El Paso Council rejects proposed transportation fee intended to boost street repair funding

By Diego Mendoza-Moyers, El Paso Matters The El Paso City Council on Monday was to hear a proposal from the city’s Capital Improvement Department to implement a monthly fee for residents and businesses citywide to create a dedicated fund for street repairs – a basic service city leaders for decades have struggled to adequately fund. But the so-called transportation user fee was deleted from the agenda in a 5-3 vote without discussion or a presentation from city staffers who put the policy proposal together. The proposal wasn’t up for a vote, but the discussion was meant to be the first in a series of meetings and public presentations before a vote on whether to implement it took place in March.

The fee was pitched by city staffers as a way to create a dedicated revenue source specifically