Lost in the political rhetoric of the proposed Downtown Deck Park being championed by the Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation and several elected officials is that the $5 million in funds being raised to secure another $5 million is almost all taxpayer monies. On September 24, the city council voted five to two in favor of contributing $750,000 to the deck park project. City Representatives Chris Canales and Joe Molinar were the two city elected officials who opposed the city’s funding of the project. The city’s funding came shortly after county officials voted three to one to spend $1 million in taxpayer funding for the deck park planning. County Commissioner Iliana Holguin opposed the expenditure.
The presentations made to elected officials and the community at large by the foundation is that that their taxpayer contributions will secure a “grant” from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The “grant” is technically the correct term, but it obfuscates the reality of who will be funding the plans for the proposed deck park plans.
The political rhetoric is that if El Paso’s taxpayers invest $1.75 million, they will receive $8.2 million for their investment. The math works out to be $1 million from the county, $750,000 from the city, $3.75 million from the MPO and $250,000 from the private foundation. Leveraging those monies is hoped will result in El Paso receiving $5 million from the Department of Transportation.
The political narrative is that El Paso stands to benefit from $8.2 million with their $1.75 million investment.
When proposing that the county “own” the deck plaza when it is completed, county judge Ricardo Samaniego stated that the county’s investment “broadens” the tax base and “lowers the tax burden” on El Paso’s taxpayers. Samaniego added that “we can’t miss that opportunity.” Likewise, city representative Art Fierro argued that the city’s investment would “be a game-changer” for El Paso.
The deck park narrative is that El Paso’s taxpayers will benefit from their investment through their taxes.
Taxpayers To Fund Pictures And Reports
What has been left out of the deck park narratives is that the taxpayers are funding over 98% of the deck park studies.
Both the city and the county are using taxpayer monies for the $1.75 million they voted to contribute to the project. The narrative missing about the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is that it is also funded through taxes, albeit federal taxes coming from taxpayers across the nation.
The funding for the MPO mainly comes from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) through its Section 5303. The funds are distributed to the local MPOs by the state. The Fund’s money comes from the federal taxes on gasoline. But because of funding shortfalls, the Trust is now dipping into the federal government’s general revenues budget.
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Because the money used by the MPO comes from gasoline and other related taxes, it is the taxpayer that is funding the $5 million the El Paso MPO is proposing to use for the $5 million “grant” from the Department of Transportation.
But the important thing to point out is that the U.S. Department of Transportation is also funded by the taxpayers. It gets its funding from federal taxes such as income taxes and other federal excise taxes like gasoline and other taxes collected by the federal government.
Because the sources of funding for the proposed $10 million is mostly taxes collected by local and federal taxing entities, the majority – except for $250,000 – of the $10 million is taxpayer funds.
What Do The Taxpayers Get For Their Almost $10 Million?
In addition to the sources of the funding being almost all taxpayer funds, the proposed $10 million, if the grant is secured, will only result in blueprints, pictures of what the proposed deck park can look like and notebooks of studies that show what it will take to build it.
What the $10 million does not include is anything tangible, like a park bench, a tree or anything the taxpayers can point to and state this is what my taxes paid for.
But That’s Not All
The political narrative is that the city’s taxpayers are footing $750,000 of the proposed study. Left unsaid by city officials is the $900,000 Infrastructure Grant the City received in 2021 for a “design study” for the “I-10 Deck Park” as announced by Veronica Escobar on November 16, 2021.
The $900,000 was awarded to El Paso from a RAISE grant which are part of Joe Biden’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The funding, according to Escobar’s press release, was allocated “for a design study for the I-10 Deck Park.”
According to the Paso Del Norte Foundation, the money was used for Stantec to complete the Phase I Feasibility Study that has been used to bolster the benefits for El Paso’s taxpayers that the proposed Deck Park can provide them. The funding that Escobar secured was also taxpayer money.
With all the political rhetoric about how the proposed deck park is a “game changer” for El Paso, what remains unsaid is how will it be paid for even after the $10 million blueprints and studies have been completed?
El Paso’s officials and proponents for the deck park should be transparently articulate about the fact that almost all of the money for the deck park studies is taxpayer money with less than 0.025% of it coming from private funds.