Why Mexico Matters to El Paso Taxpayers

Every now and then an issue will pop up that reminds me that not everyone is convinced that El Paso gets any real benefit from sitting on the U.S./Mexico Border, and, in fact, some are convinced that the commerce and the travel between the two cities is a burden to residents who live and pay taxes here.

Not long ago, City Council was debating the issue of whether to impound cars in those cases where the drivers do not have car insurance. Many of the phone calls and emails that I received on this issue had less to do with whether it was a good idea or not and were more focused on how we were going to treat Mexican motorists driving in El Paso without insurance. Never mind that the number of accidents involving motorists from Mexico is a negligible percent of the number of accidents where drivers do not have insurance, some were convinced that most Mexican motorists were breaking our laws and leaving us to pick up the tab.

All of this, plus the recent debate about building a new port of entry, got me to thinking that we don't do a good enough job about talking about why Mexico matters to El Paso taxpayers. I think we have gotten better about communicating the economic benefits of our location on the U.S./Mexico border. We have more jobs here and more business opportunity as a result of robust growth in the maquila industry in Juarez. Many of our retail and service jobs are a result of the hundreds of thousands of Mexican shoppers who travel to El Paso to buy our goods and eat in our restaurants. But what about the taxpayers? How do we benefit?

Our tax base is made up of all different sources of revenue but the one that most people care about is property taxes. Two significant contributors to our tax base that are directly tied to commerce and travel between El Paso and Mexico are sales tax and bridge revenues. Depending on the source, estimates suggest that Mexican shoppers account for 10-14 percent (Federal Reserve) to 30 percent(local retailers) of retail activity in El Paso. Mexican shopppers pay sales taxes that go to our general fund. They are able to get that sales tax rebated through the manifesto program but estimates are that only about 20 percent of Mexican shoppers take advantage of the rebate. Every time someone crosses our bridges heading north, they pay a fee and those fees go straight to the general fund, paying for a whole range of municipal services.

Our adopted budget this year was dramatically impacted, not by the foreclosure crisis in the U.S., but by the drop in bridge revenues and by the drop in sales tax revenues which our analysts attributed to the peso devaluation. Because of this, I asked our budget analysts to tell me what would happen to our tax base if we didn't have Mexico to count on for revenues. If we had no shoppers from Mexico, we would have to slash $6,694,270 from our budget or make it up by raising taxes. (This assumes a conservative estimate that Mexican shoppers make up only 10% of our retail market. This is very, very conservative.) If no one crossed our bridges from Mexico and paid bridge fees, we would have to slash $9,079,244 from our budget or make it up by raising taxes. So approximately, $15.7 million in revenue, or 5.2% of the total annual projected revenue, can be directly attributed to Mexico.

So this is why Mexico matters to El Paso taxpayers. If we couldn't count on that $15.7 million, we would have to decrease services or increase taxes by 5.5 cents from $0.633/$100 to $0.688/$100 based on the certified valuation received on 7/25/2008 to make up for that shortfall. For a taxpayer, this would be a difference of $55 per every $100,000 of valuation on your property.

This is one of many reasons why we need to concern ourselves as El Pasoans with what is happening in Mexico and what we can do to better facilitate the easy movement of people and goods through our ports.

Midnight Basketball: Need Coaches and Volunteers

The popular Midnight Basketball program is back at Nolan Richardson Recreation Center. A couple of years ago, a neighborhood advocate toured me with the surrounding neighborhood commonly refered to as the Devil's Triangle. The neighborhood has some great assetts--the recreation center, a senior center, a great shady park with lots of trees--but it also has some pretty significant challenges. Drug dealing and prostitution are everyday events. There are large apartment complexes that are in disrepair or boarded up. There is a lot of poverty. There are also a lot of kids in the neighborhood who need fun, safe things to do. The neighborhood advocate complained that there was not enough things to do and that the rec center wasn't open when the kids needed things to do and that some of the programming was out of reach because of the associated fees.

We provided scholarships for kids who could not afford programming and we instituted a Midnight Basketball program. It started off last year but wasn't a traditional Midnight Basketball program. Several sports were offered. It ended at 9 P.M. We got some participation from neighborhood kids but it was clear that they wanted something different. This year, it is just basketball and the program is on Thursday and Friday nights from 9 P.M. to midnight. There are a ton of kids participating and really enjoying it. The competition is fierce.

But we need some more help. We have staff managing the program and we have referees, but we need coaches and folks willing just to come out and hang out with kids. Volunteers can sign up to be a coach for the full length of the program or they can just pop in when they have some time.

Let me know if you are interested. I can be reached by email at byrdsm@elpasotexas.gov.

Meet Oscar Ortiz

Last night, I was sitting on my front porch eating dinner with my daughter Hannah. The boys were off at Cohen Stadium watching the Diablos get beat up. A car pulls up and out jumps Oscar Ortiz. "Are you Susie Byrd?" he asks. "I'm Oscar Ortiz, and I want your help."

Oscar is a senior at El Paso High School. He plays the trumpet, the trombone and the euphonium. He has marched in the Tiger Pride Band for three years and is a principle trombone player in the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestra. His lifelong dream and the reason he joined band was to march in Drum Corps International, the Marching Music's Major League.

His dream just might come true. Along with 100 other students from across the country, Victor was selected to become a member of the Memphis Sound Drum and Bugle Corps. This summer they will tour the country performing and competing against other drum and bugle corps from throughout the United States and Canada. The season will culminate in early August at the Drum Corps International Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Here's the hitch. Oscar has to raise $2,600 to cover the costs of the program. So he is popping up on people's porches asking for help. I told him I would let you guys know about his dream. I'm including the video that he sent in to convince Memphis Sound Drum and Bugle Corps that he was their guy. Once you see it, you will be convinced, like I am, that Oscar needs our help. Please consider making a donation. Checks can be made to the Memphis Youth Performing Arts Association. If you want to make a donation, email me at byrdsm@elpasotexas.gov and I will give you the address where you can mail Oscar a check.

Club Rec for Central!

Central has some great things going for it: great parks, everything is in walking distrance, great schools, lots of history, great architecture... The list goes on and on. But several years ago, parents working with EPISO (El Paso Inter-religious Sponsoring Organization) said there are some things that Central doesn't have that the City needs to get busy fixing.

One of those things was youth services. As a result of some dedication and some organizing, the parents and EPISO got a commitment from the City and Representative Cushing to fund a Club Rec Summer Camp. (We also do not have a Recreation Center, which we will get to in the next bond election.)

The Club Rec program has had some great summers but more recently the program has dwindled in numbers so much so that City staff decided to scrap it without telling anyone. The first I heard about it was on Tuesday, and I quickly got busy trying to rectify it. So we are proceeding ahead with a Central Club Rec program but we need kiddos, lots of them.

This year's program will be at hosted at the Memorial Park Garden Center at 3105 Grant Avenue. The program will run from June 15 to August 7 from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. Activities will include sports, arts and crafts, table games and of course trips to the Memorial Park Branch Library and Pool. And nothing can beat hanging out in a Memorial Park, the finest park in the City of El Paso. The program is $40 a week but scholarships are available to families who cannot afford the program fee. If you want to sign up, registration will be held on Friday, June 12 from 9 A.M. to noon at the Garden Center. Questions can be direction to 562-7071 or 544-0753.

My kids have done Club Rec for many many years and have always enjoyed the programming.

Save Neighborhood Schools! Save Houston Elementary!

The El Paso Independent School District is considering closing down several small neighborhood schools to save money. One of the schools is Houston Elementary, an 87 year old neighborhood school on Grant Avenue that serves as an anchor to the Manhattan Heights Historic District. I am including a letter that will be presented to the Board of Trustees tonight. I would encourage all residents of this area and people interested in advocating for small neighborhood schools and better school planning to attend a meeting tomorrow night, Wednesday, May 13 at 6 P.M., at Houston Elementary to discuss the closure of these small neighborhood schools. I would also encourage you to attend the Smart Growth for Schools Workshop that will be on Friday, May 29 from 8:45 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. at the El Paso Museum of Art. Seating is limited so RSVP for the workshop by contacting Melissa Kellum at 915.541.4730 or KellumMA@elpasotexas.gov.

May 12, 2009

Dear EPISD Board of Trustees:

When I stand before you I always have to acknowledge the incredible gift of education that EPISD has given me and my children. I grew up attending small neighborhood schools. I walked to Crockett Elementary. I walked to Bassett Middle School. I walked to Austin High School. I graduated valedictorian and was accepted with a hefty scholarship at Emory University, a private university, mostly attended by students from private high schools.

I remember worrying that coming from a public school, I would not be able to compete with my peers. Not only was I able to compete, but I excelled because of my education at EPISD schools. My children are now walking to the same neighborhood school that I walked to when I was little. And I expect that EPISD will offer them no less than what I received—an excellent education in a great neighborhood.

I am here today to advocate for small neighborhood schools, in particular Houston Elementary. Houston has been part of our neighborhood for 87 years. We want it to remain a part of our neighborhood. In 2007, you asked the voters to invest in that school with a new multipurpose center. We want you to continue to invest in that school, rather than abandon it.

Having grown up benefiting from the wisdom of small neighborhood schools, I have been frustrated for some time by new school development by EPISD and other districts. The schools are over-large, having negative impacts on the surrounding neighborhoods and the children that attend them. The schools are not connected to the life of neighborhoods. They are often not even connected to the neighborhoods by sidewalks. Because of the size and location of them, the schools’ service areas are so large that a majority of students have to drive or be bused. This large movement of cars and buses into a school campus causes unnerving congestion and dangerous traffic conditions for surrounding neighborhoods. Not having the option to walk is one less chance to stave off the biggest public health threat to our children, obesity. And most significantly for your mission, many studies have demonstrated a direct and positive link between small schools and student achievement.

As an example, the district closed down a small neighborhood school, Wainwright Elementary, that was easy and safe for most kids to walk to. The district replaced it with Moye Elementary, which sits on Dyer, a six lane highway that is a danger to pedestrians. There were no improvements made to Dyer to address pedestrian safety. The vast majority of students going to that school have to cross six lanes of highway in order to attend that school. Last year, a family was struck and one was killed walking to Moye Elementary for an evening school event. This type of school planning does not serve neighborhoods and it does not serve our children.

On May 29, the City is hosting a session on Smart Schools. We want to work with you to improve education and to also improve neighborhoods through smart school planning. Especially in light of the recent conversations to close Houston Elementary, a small neighborhood school, I would urge all of the board and senior staff to attend this session before you make a mistake that our children and our neighborhood will have to live with.

I want to thank our trustee Carlos Flores and Dr. Garcia for their commitment to slow this process down and include the parents, the neighborhood and the board in a more thoughtful deliberative process that is not solely focused on your bottom line and more carefully considers the hidden costs of this closure on the children, the neighborhood, your budget and the budget of families who attend Houston. Before we move forward, I would like the board to consider and analyze the following in debating this issue:

What hidden costs are you not considering?

• Will new portables need to be built to accommodate new growth at schools that will receive Houston students?


• How much will bussing students to the new schools costs? How much will it cost families who walk their kids to school to instead have to take them by car? What will it cost our kid’s health in terms of lost physical activity?


• What kind of congestion will this cause at the other schools? What will it cost either the district or the city to mitigate this congestion?


• A vacant abandoned building such as Houston will be a blight on our neighborhood. Over time this blight will decrease property values in this neighborhood, a neighborhood that has recently seen an increase in young families and new investment. How much will this blight cost our tax base and your ability to increase revenues?


• What impact will this move have on the classroom size at the schools that will be receiving them? Will it cost children at Paul Moreno and Coldwell who are now benefiting from small classroom sizes?


• This move to close down Houston will also cost you the trust of many voters, who supported you in building Paul Moreno, not knowing it would come at the expense of one of our oldest neighborhood schools. Paul Moreno Elementary is just three blocks from Houston. In 2007, you asked us to vote for a bond that included building a multipurpose center at Houston. We supported you. Now just two years later, you are telling us you want to close this school?

And finally, the most important consideration, what other options does the district have to achieve your goals without harming our kids and our neighborhood? I know this neighborhood and the residents of this neighborhood well. I know that many parents do not send their children to Houston, even though they are in the service area. Many send them to Mesita for the dual language program or to other schools where there is a more obvious commitment to excellence in education from the board and the administration. One of my friends who lives in the Houston service area commented that her whole block is full of young families and not one of those families sends their children to Houston. Maybe one option could be for the board to invest in better programming, such as dual language, as a means to grow the population of this school. Since Crockett has refused to consider this program, I know I would consider sending my son to Houston if there was a dual language program there.

What other options could be considered? Please work with the parents and the neighborhood to find a better solution for our kids and for our neighborhood.

Sincerely,

Susie Byrd
City Council Representative, District 2