Methodology
A watchdog is only as good as its sourcing. This page documents where every number on this site comes from, when it was retrieved, and what we do when we cannot verify something.
The rules
- Every number links to its source. If a figure on this site has no link, that is a bug. Tell us.
- Automated pulls are dated. Data fetched by script carries the pull date next to the figure.
- Hand-gathered figures carry the reporting date. News figures are dated to the story, not to today.
- Estimates are labeled as estimates. We never present an estimate as a documented fact.
- What we cannot verify, we do not print. Missing data gets a "retrieval in progress" notice, not a guess. The Gap page lists what the governments themselves do not publish.
- Texas only. There is an El Paso County in Colorado with a similar name and very different finances. Every dataset on this site is filtered to Texas. If Colorado data ever slips in, that is a bug. Tell us.
Data sources in use
| Source | What we take from it | How | Last pulled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Comptroller, HB 103 Bond, Tax and Project Database | Voter-approved bond elections: entity, date, purpose, authorized amount, result | Automated CSV export download, filtered to El Paso County, Texas | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Texas Bond Review Board, debt search | Debt outstanding per local government (planned) | Not yet automated; portal requires interactive session | In progress |
| El Paso County OpenGov budget portal | Budget vs actuals by fund and department (planned) | Scrape planned for Phase 1 | Not yet |
| City of El Paso, Office of Management and Budget | Budget book, quarterly reports (planned) | Scrape planned for Phase 1 | Not yet |
| El Paso Times, Caller-Times, KTSM, FOX 38 | Deal-card figures: sheriff overage, Meta terms, Deck Plaza funding, tax votes, AG probe | Hand-curated from reporting, dated per story | Through Oct 2026 |
| City Legistar, County PrimeGov | Contract and incentive documents (planned) | Per-document review planned for Phase 1 | Not yet |
What counts as documented vs estimated
- Documented: adopted tax rates (council and court votes), voter-approved bond authorizations (Comptroller filings), the sheriff's $5.9M figure (county budget office statement to Commissioners Court), Meta's $365M foregone revenue (city's own projection), Deck Plaza's $207M cost and commitment figures (project site and reporting).
- Estimated: the "$5,890 per year on a $230K home" illustration (arithmetic from adopted rates; your exemptions differ), the "about $74-84M committed" Deck Plaza range (a range because sources report it as one).
- Unconfirmed: the Marathon incentive deal. We say so on the card instead of printing a rumor.
Corrections
We will get things wrong. When we do, we correct the page, note the correction with a date, and keep the source trail intact. Send documented corrections and we will print them. A watchdog that hides its mistakes is not a watchdog.
Who runs this
El Paso Tax Watch is an independent watchdog project curated by its team with research assistance. It is not affiliated with the City of El Paso, El Paso County, any campaign, or any company. The curation rhythm: a weekly scan of council and court agendas, a monthly refresh of the numbers, and deal-card updates as news breaks.
Phase 0 status
This site is a Phase 0 scaffold, built Oct 7, 2026. Live-pulled data: the Comptroller HB 103 bond tables. Everything else is hand-verified from reporting, labeled by date. Phase 1 will add automated pulls for the county OpenGov portal, the county auditor's monthly reports, and the city's budget book, plus per-document review of incentive agreements.