Eddie Mathis
City of Mountain Park - Council Candidate
Planning, Budget, and Millage Rate
Discussions of future planning, the budget, and the millage rate are driven by our decisions about Public Safety, the City Charter, and the Lakes. These questions are not likely to be answered quickly, so the new council will need to be conservative and creative in developing a budget that keeps our millage rate as low as possible until we have definitive answers, especially about public safety.
My approach to budgeting is to look at each line item and ask these questions: 1. What problem does this expenditure solve? 2. If this expenditure does not solve a problem, what critical need or benefit does the expenditure fulfill or provide? 3. Should the city provide this benefit? 4. If we eliminate this expenditure, will it cause harm or reduce the quality of life of our citizens? 5. Will the majority of our citizens support this expenditure or the elimination of the expenditure? 6. Is this expenditure to be set aside to fulfill a critical future need? 7. Does this budget adequately consider expected inflation costs? 8. How big of a contingency fund should the city maintain?
My goal is to have as low a millage rate as possible to provide the citizens of Mountain Park with the quality of life and services they would expect from any modern American city.
