Council approves consent items including property tax refunds and discretionary expenditures; public criticizes Austin travel funding

The El Paso City Council approved its consent agenda Jan. 22, including multiple routine purchases, contracts and resolutions. The motion to approve the consent agenda passed unanimously after the council revised a typographical error and handled requests to pull three items for discussion.

Representative Veil Limon requested items 21, 22 and 23 be pulled for discussion. Those items involve property tax refunds in excess of statutory limits and a notation of discretionary expenditures and P-card transactions for several offices. After department staff explained the circumstances, including that the tax office notifies owners of overpayments and that refund applications sometimes arrive after the three-year statutory period, the council voted unanimously to approve items 21, 22 and 23.

A public commenter, Lisa Turner, addressed item 9 in the consent agenda before the final consent vote. Item 9 was a resolution authorizing districts 1–6 to spend up to $6,000 each to fund their participation in the El Paso Chamber's "El Paso Days in Austin" event. Turner criticized that use of $36,000 in city discretionary funds for travel to Austin, calling it a waste of taxpayer money and urging the council to prioritize local investments. "You're spending $36,000 of taxpayers money, so more than a quorum of our city council can go to Austin and party," Turner said.

During discussion on the pulled items, Nicole Cody, the managing director in the office that handles discretionary funds, explained that Sam's Club memberships were currently tied to individuals but can be transferred and that staff were working with Sam's to create an organizational membership to simplify future transfers. The council approved the three pulled items by unanimous vote and returned other items on the consent agenda to their routine approval.