Why are you running for this office?

My goals as a City Councilor will be to stabilize our finances, develop new revenue sources, promote public safety, advocate for the necessary instructional staff in our schools, facilitate economic development opportunities and open the City Charter to make the needed changes to protect all of us. The City Council plays a vital role in promoting New London, protecting our residents and providing the necessary checks and balances for a strong mayor form of government. Therefore, it is critical to have a Council that has a strong voice to counter increasing taxes and to install best practices and policies that more effectively serve our City’s residents. New London is my family’s home and I believe in its bright future, but to realize that future, we have to change the way things are done. What I can promise as a candidate for City Council is logic, reason, and the personal, as well as professional managerial experience to develop and implement policies that we desperately need to stabilize our City.

What is the most pressing local issue facing your community and how would you solve it (within the capacity of the office for which you are running)?

There is admittedly not enough room here to fully discuss a global solution to New London's woes; Nor is their any one 'silver bullet'. From my discussions with local residents, the exponentially and continually increasing taxes (9.4% in this past year alone) are the most pressing issue we have, both from a fiscal and quality of life perspective issue for our residents. The solution involves looking at both sides of the budgetary equation for help - income and expenses. We need to look at questionable and potentially redundant expenses, in particular, we need to look at the combination of departments from the city and BOE that perform similar functions - a shared resource approach if you will. We also need to look into right-sizing the administration levels on both the city and BOE side; the latter being more pressing. As a city councilor, one of my goals would be to establish renewed lines of communication and collaboration with the BOE to discuss this and other matters of public concern, and ensure timely addressing. On the income side, we need to look into new revenue sources to combat our eroding tax base. We are overly dependent on the State for much of our funding, and if this year has proved anything, that is not a smart position to be in. We need to look into potential collaboration with our surrounding municipalities to develop regional solutions that benefit us all. Ledge Light Health district is an example of how this could be done successfully.

With the state's ongoing budget crisis looming over the election, what are your plans for your community's budget? Is there anything you can do make your town less dependent on revenue from the state?

I believe I addressed this in my answer to the previous question; In addition, we need to reinvest in New London's basic needs and prioritizing the maintenance and modernization of our current assets and supporting efforts to return vacant buildings and properties to value-added, sustainable uses, including property under RCDA and city stewardship. We also need to support all opportunities that utilize our resources, such as our waterfront, deep water port and prime development land, in a fiscally responsible, balanced manner

The legislature has been debating various ideas to allow towns to raise revenue locally through something other than property taxes. If you could ease your residents' property tax burden by adding another method of taxation, is there anything you might consider for your town?

To be clear, I am not in favor of new taxes or raising existing taxes; What I am in favor of is fair levying of existing taxes for municipal services rendered. There are large non-profits in New London that have millions of dollars stashed away, such as Connecticut College and Yale/L&M, and who enjoy a property tax-free existence in New London. Extracting appropriate compensation from such non-profits who present a burden on our city services is something that the next council should undertake.

Are you in favor of regionalizing more services in conjunction with other nearby communities? If so, which ones?

ABSOLUTELY. New London, in particular, plays host to a variety of regional services, but is denied regional compensation year after year. A regional/shared resource approach for municipal services and education should be part of a strategic plan for Southeastern CT as a whole. Currently, the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Government (SECCOG) is undertaking one such study, but it unfortunately does not include regionalization of education services. New London should be at the forefront of this study and pushing for it's expansion.

Should your school district get the same amount of education funding from the state if your district's enrollment is dropping?

Current ECS fomulas are tied to a variety of factors, including enrollment. As such, de facto, dropping enrollment would have an affect on ECS tied to that particular district. There are a variety of other factors that could apply to determine the final amount of ECS (% of poverty level students, etc.), so enrollment is just one part of the equation. I DO believe that perhaps the ECS formulas need to be revisited regularly and assessed in terms of their validity to current economic/social climates.

What's one thing most people don't know about you?

I am a licensed private pilot and enjoy exposing my little girls to the world of aviation, as well as using my license for charitable benefit.