answer for us.

Cesar, real quickly before we go into executive, I wanted to ask if I can reopen item 7A. There's some information that I mistakenly left out of the letter that I want to request that we add into the letter. So I'll make a motion to reconsider item 7A.

Thank you, Cesar. So just real quickly, I mistakenly omitted language within the letter that would be requesting the governor to call a special session as soon as possible because of the urgency of the situation. I think there was something that alluded to it being urgent, but I wanted to make sure that the letter reflected that we're asking for a special session.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. I'll second that.

Well, thank you and welcome. I'll read my opening remarks. The county may not adopt a tax rate that exceeds the lower of the voter approval rate or the no new revenue tax rate calculated as provided by Texas Property Tax Code Chapter 26 until it has held a public hearing on the proposed tax increase. The tax rate proposed for El Paso County on August 3rd, 2026 is greater than the no new revenue tax rate. All persons, both proponents and opponents of the tax increase will be afforded adequate opportunity to present their views. Carmen?

Judge, if there are no questions for Carmen, I would like to propose that the county adopt the no new revenue rate as presented. Second.

Okay, so first I'd like to move to close the hearing. Second.

Okay, now I would like to make the motion to adopt the no new revenue rate as presented.

In accordance with Section 26.05 Texas Tax Code, the adoption of a tax rate for a unit of government must be voted on in two parts. One for the tax rate for the maintenance and operations of the governmental unit, and the second for the tax rate for the payment of principal and debt for the governmental unit. As such, I will read two motions into the record, each of which will require a vote. Motion number one. that the El Paso County Commissioner adopt the no new revenue tax rate for 2026 tax year. The no new revenue tax rate for El Paso County is a property tax rate of 0.451133 per 100 asses

Can we say something before we actually take the vote? Can we say something before we vote? Absolutely. Okay. I just wanted to talk a little bit about what we're doing today and give some perspective to the members of the public as well. You know, every year we go through this exercise and many times what we'll do is we'll propose a tax rate at the ceiling at the highest level we can go, which is the voter approval rate, and then we work down from that level. This year it looks like we're going to be able to vote on the NUNU REVENUE RATE, WHICH I THINK IS A POSITIVE THING FOR WHAT THIS BUDGET

So $1.1 billion of assessed valuation that the county of El Paso can no longer account for when we are looking at the revenue that we bring in with business property. And then there is also a homestead exemption that was provided to veterans. We all love veterans in this community. We're strongly supportive of veterans and we want them to have these types of things. But it is also important for the state legislature to understand and for the public to understand that When you give a homestead exemption to one group of individuals, you either have to cut your budget to make up for the loss or y

Commissioner? Commissioner Coronado? Yes. Thank you for those comments, Commissioner. Yeah, you know what? I think this court has really done a good job of trying to maintain the tax rate as low as possible. We've had some challenges, as Commissioner Stout pointed out. One of the other things, though, Commissioner Stout, is that the state put out for a referendum to reduce or increase the exemption twice already for the school districts for the homestead exemption. And the first time around, the state basically filled that gap when the voters decided to vote for it, and filled that gap. This l

I think, Commissioner, I don't know. You're still on the CAD board, but one thing that I think the public needs to understand as well is that the county does not regulate what happens at the Central Appraisal District and how valuations are gone about. That is also regulated by the state. The state legislature sets about the rules and the comptroller of the state of Texas helps carry out those regulations. If if for some reason the state comptroller thinks that our that our local CAD is not valuing properties at the correct level and and they have to be within 95% of what the comptroller think

Very well said. Yeah, the central appraisal district evaluates properties every year and obviously they do mass appraisals. They can't go out and appraise every single property there, that'd be too costly. And so the state has mandated that every county and every central appraisal district board must appraise the property taxes within a certain percentage. And if not, it's not the Central Appraisal District Board that hurts. What hurts is our school districts. Funding gets deducted from our school district funding because of the equity case that had been put forward in the past. And so it's ti

I just have a few brief comments and I wanted to start by thanking our county administrator and her team and our auditor and our budget director. These conversations about not only our budget but our tax rate happen on a continual basis and I think Betsy you heard us loud and clear over the past eight to ten months that we did not want to increase the tax rate this year. Or at least that was my feedback. And so I appreciate that the budget that we've built and that we're building is based off of a no new revenue rate. That makes it a lot easier for us to make the decision about the tax rate. A

Thank you, Commissioner. I think one of the things that I would love the community to understand is that had we taken, you know, the gentleman that got up and talked about everything that was needed in their community, if we were to go with the voter approved rate it would be forty six million dollars that we would be able to work with to do the kinds of things that people expect from us so by not taking the the voter approved rate we have 46 million dollars less to do the things that people have discussed so i just want i mean i'm very proud of this commissioner's court because it's tempting

Thank you, Carmen. Thank you, everybody, for the long work you've done on the budget. Thank you.

Thank you. Second motion is the El Paso County Commissioners adopt the no new revenue tax rate for the 2026 tax year. The no new revenue tax rate for El Paso County is a property tax of 0.451133 per 100 assessed value that consists of a rate of 0.062999 per 100 assessed value for the payment of principal and interest of the debts of El Paso County fiscal year 2027. And further to approve and authorize the county judge to execute an order indicating the same.

Are there any questions that you would like for anything you'd like to ask for, Mr. I just want to take the opportunity to recognize that ex-mayor also of Horizon and just an advocate for a lot of things beyond Horizon. So we thank you for all your work at MPO and transportation and, you know, have a tremendous respect and appreciation for your knowledge. So I'm glad you're part of this process.

Thank you. And now our Mayor, Mayor Renteria from Horizon. Thank you as well to be here with us.

our staff here. Mayor, we thank you. I want to repeat myself, but every opportunity I have, the mayor was giving a presentation and everybody sees horizon, what they want to believe horizon is, right? Yes, sir. But horizon proper is very different from the perception that everybody else has. So a tremendous amount of the surrounding areas consider themselves horizon. And they use a lot of the facilities and they go to Horizon. And so we thank you because you're providing something way beyond where you're from. I mean, where your areas consist of. And so we thank you for that. And I think it's

And of course, Commissioner Olguin has first hand knowledge.

I know that some of the commissioners did have some questions, but I do just want to thank you, Mayor Renteria, Mayor Miller, and all of the EDC staff who's here. I know how hard it is to set aside a block of several hours. And even though there are still some of these language issues that we need to clarify, I think we all want the same thing like you mentioned. We want more recreational opportunities for our community. We recognize, at least I recognize, that this would be a tremendous benefit. Again, like the judge said, not just Horizon City proper. It's not just going to be residents of H

Thank you, Mayor. I think a lot of my questions are very specific to timelines and funding allocations and numbers, both in terms of the county's contribution and property contributions. assessed property values over time. So hopefully by the time we see each other again, those will have been answered and resolved. But I just want to echo the comments of Commissioner Ongine. I know that if there was a municipality in Montana Vista, I would want the county to partner with that municipality to provide quality of life services that not one county or one municipality can do on their own. And I kno

Thank you. So Betsy, any direction here to...

Agree. Well, thank you both. Thank you as well. Appreciate you.

I did not expect this. I thought maybe...

Are we going to be able to take a small break or we're just powering through? Oh, okay.

Thank you. I guess there's nothing better than organic growth, and we're always very pleased when we see and we have these discussions about what's going to happen in the future that we had some time back, and just to see that you continue to grow in El Paso is very fortunate for us as well. Thank you.

Just the only other thing is that you didn't include yourself. So we also want to thank you, Roberto, for all your hard work and everything you've been doing. Thank you.