Why are you running for this office?

I am running for office to support and boost the candidacy of Merrill Gay, my fellow Democrat who is running for Mayor. i have always been a community oriented person both in my professional life as an educator and in my personal life as a community leader and volunteer. Becoming the City Treasurer will allow me to bring my expertise in administration and my commitment to New Britain together for the good of our community.

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)?

The impact of the lack of finances in our city on its citizens is our biggest issue. This is borne out in underfunded schools - a chronic issue over the last 25 years.Our children are often put in school situations that would not be tolerated in suburban communities. The greatest among these is bloated class sizes caused by budget cuts and staff reductions. As City Treasurer, I could advise the Mayor and Council in ways to remedy this financial situation and be a source of information on how best to position our city to become more financially viable.

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?

We can do a better job of attracting and keeping businesses in New Britain. That would jump start the tax base and make us more self reliant. However, the State of Connecticut is responsible for educating the citizens of the State and need to come up with a formula for equitably funding every community. They can begin with the CCJEF court decision and come up with a funding plan from there.

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?

I am not in favor of another method of taxing the citizens of New Britain. Our burden is already too much.

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

I am in favor of regionalizing in general. We cannot continue with all of these overlapping duplicated services in every town. 911 should be centralized. Emergency services should be centralized. And we should not be a State with 169 school districts.

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

The school district should get money not based on enrollment alone. The demographics of those enrollments need to be considered. Communities with more homeless families, more special needs children, more students in poverty, more students who speak English as a second language, and more teenage pregnancies should get more. Services and educational opportunities for students from these demographics are more expensive.

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

Since I retired, I have taken an interest in floral gardening. I plant and maintain many types of flowers in my yard every Spring/Summer and get great joy out of their growth and beauty.