Gary Rower

The "city's

budget crunch" as the question implies, presupposes that nothing

has been done to date. That perception would be inaccurate. To date, the

staff and current council have already adjusted the millage rate to account

for last year's untimely rollback that created this year's shortfall.

Additionally, at the Oct. 18 council meeting, staff presented and the

council approved a contingency plan to defer, as necessary, equipment

acquisitions, construction projects and a list of other items that could

be postponed. That list, which is too long for this forum, is available

at City Hall. Potentially deferred items have been ranked by necessity

with the more important items being the last to be deferred and the first

to be reinstated as the situation evolves. Council will be updated over

coming months on the adjusted revenue projections from sales tax and will

adjust the deferrals as necessary.

2.

The city is nearing build-out, while the economy is in a slump. Given

that, should city staff levels grow, remain the same, or

be cut?

Steve Brown

Currently,

remain the same. A 20 percent shortfall in revenue is $1.46 million. I

will not use property tax increases as a remedy for the shortfall. I also

will not fund developer windfall projects like the TDK Boulevard extension

(see https://www.SteveBrownPTC.com/planning.html ). Before considering

employee layoffs, I will cut funding to the Development and Airport authorities.

Both are huge funding vacuums.

The taxpayers/homeowners

come first and the special interests must fall back in line. Historically,

I found that previous councils rarely touched the council contingency

funds allotted in the annual budget. Our current administration exhausts

the contingency funds by mid-year. We need to stop being compulsive shoppers

and focus on conserving tax dollars.

We need to

streamline our purchasing systems and look for ways to save by devising

joint purchasing agreements with other jurisdictions. Just bidding our

road projects in conjunction with the county government would save large

sums of money.

Dan Lakly

Everything

but public safety, health and public welfare will be on the table for

public discussion.