Proposals I Will Support and Issues That Should Be Corrected
- The property tax levy should not be increased. The current city levy is 11.597 mills. For comparison,
- Street maintenance and improvement have not been even a middle priority with the Council. Our major streets have a PCI rating of 66.5, where 70 is good. Many millions have to be spent to reach the minimum goal of 70. The spending for low priority activities, as determined by you, and overhead must be reduced.
- In last fall's resident survey you ranked the top ten city services as: 1. Trash Collection. 2. Water and Sewer. 3. Street lighting. 4. Snow and Ice removal. 5. Enforcement of traffic laws. 6. Street repair and maintenance. 7. Safety of parks and buildings. 8. Code enforcement in residential property. 9. Parks and playgrounds. 10. Code enforcement in commercial property. The Council should start putting the money on the priorities.
- Section 2-3-3 of the municipal codes states that the Council will establish the pay ranges for employees. They should review the current salaries and do so soon because 10% of all employees already earn over $75,000 per year. Six are over $100,000.
- The Charter should no longer be ignored by authorizing non-budgeted pet projects. Revenues should be in excess of the budgeted estimate before a new project is authorized, per charter. The council is using the prior year's fund balance. (Savings)
- Per the last audit, in the years 2003 and 2004 the Council and former Manager overspent the General Fund by a total of $11,474,819 and have only returned $2,094,848 since.
- A top priority must be to maintain our existing sales tax base by assisting in the redevelopment of existing commercial areas. Our 104th Albertson's is a starting point.
- The City Managers have had a free rein since 2001 because the Council has chosen not to carryout its responsibilities as authorized in Charter section 1.4 and two sections of the Municipal Code. Operational oversight is non-existent.
- Because of my previous career experience, I will not be dependent on staff recommendations as has been the case for many years with the Council.
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