El Paso County voters will be able to vote for or against five propositions on the Nov. 5 ballot that, if approved, would add amenities to county parks, upgrade and improve the coliseum, build new annexes and offices for the medical examiner, and create the county’s first animal shelter.
The five propositions on the county’s capital improvement bond total $323.8 million, but voters can decide on each proposition separately.
“Texas law requires us to put similar type buildings and projects together because it allows voters to consider each type of project separately,” said Jose M. Landeros, the county’s director of strategic development.
If all the propositions are approved, the owner of a home valued at about $200,000 would see a $60 increase on the county’s portion of a tax bill starting in 2025. Many of the projects would be completed or under construction within five years, with about $125 million in bonds issued in 2025 and the remainder in 2027.
If a bond proposal fails, Commissioners Court could not issue certificates of obligation – debt that doesn’t require voter approval but is repaid with property taxes – for those projects for three years.
But the Commissioners Court could put the bond out to voters again in the future or could look for other funding options, Landeros said.
“Right now the county’s conversation is focused on the (general obligation) bonds,” Landeros said, adding that those projects on the November ballot were recommended by the county’s bond advisory committee.
Future work that could be funded by certificates of obligation, such as water and stormwater upgrades and security and technology improvements, are considered essential public projects under the county’s capital improvement planning process, he added.
The county has about $500 million in available debt capacity without impacting its bond rating, according to the county’s financial advisers.
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5 propositions on the ballot
The five bond propositions on the Nov. 5 ballot – A through E – break down as follows:
Proposition A: Parks and recreation
- $95.6 million to improve, expand and upgrade county parks. Prop A would increase county taxes on the average-value home of about $200,000 by nearly $18 a year. The projects include:
- Ascarate Park: New outdoor stage, covered pavilion in festival area; modernize picnic shelters; expand pavilion parking lot; 3-mile walking trail and pedestrian bridge to connect to Playa Drain Trail; improve overhead electric system.
- Ascarate Annex: Construct a new courthouse annex at Ascarate Park for administrative office space for various county departments, including parks.
- Hike and bike trails: 10-foot wide asphalt hike and bike trails at Westway and Sparks parks, which will eventually connect to a larger trail network; 2.4-mile trail connecting Gallegos Park in Canutillo to the River Park trail; new walking trails connecting Sparks Park to Mission Ridge Elementary
- Various improvements, including playgrounds, shade structures, outdoor basketball courts, benches, trees, baseball fields, lighting and irrigation at Veterans and Risiner parks in Fabens, Coyote Park in Tornillo, Gallegos Park in Canutillo, Sparks Park in Sparks, Ruben Estrella Park by Homestead Meadows and Agua Dulce Park southeast of Horizon City.
- El Paso County Sportspark: Upgrade field lights to LED lights.
The majority of the projects fall under the county’s parks master plan, which was approved by commissioners in 2021. Other park projects may be financed through certificates of obligation, public-private partnerships, grants, program fees and facility rentals, as well as general fund allocations.
Proposition B: Medical examiner
- $26.7 million to build, reconstruct or expand the county’s Office of the Medical Examiner in a yet-to-be determined location. Prop B would increase county taxes on the average-value home of about $200,000 by nearly $5 a year.
The Medical Examiner’s Office, now located in the University Medical Center of El Paso campus, provides medical death investigations, including autopsy services and certification of cause of death in homicides, suicides and accidents. Landeros said the office in the 1990s when it was built could hold up to 45 bodies and that increased to about 130 during the pandemic. The new building, if approved, would be able to hold up to 300 bodies.
“If you remember during the COVID pandemic, they even had to have trailers for bodies out there,” Commissioner Carlos Leon said during a Sept. 24 community meeting at the County of El Paso Eastside Annex. “Over and above that, we had a refrigerator out toward the airport. … We’ve grown just too much to continue to house the med examiner in (the current) location.”
Proposition C: Courthouse and annexes
- $63.3 million. Prop C would increase county taxes on the average-value home of about $200,000 by nearly $12 a year.
- The Corbin Sambrano Project, formerly the site of the Naked Harem strip club, is being rebuilt into a community services annex that will provide victim services, as well as meeting spaces and an outdoor seating area. The building in South-Central El Paso on Alameda Avenue was shut down and seized by the District Attorney’s Office in 2014 and donated to the county.
- The Ysleta Courthouse Annex will be expanded to add a commercial kitchen for the senior nutrition program.
- The Far East Montana Annex project will replace the annex that now operates out of trailers and mobile buildings with a new courthouse annex that could house a justice of the peace, constable, tax office, county clerk office and more.
Proposition D: County Coliseum renovation
- $105.5 million in improvements to the coliseum and its adjacent buildings. Prop D would raise county taxes on the average-value home of about $200,000 by about $20 a year. The projects would include renovating seating, improve ADA accessibility, new air-conditioning system, new roofing; renovating the Sherman Barn into an event and music venue; reconstruct roller rink into open air pavilion; improve parking lot, pedestrian connectivity, lighting and more.
The 20,240-square-foot coliseum has a seating capacity of about 6,500, but whether that increases is not yet known, Landeros said.
Many of the proposed renovations are part of the events and venue feasibility study conducted by an outside firm and approved by commissioners in 2022.
That study recommended, among several improvements, that the Sherman Barn be turned into a small-scale music venue with a capacity of about 1,750 for local bands, up-and-coming acts and pre-event shows. It also proposed reconfiguring seating to create a more “contiguous bowl and new social areas at the north end of the bowl.”
“This is the first time the county is proposing a major investment in the facility,” Landeros said at the Sept. 24 community meeting, adding that other improvements have been a lot smaller in scope to fix things such as restrooms or leaks in the roof.
The future of the coliseum had been questionable for some time as the federal government looked at modernizing the adjacent Bridge of the Americas port of entry that could have meant tearing down the county building. But the U.S. General Services Administration announced that its preferred plans for BOTA modernization would not require tearing down the venue, and county commissioners put the coliseum on the bond project list.
Proposition E: County Animal Shelter
$32.7 million to build a facility adjacent to the jail annex on Montana Avenue on the Far Eastside. Prop E would raise county taxes on the average-value home of about $200,000 by just over $6 a year. The county’s first animal shelter will provide shelter services, low- to no-cost vaccinations, and spay and neuter services. The shelter would also offer animal training programs for inmates at the jail. It would tentatively open in 2030.
The county established its own Animal Welfare Department in 2020, shifting and expanding operations formerly under the Sheriff’s Office, with officers tasked primarily with picking up strays within the county limits and taking them over to the city’s Animal Services for shelter. The office also investigates animal cruelty and neglect cases, bite complaints, rabies concerns and more.
The county shelter would have 300 to 400 kennels, Landeros said, adding to the city’s 500 kennels. He said the county has seen an increased demand for shelter and other animal services and that the city’s capacity is not enough to manage that growth.
About 1% of each project cost would be used for public art or other enhancements, Landeros said, and another $750,000 would be allocated for green infrastructure for projects across the county’s four precincts.
Voters at a Sept. 24 community meeting said they had mixed feelings about the propositions, a handful expressing support for an animal shelter but little else.
Commissioner Iliana Holguin told El Paso Matters that she would have preferred to see a smaller general obligation bond to voters that would not have an impact on taxpayers, but ultimately voted to put the projects on the ballot for voters to decide.
“Definitely the citizens of El Paso need to make that decision,” she said.
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Decades since last voter bond
The Commissioners Court has been planning the bond issue since about November 2022, when it first considered taking a $100 million bond to voters and issuing another $100 million in certificates of obligation. The county paused efforts to issue the COs when a handful of residents promised to petition against them.
The county last took a general obligation bond to voters in 1988 to build the existing courthouse on San Antonio Avenue Downtown.
In 2007, the county authorized the El Paso Hospital District to take a $120 million bond to voters to build what is now the El Paso Children’s Hospital.
The county this fall also authorized the hospital district – University Medical Center of El Paso – to take a $396.6 million bond to voters for an array of projects, including $30 million toward the planned cancer center. That comes after a public petition stopped UMC from issuing $345.7 million in certificates of obligation for similar projects, including the cancer care center, in 2022.
Early voting is Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. Election day is Nov. 5. You can find more information on the El Paso County bond at epcounty.com/2024bond/.