The county clerk mailed out all the ballots for the General Election earlier today, so I should be getting mine in a day or two.
For the first time I’ve seen here, the county newspaper is publishing a voter guide for local candidates on various local positions. That edition comes out later today.
I am seeking reëlection to my village board; my first term was to complete a term after a long-standing member died in office (I was appointed by the village board). My first election was in 2014, when I edged out the gun shop owner by four votes as a “flaming liberal.”
On a side note, the Nebraska Democratic Party sent out cards last week to every county, listing all the Democratic candidates in each county (the first time NDP has done that since I moved here in 2011). In addition to me, there are two other Democrats on the ballot in my county (two women taking a shot at the school board on the other side of the county). Hopefully I won’t be the lonely Democrat in the county any more after November 6.
So on to the questionnaire. Since this is the first time anyone actually asked me about my local political positions for the paper, I came out a little rough. That said, I know every person in town so they pretty much already know where I stand.
My county newspaper, the Bridgeport, NE News-Blade sent me a questionnaire to create a voter guide for village voters asking my positions on issues in my town.
I suppose I could expound on those for many pages, but they asked to keep the answers down to seventy-five words each.
So here’s the questionnaire, and how I responded.
1. What do you consider the three most pressing issues in this village? What are your plans for addressing them?
Infrastructure (library, water, streets, park, &c): Listening to residents on what they want to address, and experts on how to accomplish those if they can be addressed.
Neglected properties: Contact with those owners to attend to them. That problem is best solved through cooperation and contact rather than legal action (as lawsuits are expensive and time-consuming).
2. Broadwater property owners currently face a total property tax levy of $3.49 per $1,000 of valuation. Of that, approximately .39 mil or about $39.00 on a $100,000 home goes to the village. Do you believe the current overall levy is too high, too low, or where should it be? [and] Do you believe the Village’s current levy rate is adequate to support Broadwater’s future?
The tax rate currently supports the village’s needs and our budget is balanced, so the levy is adequate at this time.
3. Would you vote to increase the village’s property tax rate in order to balance the budget during your term?
Taxation is always a vexatious question. No one likes taxes, though they are the price of civilization. Taxes should only be levied in proportion to the needs and wants of the town’s residents. If requirements change, taxes have to reflect that. Wants can be weighed against needs to oppose raising taxes (for example, if the town grows and we want to re-open the public school).
4. What two things would you like to see changed in Broadwater over the next four years and why? What, if anything, would your election do to bring about these changes?
I would like to see continued improvement and growth in Broadwater. Broadwater is a welcoming, safe, and friendly town.
5. Why should I, as a Broadwater resident, vote for you?
Though my family only made Broadwater our home in 2011, we care about our town. Broadwater’s residents made us welcome from the day we moved here. I want Broadwater to be the best little town on the High Plains in which to live. I want to hear ideas on how to do that, and work with people to see how to implement what we can.
“Knowing things that are not so is the worst kind of ignorance”—Broadwater News, May 17, 1917