Laura A. Fitzpatrick: 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: LombardWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Lombard Board, District 5Age: 53Family: Married, three children ages 20, 23 26Occupation: District Office Director- State Representative officeEducation: Bachelors of Art, Double Major Education and Fine ArtCivic involvement: Village of Lombard- TrusteeFriends of the DuPage Theatre BoardLombard Arts Coalition FounderYork Township Republican Org. Committeeman, recruiting committeeDuPage Invitational Sculpture Show Chair FounderElected offices held: Trustee, Village of Lombard, 4 years 2007-2011Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NOCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 My top priority is to continue to look for ways to maintain village serviceswithin budgeted guidelines. Our village's elected officials have worked very closely with our professional staff to eliminate any unnecessary spending. At the same time, our residents have come to expect and enjoy some of the unique traditions in Lombard. While our own house is in order, there have been repeated shortfalls and delays in reimbursements from the state and other governmental bodies on retail taxes and gas taxes collected in Lombard which should be transferred back to us for government operations, street improvements, etc. The Village Board has been in austerity mode since I began serving 4 years ago. We've balanced our budget each year, frozen pay,eliminated out of state travel and frozen hiring in many cases. We need to continue to discovery more efficiency in every cycle.Key Issue 2 This one is just as important as #1. The economy has been especially difficult on a lot of our residents. We need to reemphasize the economic development and be prepared to take advantage of every opportunity as economic conditions improve. Lombard is far more competitive than most communities given our mix of housing, business, industry and transportation.The revenue side of the equation deserves strong attention. Housing values will take more time to recover, but in the meantime I will be working toward increasing economic opportunities that provide sales tax revenue and put businesses onto vacant land or in existing vacant properties. 3 major thoroughfares run through our community east and west and I-355 feeds all 3 of them with even more traffic. We have great locations in every part of the village including our downtown area. We don't need to increase any more taxes in the village. We need more tax paying businesses to fill in the prime space we have.Key Issue 3 Lombard maintains a Capital Improvement Plan for street and infrastructure improvement throughout the village. It's imperative that we continue to plan and execute these projects in the time frame they've been prioritized. We can ease much of the flooding issues as we address specific storm water problems during street repairs. Other flood abatement techniques are appropriate as well. We've seen intergovernmental cooperation with our Park District and unincorporated areas to utilize open space for some flood water relief. These steps must continue in tandem with completing projects on the Capital Improvement Plan which have been budgeted for. Flood relief is a huge issue throughout the village. Recently, the capital improvements have come in under budget compared to original estimates. We must continue to use those savings to advance the improvements to provide better infrastructure and needed relief. We have also offered the overhead sewer and backyard drainage grant to as many residents that have applied this year, to give immediate relief to private properties hardest hit.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Experience is a big factor. We've been challenged significantly on the economic front. The decisions have become increasingly more difficult.worked hard with the Jaycees to develop a solution that kept the Taste ofLombard and Fireworks Tradition in place, while working to eliminating the unaffordable village subsidy. The result is that the Taste can now operate on a formula that ensures it will be here for years to come. I've gone to Springfield each year during our legislative days to keep the pressure on our state officials to return tax dollars collected in Lombard back to Lombard to address the needs that the taxes were collected for in the first place. I've put a lot of time and effort into my privilege of being Trustee .I'm proud to say I've had perfect attendance on Village Board meetings and I've missed one Committee meeting in 4 years when my son was rushed to the hospital. I do believe that showing up is the first most important thing we do.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.Our local sales taxes are at or below the level of our neighboring communities. No one should argue that they are too low. Sales tax is a good portion of the life blood of our village operations budget. The hotel/motel tax has provided us with nearly all of the ""quality of life"" benefits that the village is able to provide. Having a regional mall like Yorktown offers us the opportunity to raise revenue from our neighboring communities who shop there and dine there as well. Given the current conditions, we seem to have the right balance on sales tax that gives our retailers a level playing field or a better condition than other places. Our economic resurgence will come from sales tax before any other source of revenue. That being said, like everyone else, I wish they could be lower.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.District 5 is the most residential and least commercial district in the village. Most of the calls I get and the people I talk to are more concerned about safety. I fought to keep Crossing Guards in our budget on Washington and on Madison. I received more calls about the possible elimination of crossing guards than any other issue. We also worked with the Police Department and the Traffic and Safety Committee to extend the hours and the length of One Way traffic around Westmore School. I attend block parties each summer all around the district. One of the comforting things I hear is that people do feel safe in our community. The housing in District 5 lends itself to young families with Madison Meadow to the south and Lombard Common to the north. There are good places for recreation within easy walking distance. Now the skate board park in Madison Meadow is open, it has provided a place to do so safely.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 have trimmed, cut, and used attrition and every other method to become more efficient with every budgeting cycle. As people retire, they are either replaced with a lower salary, part time persons, or not replaced at all.Every year poses new opportunities to maximize value and we examine every line item annually. The public pension area must be addressed state wide and locally. This line item has ballooned incredibly during the economic downturn. Serious and thoughtful discussions and cooperation are a must. No one can sustain the current situation. We have budgeted $28K in 2011 for a social services vendor to relieve the burden currently undertaken by police and fire personnel. Our current personnel aren't trained for this task andtheir pay scale makes it unaffordable and inefficient. This change should save considerable resources and more efficiently direct people in need toward recovery. Unfortunately we are seeing more and more people who are incrisis and severely need social service intervention.What's one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?As the Chairperson of the Community Relations Committee I can share that we are kicking off the planning process for our Block Captain program to enhance community building and neighborhood safety, The program assigns each block a ""Captain"" to provide communication and special activities for their own block. The captain can alert neighbors to other neighbors who may be in need of a little extra help around the house or just a visit now and then. During power outages and phone service disruption, it would provide another check for seniors living alone for whom communication disruption is especially dangerous. I am committed to getting Lombard more engaged in CMAP's (Chicago Metropolitan Area Planning)""Go to 2040"" planning, Lombard is well positioned in the public transit and development that are planned in CMAP's concepts. We have a number of available parcels of land that could see their value increase and become key developments in this regional vision. Networking with state and federal officials would facilitate grant funds for these endeavors.I'm continuing to work toward making our circulator bus a reality in Lombard. The difficult economy has postponed implementation of the plan. Lombard has continued to reserve it's portion of funding for this project.