BILL'S VISION FOR TONAWANDA
CRIME AND POLICING
Public Safety has been my life’s work. After spending 33 years in the City of Tonawanda police department, including ten as your police chief. I believe in the community policing philosophy. Building relations between city employees and the citizens of Tonawanda will be a top priority.
RESIDENCY FOR OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT
When I was police chief and a police officer it was in the city charter that to work for the City of Tonawanda police department we had to live in the city of Tonawanda as well. That residency clause allowed for the police department to serve and protect the community not only when they were on the job, but while also living in the community. This allowed for a safer city and made officers have a stake in the community that they were protecting. However the current leadership disagrees and has tried this year twice to remove residency for police officers. I am firmly against this idea. Keeping residency for our police officers allows for the city of Tonawanda to be safer. Residency allows officers to build relationships with its police force,and the city to keep its tax base, so that taxes are lower for residents.
TONAWANDA FIRST
Our public programs have been cut completely or drastically. As your next mayor I will strive to fix these services for the people of Tonawanda. The Kohler pool in the City of Tonawanda has been falling apart, and needs repairs. I will do my best to keep the pool open and repair it since it is one of the few things in the City of Tonawanda we have for our children and families. I plan to keep Kohler open and veterans park clean so that all residents have access to the programs and services they pay for. The City of Tonawanda should have public programs and parks for the taxpayers and I will do everything I can as Mayor to keep them operating and open for the citizens of Tonawanda.
TAXES AND BUDGET
Four years ago our general fund which is like the savings account for the city and the fund that we use for emergencies. However year after year city hall has continued to take from the general fund in an effort to cut the cost of raising taxes and avoid the impending issues facing the city of Tonawanda. I’m running for Mayor to change that. We will fix the budget and get our fiscal house in order by bringing in new business and therefore expanding our tax base, so that residents’ taxes stay low, with the hopes of not taking more from the general fund. This will bring in new jobs and allow us to stop taking from the general fund year after year while replenishing it.
The general fund is supposed to be used as an emergency fund for the city, not a checking account to take money out of each time expenses rise. Instead of taking fiscal action over the past 4 years we have continued to kick the can down the road for the city to deal with in the next budget. As your next mayor I will be honest with the residents, fix our fiscal decline, and attempt to rebuild our general fund that has lost 5.5 million dollars over the last 4 years. If we don’t get our fiscal house in order and if we don’t replenish our general fund. The city risks going under the leadership of the control board and more cuts to public services, which we should hope to avoid, will follow.