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County outlines tax‑assessor backlog and staffing progress tied to HB 718; backlog remains at 1,879 web‑dealer transactions

El Paso County Commissioners Court · November 10, 2025

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Summary

Human resources reported staffing moves, overtime authorizations and an unresolved state system issue as the county works to reduce a web‑dealer backlog tied to HB 718; HR said 10 vacancies exist and 4 positions are being filled immediately.

Human resources briefed the commissioners on Nov. 10 about ongoing operations in the county tax assessor‑collector’s office related to HB 718 implementation.

Cynthia de la Fuente (human resources) reported the tax office currently had 10 vacancies, with four positions being filled the day of the meeting and two additional positions expected to be filled by January 2026. HR said two internal hires completed background checks and would start Nov. 24 and that interviews were underway for other internal candidates. The department noted prior approvals of overtime: an initial $10,000 and a subsequent $10,000 authorization, and reported $6,929 in salary overtime as of Oct. 31 (not including overtime used the weekend of Nov. 8).

The county reported a backlog of 1,879 web‑dealer transactions dating to Nov. 4 (this count excludes drop‑offs and mail‑ins). HR said a state system programming issue — which does not flag resubmissions and pushes corrected submissions to the back of the queue — remained unresolved by the state, complicating backlog reduction. HR also said a second system issue limited the field size available to report errors back to dealers; the tax office has been distributing Texas DMV compliance memos to dealers to reduce rejections.

HR said a time‑and‑motion study is underway and additional recommendations will be shared once finalized. Commissioners thanked staff for weekend efforts to reduce the backlog and discussed potential additional Saturday work and December scheduling but took no formal action.