Candidates speak out on how to control spending

Most candidates for municipal office say the city should do a better job of setting spending priorities.
City Councilor Frank Nicastro, a Democrat, said the key to holding spending in check is for officials “to set priorities and stop jumping around from one issue to another.”
He said the city needs short, medium and long-term goals “and stick to it” instead of leaping around all the time.
Democratic mayoral nominee Ellen Zoppo said the city could save time and money with more effective planning. She called for the city to create a 10-year plan for projects in order to get a better handle on costs and taxes.
City Councilor Art Ward, who is aiming to upset Zoppo in Tuesday’s primary, said the way to “hold the line on spending” is to evaluate needs better and “responsibly assess the means of funding all initiatives with complete fiscal responsibility rather than fulfilling individual wish lists.”
Ken Cockayne, a Republican council candidate, said that he feels “very strongly” that the city has too much money socked away in its rainy day fund.
With taxes constantly rising, he said, “we have had a surplus in our budgets of over $6 million the last two years. In my opinion, a surplus like this means over-taxation. How big does our rainy day fund need to be?”
“We have citizens who are depleting their own rainy day funds for the city’s. This is unacceptable,” Cockayne said
“Bristol needs to be run more efficiently, like a private business,” said Joe Geladino, a Republican council hopeful.
Cockayne said that scaling back the budgets so that multi-million surpluses don’t happen is one way to hold down taxes. He also urged leaving some city jobs unfilled and eliminating others through attrition.
“If you can’t afford something either it gets cut or something else has to go, whether it’s a project, an expenditure, or head count, the way it’s done in most businesses,” Geladino said.
“The taxpayers are not an endless mill that can continue to grind out more and more money year after year,” Geladino said.
But Tom Ragaini, a former Democratic councilor who is running as an independent for a 2nd District council seat, said that over the years, the Democrats who have controlled City Hall since 1993 “have done a pretty good job” of holding down spending.
Ragaini said, though, that officials “have to go through our budget” and try to find ways to cut back on utility costs, hiring and projects.
“I’d plan to investigate opportunities for utilizing available technologies to improve operating efficiencies,” said Bob Merrick, a GOP council contender.
“When I chaired the Task Force on Government Efficiency, we went right to the employees on the front line of delivering services and received great suggestions on how to cut costs,” Zoppo said. “Maximizing and sharing resources has two benefits: increased efficiency and lower costs over the long run.”
Both city Councilors Craig Minor and Kevin McCauley, each of them Democrats seeking reelection, said the Board of Finance plays the key role.
“There is a tremendous amount of discussion and modifications during the budgetary process, always with the goal to arrive at a fiscally responsible budget,” McCauley said.
But Minor said that holding down spending isn’t the only issue.
“If we want to attract and retain the kind of families who will make the Bristol community one that we all want to live in, then we need to invest in quality of life issues,” Minor said.
Nicastro said that holding down property taxes depends on building up the tax base with more economic development. He said that attracting new businesses to town ought to be a top priority in order to spread the tax burden around more instead of hitting up homeowners.
Every major mayor and council candidate was given the chance to respond to the question of how they would hold the line on spending. Some did not answer. Others said they preferred not to comment.


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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com