Sustainable Takoma has questions for the candidates

On November 4, City residents will elect a mayor and council. Sustainable Takoma hopes to encourage a full and lively debate on the considerable management and fiscal challenges that will face those elected on that day. We plan to address the following questions to all candidates for office and post their replies on our website: www.sustainabletakoma.org.

We hope residents will join us in encouraging candidates to fully debate issues facing the City.

1. In fiscal year 2004 the City will spend nearly $4.5 million on maintaining the only full-service municipal police department in Montgomery County, an amount which is about double what the county estimates it would spend if it were providing police services in the City. Despite this high cost, the City's police department remains unaccredited and many in the community perceive that crime is on the increase.

If elected, what will you do to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of the City's public safety efforts?

2. When the Community Center first was proposed, City leaders assured the community that the full cost of construction would come from Federal, State, and County coffers, and thus would not cost the City anything. Since then, the construction budget has ballooned to a current estimate of $7.8 million for the initial phase; the City has borrowed $2 million at taxpayer expense; hundreds of thousands of dollars from other areas of the City budget have been diverted to the Community Center budget; the proposed gym and parking garage have been deferred; and the budget shortfall is still in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If elected, what will you do to resolve the Community Center funding crisis and what steps will you take to ensure that costly miscalculations made by the City in this project will not be repeated?

3. City property owners pay the highest municipal property taxes in Montgomery County. Despite these high payments, the City has amassed a huge backlog of needed capital improvements, including many millions of dollars in road repairs. The City recently ordered an engineering study to determine the full extent of needed road repairs.

If elected, what will you do to ensure that the City allocates sufficient funds to make needed capital improvements, such as road maintenance?

4. City property owners pay full property taxes to the County and the City, yet receive the bulk of services from the City alone. Although the County provides a rebate to the City for some services that the City provides in lieu of the County, these rebates account for only a small fraction of the cost of City services.

If elected, what will you do to help reduce this double taxation experienced by City property owners?

5. Takoma Park's municipal property tax rate is the highest in the county — twice as much as the second highest, Rockville. Takoma Park provides many programs that duplicate county programs and services that Takoma Park residents have already paid for in county taxes. For example, Takoma Park's noise ordinance provides the same requirements as the county's ordinance. However, the county has extensive technical support and services available to help residents abate noise levels that exceed allowable levels. The City's program has no such expertise.

6. Given the City's pressing fiscal needs, if elected, would you favor a management audit to determine which City programs and services merely duplicate county services (or are inferior to the County's) and which City programs and services are superior to county services or enhance county services?

7. The agenda of the City council is extensive; the City council often receives briefing materials late on Friday afternoon for issues to be discussed the following Monday. For a number of complex issues in the past year, the materials provided to council were incomplete or otherwise inadequate. The time pressure of an extensive agenda, minimal time for deliberation, and less than adequate briefing materials have an impact on council oversight of City government operations.

If elected, how would you improve the process under which the council makes decisions?

8. Many residents have expressed concerns about current city management.

What do you see as the roles and responsibilities in the relationship between Council and the City Manager?
How would you ensure accountability in all City functions and transparency on all issues before Council? In City operations?

–Jane Lawrence and Alain Thery
Co-chairs, Sustainable Takoma