I am a fiscal conservative because I believe that the officials who run city government must treat the taxpayers' money with as much care and restraint as they exercise with their own money, if not more.  I believe that managing public money is a matter of public trust and one of the most important duties a public official undertakes.

The taxpayers deserve to know the honest numbers behind what's being collected and what's being spent.  The current city administration, however, has spent us into a $1.7 million budget deficit from last year and at least that same amount again this year. That means that city government is living beyond its means for the second consecutive year. Before our city government takes on any new, big spending projects, therefore, we have to see to it that our existing basic responsibilities to residents are, and will continue to be, met.

We need to focus our spending on a pay-as-we-go basis, because we cannot afford to mortgage our community's future for the benefit of "insiders" and the special interests.  The choices we make today will determine what kind of city our children and their children inherit from us.