Patch Election Q&A: Matt Brolley on Question #1

The question:

Just about all the candidates so far have said Montgomery needs to raise more revenue. What are your specific ideas to accomplish this? And what are your ideas to reduce expenses? What, specifically, would you cut out of the current budget?

As I have stated previously, the Village is in need of more revenue to properly fund our required Capital Improvements and the Vehicle Reserve Fund. However, I feel stronglythat we must not over tax our residents. Therefore, our first attack item will be to fill our vacant commercial storefronts especially along Douglas and Orchard roads. This will increase our sales tax revenue while giving our residents more options in choosing goods and services.

Secondly, we need to bring new commercial development where it is needed especially west of Orchard Road. No one can deny that the commercial market on the west side of town is lacking and very under saturated.

Over the past few years, the village has reduced the number of employees, reduced the hours of others, and asked more from the ones who remained. It has been a tough stretch for everyone in this community and country. Thus, I believe that the wage increases that were given this year are warranted. We need to make sure to invest in our hard working employees, as the cost of hiring a new employee greatly exceeds the cost of keeping an existing one.

I’ve spent a good deal of time reviewing this new budget, and singling out one particular item would either reduce the level of service to our residents or decrease efficiency of these services. I know there was some concern about the purchasing of a number of new computers, a sport utility vehicle for the Police Department, governance training, website upgrades, and substantial software upgrades for the Community Development Department. From conversations with different department heads, all of these expenses aim to better serve our residents and improve efficiency. I would not request cuts in these areas. However, I would like to see the village send these items out for bid to take advantage of the current competitive market.

That being said, each year that goes by without significant contributions to capital improvements or vehicle reserve only exacerbates the existing problem. Our roads deteriorate for another year, and the cost of keeping our aging squad cars increases due to prolonged wear and tear. With three months remaining our sales tax revenue has eclipsed last years total and have exceed village projections. At the end of the fiscal year, I would like to see all general funds in excess of the 25% reserve put directly into our vehicle reserve fund or resurfacing projects.