Minneapolis City Council, Ward 9, Candidate Questionnaire

Minneapolis City Council, Ward 9, Candidate Questionnaire

Gary Schiff

Email: gary@garyschiff.com or call 612 724 5942

Website: www.garyschiff.com

Endorsements: Sierra Club, DFL Party, ACORN, MN Nurses Association, Teamsters Joint Council 32, AFSCME Council 5, Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, SEIU Minnesota State Council, UNITE/HERE Local 17, Teamsters Local 120, District Council 82 Painters and Allied Trades, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, DFL Stonewall Caucus, DFL Latino Caucus

Khalif Jama

(Did not respond to questionnaire)

Todd J. Eberhardy

Email: None.

Website: None.

Endorsements: Independence Party

Dave Bicking

Email: dave@davebicking.org or call 612-276-1213,

Website: davebicking.org

Endorsements: Green Party (Fifth Congressional District)

What's one burning issue that's prompted you to run for this position?

Schiff: Concern over civil rights, homelessness and misplaced priorities for stadium subsidies instead of neighborhood priorities prompted me to run for City Council.

Eberhardy: My neighbors and I have been concerned about the extreme lack of constituent services in Ward 9. We need a representative!

Bicking: Increasing consolidation of power downtown in the City Council, away from neighborhoods and the public. We must reverse this to solve our other important problems.

Since 2003, the city has increased the amount of taxes it levies on property by 8 percent annually. Do you favor continuing this policy, or do you favor a lower or higher amount of property tax increase? What specific increase would you support, and what budget adjustments would you make in light of your choice?

Schiff: We cannot replace lost state aid with property tax increases dollar-for-dollar. We must trim spending and seek efficiencies to minimize property tax burdens. When property values were soaring, the city's 8 percent property tax policy often equated to a 20 percent hike, acutely affecting seniors and the dream of affordable home ownership. The council needs to recognize the impact of changing property values when adopting tax policy, not a pledge or a random number. The mayor's proposed tax hike for 2010 will feel like 6.6 percent for the average homeowner, due to falling property values -- even though the actual number will be higher.

Eberhardy: I think we need to lower property taxes down to the real cost of state cuts and inflation each year. As a former city employee, I have some insight as to how to improve efficiency year over year. Our elderly, young families and renters must be able to afford to live in Minneapolis. Using TIF for infrastructure redevelopment will take some pressure off the city budget. ...We should also consider administrative cuts and government service consolidation with county, state and other municipal governments. If we still need additional revenue, we should not call taxes fees, but should be honest about what they are.

Bicking: We must not continue to raise property taxes by 8 percent each year, or the 11.3 percent proposed for the coming year. No one I know has received an 8 percent pay raise recently. We should stick to the inflation rate, or even less, to make up for past increases. Overall, the city must be as frugal and careful as many families are forced to be. We should scrutinize the police budget, by far the largest single portion of the discretionary budget, for better priorities (for example, fewer arrests that don't lead to charges). The CPED budget should be cut, particularly development subsidies.

With state aid declining and property taxes rising, should the city diversify the taxes and fees through which it derives income? If so how?

Schiff: The city should diversify its sources of revenue, but replacing property taxes with regressive fees is not an honest solution. I opposed the recent proposal to take the cost of street lights out of our general fund and replace it with a street lighting fee on all property owners. The park dedication fee, which raises money from new housing developers and the recent creation of Minneapolis Parks Foundation, is an excellent example of raising revenue from creative sources to enhance city services.

Eberhardy: No ... we must do everything we can to live within our means as a city ... just as the residents do! Please see my other answers on how to do that.

Bicking: Yes, we need more ways for the city to raise money with everyone paying their fair share based on ability, rather than relying almost exclusively on regressive property taxes. Unfortunately, the state severely restricts the ways that the city can raise money. The system is broken; the bargain used to be that the state would aid the cities with the money from income taxes, etc. We need an aggressive approach to negotiating with the state for more equitable sharing of resources. More fees are not the answer. Most fees are more regressive than property taxes. They are already too high.

The council is considering how to use the property taxes from its older development districts. This tax increment by law may only be used to pay for Target Center debt and for neighborhood revitalization, or alternately, the tax base in these districts can be returned to the general tax base. What percentage would you allocate to each of these three purposes?

Schiff: I will spend the next three months considering the mayor's budget proposal, and I have not yet decided if I will support returning a portion of the tax increment from older development districts to the general tax base to help reduce property tax burdens.

Eberhardy: Let's keep our TIF districts and keep the money within municipal government. Giving up TIF districts altogether would result in tens of millions of dollars transferred from the city to the schools over a 10-year period ... and the school district has much better state and federal support. Minneapolis should use the redevelopment money to rebuild sidewalks, streetlights and streets, plant new trees and improve infrastructure. I would support letting neighborhood organizations prioritize what infrastructure needs improvement.

Bicking: In general, I support greatly restricting our use of TIF (tax increment financing). But when the unfortunate and unpopular changes were made to the NRP program, the city made a commitment to the neighborhoods and the general public to provide stable funding through the recertification of these older TIF districts. That promise should be kept. The city should have never taken on debt for the Target Center. This is a reasonable way to pay down that debt. I support the original plan to recertify the old TIF districts, using 50 percent for NRP and 50 percent for Target Center debt.

Council members may collect up to $400 monthly as a car allowance. Would you do so or collect a lesser monthly allowance (how much?) or collect only per-mile payments for actual miles driven? Explain your choice.

Schiff: I voted against the creation of a $400 monthly car allowance, and I have never claimed it. Council members who use their personal vehicles for work should be reimbursed for actual miles driven only.

Eberhardy: Council members make enough money to pay for transportation within their ward.

Bicking: I would not collect any car allowance. The council salary is more than enough to cover costs, and my car expenses are very low (1991 Toyota Corolla). I would be as frugal with the city's money (your money) as I am with my own.

What are three specific things that you'd like to accomplish in your ward by the end of your four-year term?

Schiff: Restore neighborhoods by bringing back families and home-ownership to the foreclosed homes throughout the Ninth Ward, reduce unemployment with a policy of local hiring requirements for all city-funded construction projects and increase investment in bike safety and bike transportation.

Eberhardy: Improved constituent services, many more small businesses and far fewer vacant and boarded properties.

Bicking: 1. Stabilize neighborhoods by greatly reducing foreclosures, evictions and demolitions. Any density increase should come from preserving and renovating existing housing. 2. Fill empty storefronts by reducing city burdens upon small businesses. 3. Encourage green initiatives by residents in energy efficiency and production, gardening, conservation, composting and the like.

What's one specific city-wide accomplishment you'd like to make happen by the end of your term?

Schiff: By the end of my term, I hope to have stopped Xcel Energy's plan to route major above-ground transmission lines through Minneapolis neighborhoods

Eberhardy: We need to improve efficiency to the extent that we can see where our money is coming from and where it is going to ... ultimately controlling spending.

Bicking: Better control over policies and priorities of the police department, and greater accountability for problem officers. Reduce effects of racism, and reduce huge lawsuit payouts.