George,

Thanks for the inquiry. I believe the most important responsibility of all City Councilors is to be ever mindful of creating ways of lowering the tax burden on city residents. As a successful small business owner I am constantly creating ways to reduce my overhead while providing a better product and higher wages for my employees. The current budget situation is certainly perplexing. On one hand, City Council applauds themselves with having a surplus and then immediately says we have capital improvement expenses we forgot to mention. My question to City Council is; is the surplus real or is it imagined. If the surplus is real then we need to lower the tax rate for the next budget cycle, if the surplus is only imagined then City Council should be more diligent with reporting its actual expenses. One thing is for certain City Council has been controlled by Democrats for the twenty-two years I have lived in the area so if the residents are happy with the tax rate and the lack of diligent reporting of the true expenses then I suggest they vote for the Democrats once again. If the voters are not content with the current status quo, then elect Jon Bright.

Jon Bright (electronic mail, April 4, 2000).