League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area Education Fund
Hamilton County, OH November 3, 2009 Election
	Jim Horwitz Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Madeira

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What are your Qualifications for Office? (50 word limit)

MBA, Univesity of Washington. BFA, University of Cincinnati. Planning Commissioner 2005-2008, City of Madeira. Community volunteer and well seasoned businessperson with an extensive working knowledge of real estate, retail, small business operations and Madeira city processes and documents.

2. What plans do you have to address your top three priorities? (100 word limit)

1. Advocate new ordinances and procedures to make city government more accessible to our residents. Specifically, we need immediate and complete notes of public meetings made available, and we need back room decision making about volunteer positions brought out into the open.

2. We need to set a specific course of saving funds so the city is better positioned to invest in progressive development rather than let our city's development be 100% developer driven.

3. We need to prudently stress test our city budget to spend more efficiently and prepare ourselves to be more resilient during tough times.

3. What two actions would you promote to enhance city revenue or decrease city expenditures in order to balance the city budget, given the current economic conditions? (100 word limit)

The city is currently about $400,000 short in 2009 revenues due to lower than anticipated tax revenues. Therefore, rather than cover expenses out of our reserves (savings), we should look to cut expenses on services and staffing and vendor costs that are not as competitive as they should be. Secondly, we should look to raise revenues through stronger enforcement of zoning and permit laws that our community has already established.

4. What steps should the local government take to ensure that the quality of rental property meets minimum legal standards? (100 word limit)

This is a non-issue in Madeira since we're dominated by single family homeowners, ranging from under $100,000 to over $1,000,000. We have very few rentals compared to most other communities - primarily due to our zoning and housing stock. Many rentals are not long term rentals, so the nature of our inventory is that they are in better condition than average. Our current zoning and building permit legislation addresses the condition of all properties and is mostly adequate in protecting our residents. What we can do better is to ensure enforcement of proper building permits and construction projects in the city.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Word limits apply for each question. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 20, 2009 14:40
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