The short answer is accountability and reducing spending. That does not explain how to ensure it happens. In order to be fiscally responsible and keep from needing to increase taxes, we need to be diligent on how we spend, while maintaining a reasonable debt load. As a steward of your tax dollars, I will continue to look for ways to reduce spending and limit the growth on our debt burden. Over the last council’s term, the debt level raised from 49% of acceptable debt limit and will peak in 2019 at 96%. It is currently projected to spike again in 2025 to 61%.
We need to work with administration to reduce costs, limiting the growth in cost that can occur between phases of projects. This will allow us to better budget and anticipate the end cost. It is unacceptable that we needed to approve an additional $3 million to complete a project right near the end. By continuing to service a growing debt load, it reduces our ability to pay for new projects and maintain existing programs. If we are going to continue to improve infrastructure and services, without raising taxes, we need to reduce our debt load.
