Balancing the Budget
People talk about being sick and tired of always hearing we are in a budget crisis. We seem to always be in the red, and budget cuts & tax increases are always in the offing.
Fred brags that he was the architect of last year’s “balanced” budget. That was the one that he first tried to balance by cutting all community services funding, then finally created a garbage tax of $168 a year for each household to give us a service we already had.
And the budget was only balanced by borrowing money from future general fund revenues, guaranteeing crises into the future and saddling our children and grandchildren with debt.
Is that fiscal responsibility?
Fred raised his money by taxing families, even those in poverty who cannot afford it. A few months later, fiscal crisis apparently forgotten, he delayed the commercial impact fees for large commercial developers until 2011, pleading hardship for companies like Walgreens.
As a councilmember, I will balance our budget without slashing the programs we need or racking up debt.
Marana, Sahuarita, and Oro Valley all have budgets that are in good shape because they aggressively recover the cost of growth in multiple ways. I will raise revenues by collecting the cost of growth, not taxing those in poverty.
I will submit budgets that invest in our present and future and are truly in balance.
I will not pass down deficits to our children and grandchildren.
