El Paso Looks To Fund Firefighter Raise, School Bond Supporters Regrouping + More Local News

El Paso Looks To Fund Firefighter Raises

Now that voters have approved pay raises for El Paso firefighters, city officials have to find a way of funding those raises.  Saturday, voters approved a referendum calling for a three-percent pay hike in each of the next three years.  That could lead to an increase in property taxes.  City officials say the raises will be discussed during upcoming budget talks.

School Bond Supporters Regrouping

It's back to the drawing board for supporters of the Ysleta Independent School District bond referendum.  Saturday voters narrowly rejected the 451-million-dollar spending plan, which would have funded construction of several new schools.  Administrators say they want to review the polling data, to figure out why the measure failed.  Had it passed, the referendum would have raised property taxes by about ten-percent.

Runoff In City Council Race

It's back to the campaign trail today for two El Paso City Council hopefuls.  Al Weisenberger and Peter Svarzbein were the top two candidates in Saturday's District 1 election, but neither got enough votes to claim victory.  They'll meet again, in a June 13th runoff.

El Paso Gas Prices Down Slightly

You're going to pay a little more to fill your tank today, than you paid this time last week.  The Triple-A Auto Club says the average price of regular gas in El Paso is up to two-dollars and 50-cents a gallon, about nine-cents more than last week.   That's slightly higher than the state average but still about 15-cents a gallon below the national average.

Las Cruces To Talk Sports Tourism

Las Cruces takes another step today toward becoming a destination city for sports fans.  Staffers will brief City Council members this afternoon about a study of how to make that happen.  The study was done by a consultant who was hired to come up with a promotional plan for sports tourism.