The TIRZ Dirty Secret

The City of El Paso should be telling you this, but quite frankly, the City has always sucked at telling their own story. Its like they go out of their way to find the worst communications people possible, and then make sure they hire them.

There's something you should know about the TIRZ that you aren't being told. There's a reason no on is telling you either, its because the westside still has a strangle hold on the power base in this town.

So allow me for a minute, to talk to all the people who DON'T live on the westside for a minute.

What no on is telling you is that if there is no TIRZ in place (the one with all the controversy about some Lost Dog), WE will have to pay the bill for the westside's stormwater infrastructure.

With the TIRZ in place, the westside pays for its own stormwater infrastructure, from the taxes collected from the TIRZ in that area. It goes right back into funding their own infrastructure. If the TIRZ is not in place, what changes is that the tax revenue won't be collected or tagged for infrastructure in that area.

Now the counter-argument made by one city representative to me about this was that if there is no building in the area, there is no need for stormwater infrastructure. That turned out to be a big fat lie.

The City of El Paso is constantly being sued by property owners in the area ever time it starts to rain because the water flows downhill, floods them out, and they argue the PSB and therefor the city, are liable. The city owns land on the mountain above them, and the water has to go somewhere. Think Horizon City and Socorro. Socorro suffers from flooding but the water is coming from Horizon. Its the same situation.

So if there's no TIRZ, where does the money come from to pay for the stormwater infrastructure?

Well I'm glad you asked. For all of you that stomp your feet and hold your breath every time city council raises taxes, you should be really upset about this because the only way to pay for that infrastructure without a TIRZ is from the general fund.

They'll have to raise taxes.

But more importantly, don't you think the westside gets enough of our shit already? Seriously, how much of our tax dollars is enough for the westside? With a TIRZ, those of you in Central, the Northeast, the Eastside and the Valley don't have to pay for El Paso's uppercrust's infrastructure.

The TIRZ makes westsiders pay for their own infrastructure, instead of raising YOUR taxes to pay for it.

Other than westsiders, who in their right mind would want the rest of us to pay for their stuff from our taxes?