City of El Paso

The city holds the highest property tax rate of Texas's eight largest cities. Here is the rate, the voter-approved debt behind it, and what the city does and does not publish.

Data availability: partial

Publishes an annual budget book and audited financials. Publishes no vendor-level checkbook. Full scorecard.

Tax rate

$0.798

Adopted city rate per $100 valuation, FY2026-27

Voted 6-2 by City Council, Aug 18, 2026. Prior year: $0.759649. Sources: Caller-Times, El Paso Times, Aug 18, 2026.

#1 of 8

Rank among Texas's eight largest cities by rate

Reported Aug 2026. Underlying comparison: Tax Foundation, 2026.

What the combined rate means for a homeowner

Inside city limits, the FY2026-27 adopted rates stack up as follows. EPISD and the hospital district are shown for context; this site's scope is the city and the county.

Taxing unit	Rate per $100	Source
City of El Paso	$0.798000	Caller-Times, Aug 18, 2026, El Paso Times, Aug 18, 2026
El Paso County	$0.451133	County adopted rate
EPISD (context only)	$1.074500	Shown for context; outside this site's scope.
UMC hospital district (context only)	$0.236904	Shown for context; outside this site's scope.
Combined, in-city	$2.560537	Sum of adopted rates

On a $230,000 home before exemptions, that is about $5,890 per year. Arithmetic from adopted rates; exemptions vary by homeowner.

Watch item

State AG probing the city under SB 1851

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating whether the city's tax increases violate SB 1851, in effect since Sept 1, 2025. The city denies wrongdoing. Outcome pending. Source: FOX 38 Corpus Christi, 2026.

Voter-approved bonds

Every bond below was approved by El Paso voters and reported to the Texas Comptroller under HB 103. This table is served by our API from the Comptroller's public export.

Election date	Purpose	Authorized	Result
Nov 5, 2024	Other	Not reported	Carried
Nov 8, 2022	Recreational facility	$20,800,000	Carried
Nov 8, 2022	Streets, roads, highways	$246,480,000	Carried
Nov 8, 2022	Other	$5,200,000	Carried
Nov 5, 2019	Public safety / EMS	$413,122,650	Carried

Source: Texas Comptroller, Local Government Bond, Tax and Project Database (HB 103), data export pulled 2026-10-07. Amounts are voter-authorized, not amounts issued. Self-reported by the city.

Debt outstanding

Retrieval in progress

The Texas Bond Review Board publishes debt outstanding per local government, but its search portal requires an interactive session we have not yet automated. We are working on it. We will not print a debt total until we can link it to the document. Track the source directly: BRB debt search.

Budget documents

Annual budget book, quarterly reports, and a Power BI dashboard: City Office of Management and Budget
Audited annual comprehensive financial reports (20 prior years posted): FY 2024 ACFR (PDF)
Council backup documents, contracts, incentive agreements: Legistar

Links verified Oct 7, 2026. The city's fiscal year ends Aug 31.

What you cannot see

The city publishes no vendor-level checkbook. There is no public list of who the city paid, how much, or for what. Its budget book shows departments, not vendors. Why that matters.