El Paso County has proposed a new Office of the Medical Examiner. The planned building is designed to hold up to 300 decedents.
According to El Paso County, the public is invited to attend an event related to the project. The roughly 26,000-square-foot building is described by the county as a voter-approved investment stemming from the 2024 General Obligation Bond election. That bond package included Proposition B, which authorized up to $26.7 million in general obligation bonds for land acquisition, construction, and equipment tied to the new facility, according to Ballotpedia.
The measure passed on November 5, 2024, according to the same source. Before the election, county tax projections estimated Proposition B would cost the average El Paso County property owner about $5 a year based on a $200,000 home, according to the Property Tax Newsletter.
Why the County Needed More Room
The existing Office of the Medical Examiner at 4505 Alberta Avenue in Central El Paso was built in the 1990s, according to El Paso County background on the site. That building was originally designed to store 45 decedents at a time, a capacity that had to be expanded to 130 during the COVID-19 pandemic, per The Prospector, which cited Deputy County Administrator Jose Landeros on the facility's limitations ahead of the bond vote.
The new building is designed to hold up to 300 decedents, the outlet reports. The planned facility would be used for the medical examiner's operations, according to El Paso County background materials.
A Legally Mandated Function
The Office of the Medical Examiner conducts medicolegal death investigations and provides related services, according to county background information. El Paso County operates a medical examiner system in Texas.
The office also maintains accreditation through the National Association of Medical Examiners, which sets professional standards for forensic facility environments and death investigation procedures, county background materials state. That accreditation, along with the statutory mandate, helps explain why county officials pursued a purpose-built replacement rather than continuing to retrofit the 1990s structure.
Part of a Larger Bond Package
The five propositions totaled approximately $323.8 million if all were approved; voters approved three of them, which included $155 million for parks, the medical examiner facility, and a new $32.7 million animal shelter, while rejecting bonds for courthouse annexes and county coliseum renovations, according to Construction Reporter. Had every proposition passed, the full package would have cost taxpayers roughly $60 annually per average home.
The bond package also included projects elsewhere in the county. The medical examiner facility is part of that broader investment, which is now in construction planning following voter approval.
