Josh Acevedo, candidate for El Paso City Council District 2
Name: Josh Acevedo
Age: 35
Party: Nonpartisan
Occupation: El Paso City Representative, District 2
Relevant Experience: I have 14 years of experience as a public servant across the federal, county, city, school district, and state governments.
I have the following degrees from UTEP:
-Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership & Administration
-Master of Public Administration in Public Policy & Management
-Master of Arts in Political Science
-Bachelor of Science in Microbiology
I have worked with diverse public budgets that include the County of El Paso, Emergence Health Network, El Paso Independent School District, and the City of El Paso. This gives me the background to better understand budgets, made up of millions of dollars, and make decisions that will work for the needs of our employees and residents.
As City Representative and a former EPISD Board Trustee, I have had oversight of two of El Paso’s largest employers:
-City of El Paso with a $1.3 billion budget and over 6,500 employees where I lowered the tax rate during this first year in office.
-EPISD with a budget over $550 million and over 8,000 employees, where I lowered the tax rate four years in a row.
When I worked at UTEP, I worked with the Paso Del Norte Foundation to bring stakeholders together to develop a plan to bring a Crisis Intervention Team to the City of El Paso. This has given police officers another tool they can use to respond to the residents of El Paso. In my time as an El Paso Independent School District Trustee, I led efforts to give our teachers a 7 percent raise, which was the highest raise in EPISD history. I believe if the needs of our employees are met, we will have a better government that serves the people we represent.
Personal: I am from El Paso, specifically Five Points in Central El Paso, and have been here my whole life, where I have developed my professional and educational experience. I was raised by a single mother in a home whose income was classified at the poverty level. Although she struggled, there was absolutely no question in regard to this matter: my education was a top priority. I am a product of EPISD and have been fortunate to complete four degrees at UTEP.  My grandparents played a key role in my life, as they helped raise me. My grandfather passed away in 2009 and my grandmother has always been there for me, along with my mother. While many of my friends have left El Paso because of the lack of jobs, I have made the decision to stay here to give back to the community I love and use my public service to work toward the growth of our city, bring back people that want to be back in El Paso, and help my constituents find solutions to their most pressing issues.
Website: joshacevedo.com
Josh Acevedo has served as representative for El Paso City Council District 2 since 2024. Here are his answers to KVIA's questions regarding his candidacy.
How will you work with your colleagues on City Council to enact change for El Pasoans?
My background as a public servant allows me to understand how to address our community’s most pressing needs. This means that I work in favor of hearing my constituents to better meet their needs. In my tenure as City Representative, I have worked with my colleagues on different issues to govern our city in a better way. I believe in working with anyone to advance the work of the City of El Paso for our residents and employees. My community-oriented leadership has allowed me to enact change for my constituents and have delivered over $10 million in quality-of-life projects. I will continue to bring this kind of experience and leadership in a full term on city council.
What steps do you think City Council should take to alleviate the impact of the immigration crisis on El Paso?
We need Congress to act on immigration. It has been decades since there has been any action, while our community has been used as a political prop at the national level to not address the issue. At the city level, we have used federal dollars to help with the issue. When I was sworn in to represent District 2 on the El Paso City Council, we had been on a monthly emergency declaration, even though our numbers did not merit for us to be under this declaration. This declaration was not in place to access federal funding. That funding was already coming in and was not dependent on an emergency declaration. We were also not using any city facility to shelter migrants. A few months after I called on ending the declaration based on the data that we were presented, city staff agreed and we are no longer under this emergency declaration. We need to continue standing behind our NGOs and help when needed, while we wait for the federal government to act on this.
What are your plans to ensure transparency and make sure you are accessible to constituents?
Transparency is paramount to any government entity and I work hard toward making our city government transparent and accessible. Since being elected to this office, I have held over 20 community meetings across my district, have visited constituent homes to analyze their most pressing issues, and have held community meetings in neighborhoods to address specific issues with city staff across various departments to form plans of action and deliver change across District 2. I will continue to work in this way.
What are your thoughts on the future of the Multi-Purpose Performing Arts Center?
It has been 12 years since voters approved building an arena that was never built. This city council voted to send it back to voters on this November’s ballot. I voted against putting it on the ballot again because we have already spent close to $20 million of the $180 million budget and there is no guarantee that we will get any of that taxpayer money back. If voters decide to move forward with building it, the new city council has the option to build it in the Duranguito area and after the long fight to save this neighborhood, I did not think it was worth the risk to undo this important work if a new council chooses to build it in that neighborhood. Either way, I’ll respect the will of the voters this second time around and if we have to build it, I’ll be against using any additional taxpayer money to fund it.
How should the city improve El Paso’s roads?
We are only spending $7 million on residential streets and $3 million on connector streets each year for the ENTIRE city. We need over $40 million to address all city streets, with over 50 percent of streets in poor condition. We have agreed to start budget talks earlier in the year and my top priority will be to reimagine our budget around the adequate amount of money we need for streets, including prioritizing streets that are causing storm water issues throughout District 2.
Whether it’s a high property tax rate or climbing property values, El Pasoans are struggling with skyrocketing housing costs. If elected, what will you do in the next 4 years to provide relief for homeowners?
It is unfortunate that over the last years, property values have gone up. This means people are inadvertently paying more in taxes, even if entities have not increased their tax rate, like we at the City did not this year. We need property value appraisal reform at the state level. In my time at EPISD and the City of El Paso, I have always lowered taxes. While this is great for the taxpayer, my constituents are still hurting – especially those on fixed incomes. I want to create a vision that eases the burden on the residential taxpayer through economic development. While we lowered taxes this year, we need to develop a long-term plan to bring in high paying jobs and quality of life projects that will add more commercial properties to the tax rolls. This will allow us to change the majority of our property taxes from the current residential properties to commercial properties.
Why are you the best candidate for this office?
My educational and professional background make me the best candidate to continue serving in this critical role for our community. My tenure at the City of El Paso has been defined by proactive, collaborative leadership, one where every decision made is a stride toward putting community first. My relationship-oriented leadership and over 14 years of organizing and advocacy experience in the Paso del Norte region and across the nation, paired with my prior work at El Paso ISD, will continue to help me bring effective leadership to the City of El Paso.
