Candidates Talk about Budget Cuts

Candidates for Greenbelt City Council fielded questions on Thursday, Oct. 6, at Greenbriar Community Center in the first forum for the 2011 elections, sponsored by the Greenbelt East Advisory Coalition (GEAC). Along with sharing biographical information and their visions for the future, candidates also answered questions on issues including:

• Crime
• Budget cuts

In the order that the candidates answered

With the economy still struggling, money may remain tight. Where would you propose the first cut?

Emmett Jordan: He does not think budget cuts are necessary and said the first place we should look at is — how to expand the tax base, so we can encourage business to stay here and attract new business.  He also said we could look at programs and structure them to be more efficient. He mentioned that a lot of employees are on the verge of retiring in the next three or four years, and we could hold off on filling open positions.

Judith “J” Davis: She said we could perform a study to look at efficiency, but she didn’t want any RIFs [Reduction in Forces] or any layoffs. She wants to still provide services but thinks we have to do it in a much smarter way than we have in the past. She felt we could be smarter, faster, consolidated, efficient and flexible — and made reference to some points that she said the mayor of New Orleans promoted on being smarter and better with less.

Edward Putens: He started off saying what he wouldn’t cut — public safety and public works, because they are what our citizens rely on. He also spoke out on behalf of the people working for the city in public service — saying they worked more than they got paid. He said every budget had to be looked at carefully to see where some cost cutting could be done.

Rodney Roberts: Said he didn’t see the need to do budget cutting, he saw the need to do a better job of spending our money wisely. He spoke against debt and talked about governments not spending wisely. The firehouse recently spent $245,000 on new kitchen, Roberts said, while he and four or five volunteers put the same kitchen in the New Deal Café for under $30,000.

Silke Pope: She said we have to tighten belts. She gave an example of the new post office being built and closing the old post office. Though satellite offices were set up, she said it was not a viable program and the satellite post office was under utilized. She said closing the satellite office was not a popular decision with everyone, but “You cannot always make everybody happy, you have to make choices.”

William Orleans: He said he didn’t know if it was necessary to tighten the belt, instead he suggested we could exercise more. He said Greenbelt was known for its services, and he wanted to suggest expanding the services. The area he said he would cut first though had to do with city council voting itself raises. He referenced council doubling its salary and the mayor’s salary doubling [in 2007].

Leta Mach: She to reduce expenses, services could be looked at to determine which ones were not meeting citizens needs. She said reorganization of staff might be the way, but suggested avoiding furloughs and layoffs. As for increasing revenue, she mentioned us being very creative in finding grants in the past. She said she would not rule out revenue being increased with a tax increase, as long as a property tax credit continued to be provided for those on limited incomes.

Konrad Herling: Said he didn’t want to go backward heading into the 75th anniversary next year. He thought we had an obligation to keep the reputation we had once earned at the World’s Fair for being the city of the future. The magic word was broadening the tax base, he said, and that we needed to increase revenue. For years he said he has advocated having a marketing director and thought we should pursue the possibility of an economic development director for Greenbelt.

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These are summaries of the questions and answers, candidates are invited and welcome to elaborate on their responses.

Editor's Note: This story has been clarified to reflect which post office Pope thought was underutilized.