William Larsen

How will I vote if Elected to City Council?

I was asked how I would vote if elected to city council. It is an excellent question. A major reason why I decided to run for Fort Wayne City Council at Large is the current city council and past city councils have disregarded the opinion and wishes of their constituents.

They have not been forth coming on the Harrison Square project in terms of justification to spend over $30 million of our money.

They are now adding additional taxpayer monies through a round about method known as the Grand Wayne Center. Our tax dollars go to subsidize this waste of money. I now read the Grand Wayne will contribute $2 million over the course of a number of years. Where will it get this money? Why the taxpayers where else.

Aqua Source is seeking a rate hike to cover their investment in new infrastructure mandated by the EPA. This is the same mandate the City of Fort Wayne has not begun to implement. The cost to Aqua Source customers is said to be $30 million. The value I hear the city of Fort Wayne must spend is over $200 million. Why has the city council failed to address this very important issue?

Police and Fire pensions were not funded prior to 1977. These pensions are going to be paid soon, but they are unfunded. Every city council since 1977 has known about this, but has done nothing to address it. Each city council has looked the other way hoping it would just go away. Well it has not and it has grown very large indeed. I hear it is somewhere around $300 million.

If elected I will do what I have been doing for 35 years. I will gather information, analyze it and publish my findings and let the taxpayers know what I do. I will listen to their constructive criticism and vote as they wish. If my views are different from the majority and I have been unable to convince them through the information and analysis I present, then I will vote the way my constituents want me to. It would be my responsibility to obtain the information on any particular topic that is up for a vote and make sure it is correct and make it available to the public at the earliest possible date. It is my view that information is not forth coming and difficult for the public to get. A member of the city council works for the taxpayers. The taxpayers are not slaves to the city council.

posted by William Larsen @ 12:01 AM