County commissioner candidates in Precinct 1 talk about vision for East El Paso
El Paso, Texas (KTSM) – As the El Paso County begins early voting for the Texas Primary, candidates for El Paso county commissioner Precinct 1 talked about their campaigns and their vision for the district which largely consists of East El Paso.
The candidates are: Jackie Arroyo Butler and Pete Faraone.
Incumbent Carlos Leon is retiring after serving three terms.
Early voting for the Texas primary began on Tuesday, Feb. 20 and ends on March 1. Election Day is March 5.
Butler is the senior policy adviser for Leon’s office. She began her professional career working at the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce. She said her policy experience makes her a good candidate for the role. Butler grew up and lives in Montana Vista.
She said she understands the issues people in far East El Paso County face every day when it comes to traffic congestion, lack of a water infrastructure and the rapid growth of the area.
Faraone is a retired El Paso County Sheriff’s detention officer and served as president of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Association. He retired from the Sheriff’s Office when he decided to run for county commissioner. Faraone said running for office was not in his plans, but he was concerned by the lack of candidates.
He said his platform also calls for addressing public infrastructure, property taxes, funding and public safety.
“We need to work to get more funding from the state and it is going to take a lot of collaboration working together with different departments in the state. I can tell you, going door to door we have been working really hard the past couple of months and people are really frustrated over taxes. That is going to be the biggest priority, hold the line of taxes,” Faraone said.
KTSM asked each candidate what they would do if elected to office.
Butler said she wants policy created to hold businesses accountable for accidents or fires that may happen. She also calls for regulating outdoor businesses.
“Things like making sure scrap yard has the right-of-way access for emergency vehicles and has fire extinguishers on-site. We need to make sure that we are inspecting those on a regular basis. If we have scrap yards that are not registered as legal businesses and do not have insurance, we need to make sure that we address that too,” Butler said.
Faraone said he wants to lower taxes.
“People are very frustrated about the Commissioners Court giving themselves another pay raise and I’m committed and will never vote for my own pay raise, not even cost-of-living increases. I think they are high enough right now,” Faraone said.
Butler also said she does not want higher taxes, but the community is growing.
“The reality is that as the county grows, the needs grow and unless we cannot find funding elsewhere, like state or federal resources, there is a possibility that we might have to find it here,” Butler said.
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