Link

Here’s a link to audio of a few questions and candidate responses at last Wednesday evening’s meet-the-candidate event at American Fork Library: These questions were submitted by residents attending the event.

2015_Wednesday_6

Questions in this Segment

  1. What level of debt is healthy for our city? Are we there? If not, how do we get there? (Order: Frost – Simpson – Barnes – Shelton.)
  2. Why does the City not have a justice court? We give all the money it would generate to the state circuit court. (Order: Simpson – Barnes – Shelton – Frost.)

Notes

Each candidate had one minute for each response. Note the response order above with each question, because candidates aren’t named before every response.

Highlights

Allen Simpson

Candidate Allen Simpson after the October 21, 2015, meet-the-candidates event at American Fork High School.

Brad Frost says the proper debt level is up to the residents, but having no debt is unrealistic, and it’s illegal to save so much money that we don’t have to bond for anything. A justice court is premature. But “the last thing you ever want your citizens to think is that you’re making money off their speeding tickets.” He thinks an American Fork justice court is three to five years away.

Allen Simpson said the proper level of debt is up to the citizens. He didn’t have an answer about a justice court.

Kevin Barnes said out debt ratio is not out of line. We’re not upside down. He explained the difference between revenue debt (paid for when services are delivered) and general debt (paid for from general funds). He didn’t have an answer about a justice court.

Rob Shelton said Orem is looking at a 101% water rate increase. Pleasant Grove is also looking at an increase, and Lehi had a water crisis two years ago. We shouldn’t use debt the way the federal government does, but debt has its uses, and the residents need to decide the big stuff. He explained that we get about 6 percent of the revenue from a traffic ticket, without a justice court. Finding a venue is difficult; in 2018 some space will be available, so that would be a good time to institute one.

Here’s a link to the next segment.