Commentary: The El Paso County Commissioners Court today unanimously adopted the No New Revenue Tax Rate for FY2022, which means that El Paso County will not collect more in property taxes from taxpayers than it did in FY2021. In fact, not only did the County of El Paso not increase taxes, but will actually be reducing the tax rate for the next fiscal year, resulting in savings to El Paso County taxpayers.
Commissioner Iliana Holguin of Pct. 3 is proud to have led the effort to reduce the tax rate for El Paso County residents, and pointed to the ongoing pandemic as the primary reason for trying to alleviate the tax burden for its citizens as much as possible. "We must not forget that we are still in the midst of a global pandemic and that many of our residents are still suffering financially. According to El Pasoans Fighting Hunger, approximately 12,000 families per week were still in need of food assistance throughout the month of July in order to keep their families fed. The County's Rental Assistance program has committed close to $1 million in rental assistance to families still struggling due to COVID, and another nearly $1 million in utility assistance. It is clear that El Paso County families still need help, and now is definitely not the time to increase the tax burden on our citizens. In fact, we need to try to reduce the tax burden and help our residents keep more money in their pockets."
The No New Revenue Tax Rate adopted today by the Commissioners Court for FY2022 will be $0.470181 per $100 taxable property value. The adopted tax rate is lower than the FY2021 tax rate of $0.488997 per $100 taxable property value. At a time when many governmental entities are in fact raising taxes on El Paso residents, the County of El Paso is working hard to minimize the tax burden on its residents.