As your Councilman, I have consistently run one of the most efficient and effective offices. I routinely return funding from my office budget back to the Metro budget and I am proud to show constituents how I focus the spending of their taxes on road, infrastructure, sidewalk and park projects, rather than parties and programs.

As a past member of the Metro Council’s Budget Committee, I have only voted for budgets that have placed a priority on police, infrastructure and the development of economic opportunities. I have supported efforts to increase investment in addressing our basic responsibilities, and helped to craft proposals that reduce our reliance on debt and also look to the future to ensure that our government doesn’t run into future budget pitfalls.

Most importantly – I have opposed every effort to create or increase your taxes. Efforts have been made to increase your occupational, health insurance, property and even sales taxes. I have opposed each of these and, instead, required Metro work within its budget to provide exceptional services. We have been successful in showing that we can do more with less, and I will remain committed to this belief so long as I serve as your representative on the Metro Council.

Goals for leading on Taxes and Fiscal Responsibility

No New Taxes: We can and should be able to find efficiencies in a more than $1 billion dollar budget. We must not only demand efficiency from each and every department, we must continually look to the future to be sure that our spending is sustainable.

Continue to Run an Efficient Office: I have spent less than my allotted funding for my office each and every year since taking office. I pledge to continue this in my next term.

Reduce Debt: Debt should only be used to address capital projects with long livelihoods. I have opposed any effort to increase the amount of debt beyond what has been proposed by the Mayor in each budget. I will continue to focus on reducing our overall debt so as to not burden future generations with payments for items they can’t even use or enjoy.

Increase Reserves: I wil continue to seek for Metro to have a healthy reserve/rainy day fund. This funding must be there should we hit hard economic times or face a large unforeseen expense.