If the El Paso City Council approves the tax rate now being considered, it will probably be the first time in more than 25 years that the city has dropped below the hard-to-reach effective tax rate.

"We have cut the rate almost every year, not no one remembers it getting below the effective rate," said Deputy City Manager Bill Studer, who oversees the city financial departments.

So what is the effective tax rate? The question is easier asked than answered.

The effective rate is the result of a complicated calculation handed down by the Texas Legislature to determine the rate that would effectively generate the same revenue as the previous year from properties that were taxed that year.

"I don’t know any big city that has ever done that," Studer said after today's budget session at which the council again indicated its support for dropping the tax rate below the effective rate.

The city's current tax rate is 67.11 cents per $100 valuation. The effective rate is 63.71 cents.

The rate the council would like to adopt is 63.33 cents.

In budget talks Monday, the El Paso City Council tentatively approved $1.9 million in budget cuts.

For the owner of a $100,000 home that did not change in value this year that is $95,000 with the city’s homestead exemption, the tax rate the council was aiming at today would mean a $36 or 5.6 percent reduction from last year’s $637 city tax bill.

The owner of a $100,000 that rose in taxable value to $110,000 or 10 percent, the maximum allowed, and who has a $5,000 city homestead exemption would be taxed $665 or 4.3 percent more than last year.

The City Council likely will approve a budget and tax rate in the third or fourth week of August.

The issue that came in for the toughest debate Monday was the proposal from Mayor John Cook and city Rep. Beto O’Rourke to increase the city’s annual appropriation for Project Arriba by $100,000 to $350,000 to expand Arriba’s job training program.

“For every dollar you invest, you get $17 in return,” Cook said. “I wish we did $1 million like San Antonio.”

Arriba, which is affiliated with the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization, helps moderate and low income El Pasoans enroll and complete college-level education and training programs, such as nursing.

City Rep. Emma Acosta led the opposition to the $100,000 increase, saying Arriba is in line to receive $650,000 from the city, county and Thomason Hospital as it is.

She also said she learned that similar programs in San Antonio and Austin raise two or three times as much money in the private sector as they receive in public funds.

Chase Bank executive Bob Snow, who serves on Arriba’s board of director, corrected Acosta on the $200,000 from Thomason, saying that money is for three years not one.

“If you just take the city and county, we do three to one from corporate America and grants,” Snow said. “I have not worked for a group that does more for the constituency it serves than Project Arriba.”

Arriba’s annual budget for this year and the coming year is $1.6 million.

The program has graduated more than 600 students from higher education training and degree programs and most of the successful participants have landed jobs paying more than $40,000 a year, Snow said.

When it came to a vote, the council defeated the $100,000 increase by 4-3, with city Reps Acosta, Melina Castro, Rachel Quintana and Steve Ortega in the majority. City Reps. Ann Lilly, Susie Byrd and O’Rourke supported the increase.

The council then voted unanimously to raise the Arriba contribution by $25,000.

City Rep. Eddie Holguin was absent. He also missed all but a few minutes of Tuesday's budget wrap-up meeting.

The council on Monday also voted to save $165,000 by eliminating four of city’s 17 public officer information positions in the year starting Sept. 1, to discontinue a $75,000 branding campaign for El Paso intended to enhance, unify and coordinate the different promotional campaigns for the city and supported other budget cuts proposed by city representatives.

Last week, the council tentatively approved $361,704 in revenue increases: $200,654 by raising the fine for an expired parking meter from $11 to $20, $109,000 by raising the average cost of filing a subdivision application from $420 to $1,900 and $52,050 by reinstating the food establishment inspection fee.

The council then rejected a proposal by O’Rourke to begin charging city employees for parking, but council members approved his idea to encourage city employees to ride the bus by allowing them to ride free.

Council members also said no to increasing pedestrian fares for crossing the international bridge, higher parking fees at the airport and higher landfill and special collection charges.

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To reach David Crowder, write to dcrowder@epmediagroup.com or call (915) 351-0605