Brad Judd: Candidate Profile

Back to Rolling Meadows City Council Ward 4

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: Rolling MeadowsWebsite: n/aTwitter: n/aFacebook: n/aOffice sought: Rolling Meadows City Council Ward 4 Age: 52Family: MarriedOccupation: TraderEducation: BSGS from NorthwesternCivic involvement: 4th Ward Alderman in Rolling Meadows Zoning Board of Appeals Rolling MeadowsElected offices held: 4th Ward Alderman Rolling MeadowsZoning Board of Appeals Rolling MeadowsQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?We have spent the last eight years taking the City from a General Fund deficit to a surplus and reduced or eliminated deficit spending in the rest of the funds. We have raised the bond rating of the City thus making it cheaper to residents for future borrowing. We have instituted fund balance policies in the General Fund and a couple of other funds which should help to reduce the chance of running deficits as we had previously. I have championed the concept of keeping the Police and Fire pension funds on a 100% funding by 2033 versus the 2040 the state allowed municipalities to move to which will greatly reduce the costs to the residents in the future. We have also tackled the issue of uncompensated absences and reduced the $5.3M balance to around $4.3M with further reductions set and we have put monies aside to start to cover that debt currently having $900K set aside.I continue to champion fiscal discipline and increased efficiency where possible.What is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales and property taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.The property taxes are high but for good reason as we are addressing the large deficiencies in our Police and Fire pension funds which will lead to lower pension costs in the long run. We unfortunately have many infrastructure issues that need to be addressed and our roads need extensive help. Hopefully we can get some increased business activity either from retail or an updating of the housing stock which should allow us to address roads and infrastructure without having to increase taxes further. Since we are fully funding our pensions at this point we hopefully will not have to have large increases in the future to stay current. Without changing the level of services we provide as a City it will be difficult to make any large reductions as the bulk of the budget is for personal and their benefits so without changing staffing there is little room for reductionsWhat should be done with the long-vacant Dominick's site?In a perfect world I would like to see mixed use residential and retail as I do not think the site will support retail alone. I would fully support owner occupied residential condos, townhouses, row-homes or single family homes or any combination. I am not in favor of and I will not support apartments or a project like South Bay if they are not owner occupied as they do not provide continuity and the disposable income that would help the current businesses we have in our downtown as well as helping to attract new business.Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?We have made several strides over the past 8 years in reducing spending wherever possible and I think the Council and staff have done a good job. I do not know of any specific cuts that could be made as 80-85% of our expenses are personal and I feel we have trimmed as much as possible without changing the services we provide. In the event that the choice is made to change the services we provide then a reduction in personal could be warranted. The only real option for cutting the budget that I feel has merit is to extend the life of the vehicles that we have and not replace as often as we do as the vehicles that are built today are of much higher quality and last longer than in previous years. We have a good mechanic shop and we spend more on replacing and repairing items than the usual personal vehicle. The ever present issue that we are still trying to address is finding additional monies for road repairs and reconstructionDo you support the fire department's plan to replace Fire Station 15 with a new station to the south, and Fire Station 16 with a new station to the east?I am wholeheartedly in favor of moving both stations as I feel this is the best move for the City and residents as a whole. While yes some would get a little lesser service time wise and others would see improvements the studies and work that the Fire Department and the Council have done shows that overall response times will improve for the majority of calls. There is a large cost to doing this but Station 15 is not in a good location for the southern section of town and building a third station would lead to additional fire fighters being hired. The City is not able to afford the costs of additional personal nor are they warranted especially if you look at the coverage of other communities around us. What I mean by that is if you take the number of stations AH has and then look at the number of square miles of the Village it is already servicing more sq mils per station than RM. The additional costs of personal, pensions and equipment cannot be absorbed without significant tax increases as the seasoned FF all in with pension and health care is somewhere in the $175-195K mark. Any savings from only building one station would be erased in a short time with additional personal. As well Station 15 cannot be rebuilt at its current location as it does not have the necessary landWhat other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?I hope to focus more on increasing the business atmosphere to attract increased activity and do more to retain the current business we have. I think Rolling Meadows is in a great spot geographically and hopefully we can find some ways to use that to our advantagePlease name one current leader who most inspires you.Paul RyanWhat is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Give 100% when doing a job and be honest and tell the truth even if it is not pleasant to hearIf life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Gotten my college degree earlier than I didWhat was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Math and economics which helps me have a greater understanding of the issues that people face in their financial livesIf you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Give 110% to your employer and if you don't like your job don't complain but do something to change it