Fiscal Responsibility

By James "Jim" Wudarczyk

The need to maintain City properties, exercise fiscal responsibility, and provide true fiscal transparency

Currently, the mayor's staff is more than adequate. Wudarczyk believes that there is no need to increase the mayor's staff as proposed by one of the mayoral candidates. An increase in spending in this sector would be unwarranted, a blantant waste of taxpayers' money, and would merely increase an over-bloated bureaucracy.

Instead of increasing spending, we should be practicing economy and austerity. We have a pension fund that is 60% funded and 40% completely unfunded. Control in this category is top priority. That single issue is consuming 25% of the total budget and will escalate unless immediately curtailed.

Wudarczyk has pledge himself against supporting any new taxes. With a medium income in the city of $28,000 and a poverty level of 12.5% the municipal government must learn to live within its means the same as any other individual must do.

James Wudarczyk was the first candidate to remind the taxpayers that it is their money and the people have the right to know how every penny is being spent. He will push for the publication of online operating statements, just not budget projections. Furthermore, he will post his monthly expense account and require his staff to do the same. Wudarczyk will recommend that every other councilperson does likewise. Complete transparency is a top priority.

Unless we are resposible with our finances, we will not have any hope of fixing our infastructure.

People question why some of our streets have not been paved for 35 years. That is because we are using flawed computer modules that have categorized our streets as class one, two, and three. Do we have class three residents or class three taxpayers? It is time that we stop pipe-dreaming new projects at the expense of our neighborhood streets, parks, and sewers.

Since the administration is no longer to be trusted to act on behalf of the public, Wudarczyk believes that we need an all-volunteer citizens' group to examine every financial and operational aspect of city government. This commission would make recommendations to the City Council on cost savings.

He also believes that every manager from the mayor to the head of every department should be required to submit 10% in cost savings. Some cities that went from a dire financial situation to financial solvency did so by incoporating this requirement.