Dorothy K. Flanagan: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: GenevaWebsite: http://www.flanaganagain.orgOffice sought: Geneva AldermanAge: 64Family: Married, Husband and one SonOccupation: VP of Marketing and Partner in software development companyEducation: Two years of CollegeCivic involvement: Geneva Beautification Committee (Co-Chair)Geneva Chamber VolunteerElected offices held: City Council, Geneva 1993-2011Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Econony and Fiscal ResponsibilityKey Issue 2 Econony and Fiscal ResponsibilityKey Issue 3 Econony and Fiscal ResponsibilityQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Last time I looked I was the only candidate for the job. But I decided to run again because I believe that my combination of public service, volunteer, and business experience makes me the best candidate to serve the people of the Fourth Ward and the City of Geneva.Given the delicate balance between the need for revenue and over-taxing local businesses, what is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.Sales tax is a use tax and the revenues are completely dependent upon economic conditions. When the economy is humming, our sales tax revenues are good. We are not a home rule community anyway. So we really can#146;t raise sales tax without a referendum as we did in 2007. Our current rate of 7.5 percent matches Batavia and we are slightly lower than St. Charles which is at 8 percent, so we are competitive. Being a _ percent lower helps make Geneva a better place to shop for the cost conscious shopper. And we want to attract shoppers to help our local businesses and to help increase our sales tax revenues through increasing sales and not taxes.Talking with your friends and neighbors, what seems to be their biggest public safety concern? Explain the concern as you see it, and discuss how you think it should be addressed.There really are no current public safety issues that friends and neighbors have brought to my attention. At one time we had a lot of concern about speeders on Williamsburg. We did some traffic studies and monitored speed limits. We installed traffic calming knuckles and our police department continues to regularly assign a squad car to check for speeders, which seems to have rectified the problem.In these tight economic times, municipal budgets have to be prioritized. Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?We may have to revisit our long and short term Goals and Objectives and put some projects on hold. One area that could be trimmed would be to look into leasing as an option for police vehicles, computer equipment, and some of our other equipment investments. Leasing may be more cost effective than purchasing in some cases. I would like to reduce our dependency on outside consultants whenever possible. I would also like to see more of our budget going into street repairs before streets reach critical condition. It would be nice to allocate more funds to debt retirement, which helps our bond ratings and reduces our pension funding liabilities.What#146;s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?I#146;ve always believed that we should use technology to help make government more efficient and to help increase citizen participation in government. We currently broadcast council meetings on cable television and the web, which allows more people to follow what#146;s happening with their city. I#146;d like us to accept questions and input via e-mail from citizens watching at home. We would have to have people register before they submit comments and questions so we can identify them as we do when anyone speaks at the meeting. We would have to limit questions and comments as we do for any meeting, but this would allow us to get more citizens involved in their government. I don#146;t know if any other cities are doing this, but Geneva could set the precedent if not.