At the start of each fiscal year, $10,000 of “discretionary funds” are automatically deposited into the account of each of the eight members of City Council.
These funds are supposedly for neighborhood projects, community improvements, and public safety initiatives but in reality they are a means for City Representatives to increase their popularity in advance of elections by spending on movie festivals, barbecues, and other events.
These so-called “discretionary funds” are nothing other than campaign slush accounts, courtesy of the taxpayers of El Paso.
Even worse, the funds are allowed to accumulate from year-to-year so they can be strategically deployed before elections.
We filed an open records request for the current balances on the eight accounts which, as of February 28, stand as follows:
Alejandra Chavez, District 1 $110,133.65
Josh Acevedo, District 2 $29,900.24
Deanna Maldonado Rocha, District 3 $17,398.77
Cynthia Bojar Trejo, District 4 $83,931.22
Ivan Nino, District 5 $90,961.06
Art Fierro, District 6 $184,898.35
Lily Limon, District 7 $27,220.56
Chris Canales, District 8 $65,095.77
Thus, our eight City Representatives are holding $609,539.62 in public funds they can use for almost anything they please. Granted, expenditures of more than $1,000 require City Council approval but we cannot recall one instance of a vote rejecting a “discretionary funds” expenditure.
BRIAN KENNEDY RETURNED DISCRETIONARY FUNDS, ALEJANDRA CHAVEZ CLAWED THEM BACK
Brian Kennedy was the most fiscally conservative City Representative in modern memory. True to form, he returned $52,165.87 in discretionary funds on August 13, 2024, reducing his balance to $10,000.
He told KVIA, “I personally think any funds should be used within the year issued or returned. I will use my $10,000 allocation and I’m returning the rest. As someone who watched the financial team fight very hard and make sacrifices to get to no new tax increase I really feel it’s the responsible thing to do.”
When asked what he thought about the possibility some might view this as a political move, he replied “I don’t think it is ever the wrong time to act on good fiscal policies and help save the taxpayers money.”
Incredibly, on February 4, 2025, only 28 days after assuming office, Kennedy’s successor Alejandra Chavez requested the $52,165.87 back and the vote in favor was unanimous. She managed to “recover” another $50,000 from other sources for a total haul of $102,165.87 deposited into her discretionary funds account.
We are aware that the upper administration suggested two and a half years ago that the eight accounts should be swept to zero at the end of each fiscal year but apparently there was pushback and it never happened.
Every taxpayer should be thoroughly disgusted.