El Paso Reports

On August 4, 2026, Item #20 (file 26-0902), the FY 2026-2027 Proposed Budget, carried on a motion by Representative Canales with seconds recorded from Representatives Limon and Maldonado-Rocha. [12] On August 4, 2026, City Council passed Item 23 (File 26-0814), a resolution calling the 2026 general election in the City of El Paso for November 3, 2026, to fill the expired terms of District Representatives Nos. 1, 5, 6 and 8, making provisions for conduct of the election and authorizing a contract with El Paso County to furnish election services and equipment. [12]

In Q2 2026 the El Paso City Council adopted an ordinance authorizing City of El Paso Water and Sewer Revenue Refunding Bonds in an amount not to exceed $438,500,000 to refund previously issued water and sewer obligations on April 28, 2026. [41] On May 26, 2026, the Council adopted as general policy that hyperscale data centers should not be actively recruited, pursued, or incentivized and will not be considered for tax abatements, rebates, permit fee waivers, public financing assistance, or economic development grants, citing misalignment with the City's long-term sustainability and infrastructure resilience goals. [23]

El Paso's Q1 2026 built toward its largest capital commitment of the year -- a $128.15 million Public Safety Training Academy and Fire Headquarters contract approved in March -- following January's $11.7 million Eastside park and $2.59 million downtown bikeway awards and February's $63 million-plus street paving push, even as recurring procedural irregularities, a twice-stalled Landscape Ordinance rewrite, and a reversed license-plate-reader vote surfaced in every month of the quarter.

At the July 21, 2026 City Council meeting, Item 28 (File 26-0861) awarded Solicitation 2026-0329 Traffic Management Center Phase IV & V to Econolite Systems Inc. of Anaheim, CA for a total estimated award of $5,471,129.26, and the motion to award unanimously carried. [4] On July 21, 2026, Item 29 (File 26-0848) authorized the City Manager to sign a Chapter 380 Economic Development Program Agreement between the City of El Paso and Eleuteria Sandra Hering in support of an infill development project located at 903 Park St., with the agreement requiring the applicant to make a minimum investment of $270,000.00, and the item carried unanimously, 8 to 0. [4]

El Paso City Council reversed course on Meta Platforms' data center, moving from a failed 3-5 termination vote to a 7-1 order for Community Benefits Agreement talks, while clearing a rezoning backlog and cutting ties with a defaulting armored-car contractor.

El Paso City Council enacted a first-of-its-kind ban on incentives for hyperscale data centers and passed two major grants on 7-1 votes with lone dissents, while a 5-3 budget split, a 4-3 subdivision vote, and a bungled landscape-code postponement motion pointed to unusual friction across council and commission decisions this month.

The City Council adopted an ordinance authorizing City of El Paso Water and Sewer Revenue Refunding Bonds not to exceed $438,500,000. [2] The City Council adopted an ordinance authorizing up to $435,355,000 in General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2026, for debt service savings. [14]

El Paso's Council backed a $128.15 million construction award for the new Public Safety Training Academy and pursued over $33 million in federal funding requests, while a license-plate-reader restriction failed on final vote and the Landscape Ordinance rewrite stalled for a second time.

February council actions centered on more than $63 million in street paving contracts and a narrowly-passed 60-day pause on new data center negotiations, while the airport's security contractor was terminated over federal violation notices and two rezoning votes exposed unusual splits.

January's biggest actions were an $11.7M Eastside park contract and a $2.59M downtown bikeway award alongside $9.58M in city land sales, even as Council canceled nine smaller capital projects for lack of funding and adopted new vicious/aggressive-dog rules.