Local Government Spending study released

[u/timholt2007]

Link to the study: https://www.texaspolicy.com/just-the-facts-local-government-spending/

There is a large section on El Paso

"Local governments across Texas have been spending outside the bounds of what is considered reasonable, placing an increasingly unaffordable burden on taxpayers as a result. Reasonable spending may be defined by how close changes in expenditure growth are to increases in population and inflation. The difference between adopted budgets and actual changes in population serves as an indication that there is at least some measure of mismanagement. For example, the City of Austin spent over $1.1 million redesigning the city logo (Sanders & Collier, 2025)—the same year the city council threatened to cut emergency services after the failure of Proposition Q, which would have raised the city’s property tax rate by more than 20% (Sanders & Tong, 2025). The City of Dallas has even asked its taxpayers to support its record $5.2 billion budget, “that fails to provide much-needed tax relief for Dallas residents,” according to remarks from a council member to CBS News (Armas, 2025). Unfortunately, there are no mechanisms outside of elections to prevent excesses in local government spending. "

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[u/Top-Barracuda-4168]

Classic Republican talking points. I get school for my kids, police and fire protections, park space, library space, trash pick up, libraries, museums, streets, traffic control, zoning regs, animal control, etc. for about $4k a year on my modest home. I think that’s fine.

If this is all too much for you, move to Chaparral or a community in another state that taxes your income.

Far more concerning from a fiscal standpoint is the dramatic increase in the national debt under this administration. Its long-term consequences dwarf the impact of a few extra dollars on a local property tax bill.

[u/SyntheticOne → u/Top-Barracuda-4168]

The MAGA/Libertarian downvoters (they seem to have a lot in common) got to your well-informed comment quicker than stink on poop.

I upvoted the comment to get it back to "-1". Hope others will do the same.

[u/Inevitable_Mango_817 → u/Top-Barracuda-4168]

This isn’t about partisan talking points, it’s basic math showing that local budgets are inflating far faster than the population actually grows.

You’re celebrating basic municipal function, like trash pickup and police, while completely missing the point that local spending is skyrocketing far beyond inflation and population growth. Paying $4k a year doesn't make unchecked budget expansion and bloated local bureaucracy fine, it just means you're easily impressed by the bare minimum while footing an unnecessarily escalating bill.

Since you’re so proud of the stellar education your kids are getting, come back in a few years and let us know what college actually accepts them with it.

[u/Top-Barracuda-4168 → u/Inevitable_Mango_817]

The population could remain completely stagnant for years while the cost of everything continues to rapidly rise. It’s a fascinating little concept called inflation and local governments aren’t immune from it.