Corey Dixon: Candidate Profile

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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:BioQA Bio City: ElginWebsite: www.coreyforelgincitycouncil.comTwitter: @coreyforelginFacebook: @coreyforelginOffice sought: Elgin City Council Age: 34Family: Im married to Janelle Dixon, Esq. We have two girls. Our oldest is 11 years of age and the baby is 20 months of age. They keep our house lively to say the least.Occupation: Human Services Caseworker with the State of Illinois Department of Human ServicesEducation: #ERROR!Civic involvement: -City of Elgin Image Advisory Commissioner(2012-2016)-SD U-46 Parent Leadership Institute Program Facilitator(Since 2016)-Board President-elect of Greater Elgin Family Care Center(Since 2016)-City of Elgin Planning Zoning Commissioner(Since 2014)Elected offices held: NoneQuestions Answers The Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin is funded by a $135,000 yearly contract with the city, and future funding will be discussed by the city council. The DNA could continue to be funded by the city, or by a new special tax imposed on downtown property owners, or by a special sales tax increase for downtown only. Or by a combination of all three. How do you believe the DNA should be funded? Please explain.I support the Downtown Neighborhood Association ("DNA") and I believe they should continue to receive funding from the City based on the specific services that they provide. I also believe DNA has the ability to move towards a self-funded model. The $135,000 yearly contract with the city has/will be reevaluated and should be adjusted where necessary to ensure that the taxpayers' money is being used efficiently. There are definitely some areas that can be improved in our relationship with the DNA and I believe the City Council would be open to doing so. I am not in favor of creating a Special Service Area (SSA) tax on downtown property owners who are already having a hard time obtaining and keeping tenants. As I stated before, I would like Downtown Neighborhood Association to find an alternate source of funding, relying less and less on the City over a contracted timeframe. I believe that's the direction we should head in and until then, we should continue to support where we can as long as fiscal responsibility and accountability leads the way.Elgin straddles Cook and Kane counties. Cook County approved increasing the hourly minimum wage from $8.25 to $10 effective July 1. Elgin, as a home rule community, can opt out. Do you support opting out or allowing the $10 minimum wage to take effect? Why?I am in support of opting out. Not because I don't want to see worker wages increase. I actually do want to see wages increase. My current employment is specifically related to our community, which is 70% in Kane County and 30% in Cook County. An increase in wages would hurt our businesses on the east side of town that are already dwindling in numbers due to expansion on the west side of town, along with other factors. We cannot afford to place small businesses at a disadvantage no matter where they are located. They all deserve the same level playing field. Furthermore, as our city continues to grow and expand, it's our responsibility to ensure safe and steady growth while making it conducive for businesses to open and business owners to hire more city residents.A task force told the city council in summer 2015 that the Hemmens Cultural Center should be expanded with a new performance space for up to 450 patrons, new restrooms, dressing rooms, a box office and more. The cost hasnÃcirc;shy;t been estimated but it would be in the millions. Do you believe an expansion is necessary? Please explain.An expansion would be great for the city, but in these tough economic times after just recently raising our residents' taxes, I would find it difficult to get behind such a project with taxpayer money. I agree that the Hemmens does need to be upgraded and Elgin would benefit greatly from tourism, additional events and more, but the return on investment would need to far exceed the cost in order for me to support an upgrade. This is nearly impossible to tell at this point since the expansion evaluation hasn't been tagged with a dollar amount, while the most recent evaluation was completed two years ago. All we know is that it will cost, "millions." It was previously estimated/speculated to cost eight million, but it has also been said that it would cost much more. If elected, I would support an effort to re-evaluate the Hemmens and conduct a cost benefit analysis. Only then can the residents and City Council make an informed decision. All in all, I would love to see the Hemmens upgraded and expanded, but I would only support such an effort if it made financial sense.The city council set a policy of gradually spending down the cityÃcirc;shy;s reserves to 30 percent of operational expenses. By the end of 2017, the general fund will have $37.9 million in reserves, or about 32 percent, as per this yearÃcirc;shy;s budget. Do you agree with the policy? Or do you believe the city should be more prudent with reserves? Or should it spend down reserves even more? Why?Strong financial policies which govern our general fund reserve levels have led the way to our current AAA bond rating. We haven't always been as prosperous. But, after the economic downturn experienced by most communities across the country in 2008, we had to make some cuts and set new goals. Those adjustments eventually led to the high bond rating. With that being said, I do not fully agree with the policy. I think we need to keep with what has gotten us here and that's being conservative with the use of our reserves. Drawing down on reserves does keep taxes/fees lower and allows us to make pension payments. Now that we have weathered the storm, it's time to evaluate and set new goals for the next 5-10-20 years and make adjustments today that will benefit us later. With us being a growing community, I would like to see us keep our reserves because the day will come when we stop growing in certain sectors of our economy due to land restraints. I would like the City to continue to be prudent with reserves while reducing debt and dependency on property taxes, while also identifying new streams of income.The city is working on a creating a Ãcirc;not;code compliance academyÃcirc;® for residents who want to find out more about property-related regulations, and help keep an eye on problems. Do you think this is a sound approach? If not, what is your alternative?I would be in support of the academy as long as there are some tweaks made. I believe that informed and involved residents are the best residents to have. I also believe that if we empower residents to write tickets or provide some variation of it, that we'd be opening up a can of worms that we do not want. I currently like the system of registering code complaints by phone, email or in person, but residents policing each other for code issues would be a breeding ground for all kinds of bad things to happen. In addition to the academy, I would reevaluate our current codes. We actually have eleven different code categories(residential, commercial, elevator, energy, etc.) that house an exorbitant amount of codes. I would propose that we systematically go through these codes and remove those we deem unecessary, overbearing, out of date or irrelevant. This will help streamline our code process and reduce cost to the city and its residents, as well make things more manageable for everyone.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Public Safety -My number one priority is ensuring the safety of our city's residents.Economic Development -As we grow, it's important that we increase responsibly from the core, being our downtown, as well as throughout the city. I plan to help strengthen our core by focusing on correcting our current zoning policy to make it more conducive for retail stores and restaurants to occupy street level properties downtown. Clear Budgeting Benchmarking -The City of Elgin has a transparent budget process. I want to help make the budget understandable to all residents by having it translated into layman's terms. In addition, I would also have the cost of essential city services benchmarked against other communities with similar demographics, so that taxpayers can gain a better understanding of what is being spent and why. To see an example of what our budget could look like, please visit this website www.clear.gov, click on "Illinois", then "Cities" and "Elgin."Homelessness -A community is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable and the residents of our city treat our homeless population very well. What I would like to see us do in partnership with our social service community, is not only address the food, clothing and temporary shelter aspect of homelessness, which we already are, but to also encourage and help those who want to be assisted and led toward becoming self sufficient. I commend CAMPS on the work they've started doing.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Malala Yousafzai. She spoke up for wanting an education when it wasn't easy or safe, was shot because of it and now speaks up more.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?All things are possible if you work hard enough for it.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would try to be the next Michael Jordan again.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?History. It helped introduce me to other cultures and parts of the world I hadn't explored, which encouraged me to be more open minded today.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?No matter how things look, never give in, never give up, always keep on going.