Election 2011: Village Candidates on the Village's Biggest Challenges

April 5 is coming up fast. To help you get to know the candidates for the contested Woodridge elections, we asked the candidates for the and the a set of questions. We'll be posting the answers to those questions throughout the week.

As always, check out all of our election coverage at

What will be the biggest challenge facing the village's next Board of Trustees?

The biggest challenge will be cutting spending to match revenue and doing so in a way that does not harm core services such as police protection and roadways. I believe the traditional government “business model” is outdated and we need to explore new ways to deliver vital services in cost-effective ways. We need to look at greater cooperation and consolidation with nearby towns and ways in which we can utilize the private sector to help deliver services.

Increasing the tax base by bringing in more businesses to Woodridge.  Cut the red tape.

There are challenges facing the next Board of Trustees that all relate to the economy. One priority is remaining financially sound – with the increase in the income tax state rate, municipalities will not receive additional revenues, which is a major issue. We must continue to live within our means, and continually look for ways to reduce costs, again without decreasing core services. This effort is shared by leadership in all areas of the Village.

Economic stability and budgetary issues related to stagnant economic conditions. The causes of the economic issues have not been addressed at the national or state level, until they are the economy will not improve. We as a board will continue to have a shrinking budget for operations. It will shrink because of the increasing long term effect of public pensions as well as lack of economic growth that will be sluggish at best. An additional contributor will be the effect of the reduced buying power of the dollar on the ability to deliver services at the current level with the current tax base.