Fiscal Responsibility, Pension Reform and Small Businesses

By Kristin D. Gaspar

I understand that tax revenue is not the government's money or the city's money...it is your money, and , I pledge to use it wisely.

Encinitas must take a proactive approach in terms of pension reform. We cannot afford in the short-term, medium-term, or long-term to end up in the position that the City of San Diego is in. I am certain we can solve this problem while still offering our city employees extremely competitive and appealing salary and benefits packages. I am also certain that I can work together with all of the current council members and future council members to get this job done. As the CFO of a physical therapy business, I am in charge of our pension plan. We have dealt successfully with our pension plan even though health care reimbursement has declined sharply during the last 5 years. Budgeting, short-term, medium-term, and long-term planning come easy to me. It's all about basic math, thoughtful planning, and working together in a cooperative manner with all other council members.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy at the national, state, and community level, but we have not been doing all we can at any of these levels to help the small businesses in Encinitas. Small businesses generate a large percentage of the revenue and the jobs our city needs to support our infrastructure and programs. If our small businesses continue to fail, the quality of life, services, and public safety in our community will be threatened. Small businesses have to be performance and service-oriented because they generally receive no entitlements and no bail-outs. As a result, they tend to be the most efficient and productive part of our workforce. I am proud to be the CFO of Gaspar Doctors of Physical Therapy and am undoubtedly the best prepared candidate to deal with small business concerns related to our sagging economy, excessive tax burden, and the poor climate for small business that currently exists.