No Accountability |
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No accountability
The El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board (PSB) says that "growth must pay for growth in El Paso." Builders, developers and new home owners must pay for water and sewer facilities that provide service to new housing developments.
So why does the PSB force their current customers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for such facilities? The PSB says that it has the authority to spend the money but does not have the authority to charge impact fees to recover the money from new home owners.
Only the City Council has the authority to charge impact fees but the City council does not have the authority to spend the money in the first place1. So the PSB says that the City Council is accountable and the City Council says the PSB is accountable.
Neither the City Council nor the PSB feel that they can be held accountable for hundreds of millions of dollars spent to subsidize growth in El Paso.
1) See "Susie Byrd on Subsidies."
