County Commisioners Now Reluctant to Lend Assistance

EL PASO — If the village of Vinton wants help fixing its bad water, it's going to have to start  by asking for help.

On Monday morning, Commissioners Court postponed any decision on helping Vinton with its wastewater crisis, until Vinton makes a formal request for assistance..

As we've reported, Vinton has no viable sewage system, and there are concerns there...and here...that sewage and other ground water impurities could seep down into El Paso.  As recently as a week ago, commissioners were ready to  spend 25-thousand dollars on an engineering study of Vinton's water.. and possibly much more money later on. . but Judge Veronica Escobar tells Newchannel 9, Vinton is going to have show more interest in getting things done.

"Theres been a lot of strife in the village of Vinton.  I don't know if the court will want to appropriate the money. I don't know if the court will want to send representatives like me to the vinton city council meeting tomorrow."

Lately, Vinton hasn't been able to agree on much of anything. It still has no fiscal 2013 budget, and council members routinely walk out of meetings, leaving no majority to settle even the smallest issues.

Late today. Judge Escobar was still awaiting a call from Vinton City Hall, inviting her and/or other El Paso county commissioners to the village's concil meeting Tuesday night.