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The political hit items dominating the closing days of the San Jose mayor’s race are a tragic commentary on the state of South Bay politics.
All informed, greater than $8 million has been spent totally on assault adverts that each camps name unfair. Voters ought to ignore the hit items and focus as an alternative on what every candidate is more likely to do if elected. And equally vital, not do.
Voters needs to be in search of the perfect individual to offer accountable fiscal management as the town faces severe budgetary challenges. As we’ve stated earlier than, that individual is Metropolis Councilman Matt Mahan.
Crucial position San Jose’s mayor performs is setting the town’s priorities by the finances course of. That’s particularly difficult in San Jose. The town could also be within the coronary heart of Silicon Valley, but it surely additionally has the bottom jobs-to-housing ratio of any main metropolis within the nation, severely limiting tax revenues.
Pension prices presently account for 18% of the town’s normal fund finances — an issue more likely to worsen as a result of San Jose has solely funded $5.9 billion of its $9.5 billion in accrued pension liabilities. That’s a stunningly poor 62% funded ratio, far worse than most California cities.
It’s a state of affairs that requires prudent administration and good use of taxpayers’ {dollars} — particularly given the chance of a recession.
Mahan needs to revamp how San Jose does its budgeting. He has a agency grasp on the town’s funds. He would use a zero-based-budget method to find out how the town might most effectively spend its cash.
Whoever wins the mayor election will probably be working with a labor-majority Metropolis Council. It will likely be doubly vital that the town have a mayor who will function a verify to pie-in-the-sky finances expenditures. That’s Mahan. It’s actually not his opponent, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
Chavez touts that when she served on the Metropolis Council from 1998-2006, San Jose was the most secure large metropolis in America. That’s true. However what she doesn’t say is that, throughout these years, she was a driving drive for the pricey pension advantages that plague the town to at the present time, requiring a discount of the dimensions of the town’s police drive and extreme cuts to library hours and parks upkeep work.
Her penchant for large spending has been evident within the progress of Santa Clara County’s finances throughout her years as a supervisor. Within the final decade, the county finances has grown from $4.5 billion to $11.5 billion a 12 months.
As we’ve stated earlier than, Chavez isn’t simply beholden to labor. She is labor and all the pieces it stands for. That’s vital, for instance, as a result of the police union that’s backing her marketing campaign is searching for a 14% pay hike quickly after the Nov. 8 election. Cops deserve honest compensation for his or her exhausting work. But when the Metropolis Council have been to approve such a big enhance, it will curtail issues equivalent to San Jose’s capability so as to add extra cops to its police drive. That’s very true within the occasion of an financial downturn.
Mahan is greatest suited to offer the prudent management San Jose wants. Voters ought to elect him as the town’s subsequent mayor.
