Doug Krause: 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: NapervilleWebsite: http://www.KrauseForMayor.comOffice sought: Naperville MayorAge: 63Family: Spouse- Cyndee married for 42 years Carrie, Justin, Lukas and Amanda (she would have been 35 this year) We are blessed with two grandchildren Elsa and TJOccupation: Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX of Naperville (20 years in the Business) Doing Commerical and Residential Transactions. Have help over 30 businesses to open in Naperville during that time.Education: Chicago State University 1970 Majors: BS Business Education BS AccountingCivic involvement: Naperville Astronomical SocietyNaperville Little LeagueNaperville Traveling Baseball TeamNaperville Central Booster Club Varsity Basketball Varsity BaseballWheatland Athletic AssociationWheatland South Homeowners Assoication-Organizer and MemberWinding Creek Homeowners Association - SecretaryElected offices held: Naperville City Councilman since 1989 to present (been elected 6 times)Lisle Township Republican Precinct 75 Committeeman since 1993Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No!Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Balancing the Budget by not raising fees and taxes, but bycutting wasteful spending on non-essential items such as the $450 a month the 13 department heads get to commute to work. Recalculate overtime pay for hours worked over 40 hours, stop using sick and vacations days to equal 8 hours of work. There is enough fat in our budget that need to be cut in order to balance our budget while still providing essential services to the citizens.Key Issue 2 Job Creations - Continue to using creative incentives to attract businesses to Naperville such as the removal of the Road Impact Fees that helped us get Delta Dental to build a 80,000 square foot building on the northside. Using the amount above the 2009 hotel tax collected to be applied to the improvements of the former 460 room Holiday Inn to become a Marriott Hotel. Transferring our $17 Million dollars in state bonding to Lisle to help secure Navistar to locate it Corporate Offices in Lisle. This will bring over 3,000 high paying jobs to the area and Naperville will see its share of benefit from helping our neighbor. Creation of jobs will have an affect on our other businesses which in the end benefit us all.Key Issue 3 Pension Reform - we must work to get away from the Defined Benefit Pensions which we cannot continue to afford them. This require working with Springfield in order to make these changes.Questions Answers The city has slashed dozens of jobs in the last year in an attempt to balance the budget. Do you see more of this in the future?The biggest piece in the city's general fund is personnel-related expenses, which represents 75% of the total $111 million. In the last two years we have reduced the city payroll by 136 positions. Not only did we eliminate positions but also looked at efficiencies and cutting or limiting programs to save the taxpayers' money. Keeping in mind that we need a certain number of employees in order to properly serve the citizens, and we may well be at that point, the next area to consider in balancing the budget is to look at current compensation and benefits. Some examples of what can be done in this area are included in my ""Do It Now"" Initiative #133; a promise that I will begin the process to address action items the first day I am in office. These examples are:1. Eliminate immediately $450 monthly car allowance provided to 13 department heads. (City staff has targeted 2013 for this to take effect).2. Modify the overtime expenses to cover hours only exceeding 40 hours per week.3. Eliminating the practice of counting sick or vacation days as part of a 40- hour work-week in order to collect overtime pay.Another area where we can address balancing the budget is our negotiations with unions and their contracts. See a more complete explanation under question 5, but the short answer is that I have consistently voted NO on contracts that are out-of-line with what our non-union employees (who have not had a pay increase in two years) and those in the private sector are paid.Secondly, to balance the budget, we need to attract businesses to Naperville in order to increase revenues. Examples of my votes to attract business include:1. Elimination of the Road Impact Fee that helped gets Delta Dental to build its 80,000 square-foot headquarters on the north side and has generated jobs. 2. Transferring our $17 million dollars in state bonding to Lisle to help secure Navistar to locate it Corporate Office in Lisle. This will bring over 3,000 high paying jobs to the area and Naperville will see it share benefit from help our neighbors. 3. Using creative incentives for business to choose Naperville, such as the vote on allowing the new owners of the Holiday Inn to use an increased portion of the city's hotel tax (any amount collected above the 2009 level) to apply towards improvements. Jobs stay in Naperville, a business stays in Naperville. Based on your experience as council member or mayor, are there any programs that you already know you would seek to eliminate if you were to be elected mayor?Yes... in fact some of these are contained in my ""Do It Now"" initiative that will take place the first day I am on the job. These are:1. Taking steps to immediately eliminate the $450 monthly car allowances provided to 13 department heads. How many people get paid to commute to work? This is a $5,850 monthly expenditure to the taxpayers. The City Manger has indicated he will stop this program in May, 2013. By then, the city will have spent $162,000 of the taxpayers money. 2. Stop the practice of paying overtime if you work less than 40 hours in a week. (Eliminate counting sick and vacation days as 8 hours worked.)3. Put pressure on the Chamber of Commerce to stop charging new businesses $195 for ribbon cuttings. We should be helping businesses to open in Naperville and encouraging them to join the Naperville Chamber of Commerce which offers many benfits to the business community. 4. Eliminate ""secret"" board and commission members. All individuals who sit on any board or commission while I am mayor will have their names published and have city email addresses so taxpayers can quickly and easily contact them. (Presently, the names of these individuals are not published and citizens are told they must file under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain them... and they still do not have a way to contact them with concerns.) Additionally, I will immediately add:1. The establishment of regular town hall meetings for the community to address the Mayor and Council directly.2. Accountability of all commissions and boards to meet on a regular basis and report to City Council. I serve on the Utility Board and we have not met in over year months until just recently.What are your thoughts/concerns regarding the city creating a shuttle bus service to help seniors and others commute to and from the downtown and other popular locations?The City has approved a comprehensive master transportation plan and we have implemented some of its provisions which include transportation service for seniors and persons with disabilities with the Ride DuPage Program, with rides available 24/7 and no service boundaries. Through PACE, there is transportation between popular destinations: College of DuPage, Edwards Hospital, Fox Valley Mall, and Downtown Aurora.For special events in Naperville, I will continue to support funding of shuttle buses from various locations throughout the city for all residents.In terms of additional services, in these difficult economic times I feel our resources are better spent in other areas at this time. But when the economic situation improves then we should look at implementing other provisions of the master plan.The city recently purchased the site of the DuPage Children's Museum on the city's north side. Do you support leaving the museum in place or freeing up the potentially valuable real estate at the city's northern border for economic development?First, let's review how the city used resources to obtain the property. The city purchased the site of the DuPage Children's Museum with the help of the State of Illinois, DuPage County, Membership of the Museum, and Chase Bank. The city used money left over from bonding for capital projects that came in under projected budget ($2 million dollars) and $1 million dollars from the Burlington Parking Fund. The $3 million dollars that the city paid is about half of the $6.5 million of the appraised property. I view this real estate as a future asset for the city. We have a lease with the Children#146;s Museum for the next 20 years ($62K annually starting in year 5 and with adjustments to the rent annually with Consumers Price Index fluctuations, and we have the right to end the lease at any time with notice. Additionally, commuters have access to 57 daily parking spaces right next to the Metra Train Station. The revenue from those parking spots can generate up to $75,000 per year. Between the lease agreement and parking income, we will recover the $3 million paid for the property. These arrangement further benefits the Children#146;s Museum as it is now able to apply for additional grants that were previously off-limits because it owned the property. It is estimated the Museum generates about $12 million in revenues to businesses in Naperville from visitors, as well as serving as a point of attraction for our residents. Last year it was rated one of the top ten sites visited in the Chicagoland Area. What can be learned from the furor over the city giving police officers 3 percent raises then enacting layoffs? How should the city deal with its unions? Should it agree to raises when it knows layoffs will be a result?Currently, two-thirds of city employees are unionized. In the last three years, the union base pay exceeded both non-union employees and counterparts in private industry (according to recent research provided by several data bases). It is of interest to note that over 204 city employees are making over $100K per year with base salary and overtime. Our non-union city workers have not received ANY increase in base pay for two years. Additionally, we have eliminated over 136 positions in the last two years.But let's zero in on the subject of the recent FOP negotiation. Ten years ago, Naperville's public safety pensions represented 12 percent of our property tax levy. Today, it is 24 percent. Our Police Pension Fund is only 54.7% funded. Likewise, the Fire Pension fund is 65.5 percent funded. Officers are eligible for up to 75% of their salary upon retirement after 30 years of service #133; and they pay 10% of their salary into the pension fund. An officer who joins the force at age 25 can retire at 55. We currently have 91 members of the police department making over $100K per year. This represent 44.6% of the total number of employee earning over $100K per year. In regards to the negotiations, I do not agree with a closed-door vote on the subject of approving the union contract as I also reject the practice of spending money we do not have, especially as we were facing a budget shortfall of $4.5 million before this increase, which adds an additional $2.6 million to that deficit total.The contract ultimately accepted via arbitration provides officers with a total of 9.3% pay raise over three years. During the union negotiations (which spanned over 17 months), the City stated that it would not include a ""no layoff of personnel"" provision. The possibility of layoffs was no surprise to the union. At the final council meeting regarding this subject, packed with police officers from not just Naperville but other adjacent communities, the option was offered to hire back all six officers who were laid off in return for the union's acceptance of zero pay increases for three years. The response was #147;NO WAY."" As much as we hate to let good people go, we had no choice in this matter.In other communities, city employees are working in cooperation to keep jobs by agreeing to pay freezes, hiring freezes, and furlough days just to help everyone keep their job. I voted no on the recent IBEW contract (both my opponents voted yes), I voted NO on the police contract (both my opponents voted yes), and I will continue to vote no to union contracts that are out of line with non-union workers and the private sector.