I am uniquely qualified to guide the city through the upcoming budget setting sessions. I am an advocate of fiscal responsibility and will be the voice of city residents on council.
A major challenge to our City will be balancing the budget. With the unplanned multi million dollar expenditure necessitated by the mandatory arbitration award regarding police salaries, the present Council's pattern of subsidizing development, the State's tendency to raid local budgets when it feels like it, plus the price of gasoline and the general economic situation of the country, Council will have to make city dollars stretch. When residents voted for Measure Y, the sales tax increase, they put their trust in the City to use the money generated as promised during the campaign. We have a duty to uphold those priorities, even as we struggle with a fiscal picture that is less than rosy. We must practice old fashioned principles of thrift and avoiding waste. As a businesswoman, attorney and former Council Member with twenty years of involvement in city issues, I am uniquely qualified to guide the city through the next budget process, difficult as it may be. I will be the voice of city residents on council.
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