Harry Leopold: 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: HuntleyWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Huntley Village boardAge: 74Family: Married, Gini, 2 children, 8 grandchildrenOccupation: retired information systems executiveEducation: Penn State University, MBA, University of Chicago, 1972Civic involvement: Sun City Homeowners Assoc, currently member board of directors, previously Whytecliffe HO Assoc. President (Palatine) President several Bridge Clubs, Coach boys softball team, Member Palatine Township Senior Center board of directors, Co-founder Sun City Model Railroad Club, Founder Sun City Bridge club, Previously President Sun City golf league, Previously member Sub City AmbassadorsElected offices held: Huntley Village Trustee, 2003 and 2007Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Completing Route 47 widening and a 4 way interchange at route 47 and I90 to stimulate the local economy by attracting more business for our residents to both hold the line on taxes and provide more services in our own backyardKey Issue 2 Attracting more office and light industrial businesses in addition to the retail commercial to better balance the property tax baseKey Issue 3 Improving the overall quality of life in Huntley by providing new transportation services like Metra and Amtrak rail, bus and shuttle service as one example.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Eight years experience on the board. Excellent knowledge of initiatives in progress. Past accomplishments of the board including for example, attracting Wal Mart and many other new businesses, a new village hall and police station, Negotiating boundary agreements with neighboring communities to avoid developers playing one against the other, getting route 47 widening and the 4 way interchange started, holding to high standards which have kept some underfunded developers out of town along with the problems that often ensue with them. Along with the local municipal experience, I have a broad background in general business experience, my health is good and I have the time to do a good job for the residents of HuntleyGiven 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.So far, the board and staff have done a good job in managing village services with the taxes coming in. As evidence of this until this year there have been 8 to 10 straight years of property tax reduction for the village portion of homeowners property taxes. Regarding sales tax, the initiatives of getting Walmart and General RV to come to town will help to increase the dollars of saes tax due to the village without raising them. The real problem with sales tax is at the state level where the legislators and governor have decided that a partial solution to our billions of dollars of debt is to raise the sales tax. As a citizen of the state of Illinois, I object to raising the sales tax without a dollar for dollar cut in spending.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.Senseless terrorist threats and attacks. The bombings and shootings by extremist people and extremist groups is the number one concern of my friends. At the level of local government we can only be vigilant and watch for such threats and try to derail them before they become attacks.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?For the past three years, we have been dealing with this issue and the staff of the village has cut spending every year. They have also transferred services to different vendors and brought some services in house where savings could be realized. Finally they have delayed hiring and left some positions open. Compared to other municipalities, the village of Huntley is more fiscally sound that most.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?A wind farm to lower the cost of electricity