PROVO — Dave Bailey pledged he would not raise taxes and used the word "baloney" during a lively debate Thursday as he described a flier produced by the Committee to Re-elect Mayor Lewis Billings.

Billings responded by saying Bailey was being disingenuous about a case where the city used eminent domain to take a resident's land. He also announced that over the past three weeks iProvo subscriptions have jumped from 2,600 to 3,751.

The two men engaged in a close race four years ago, and it was evident as the men spoke in front of the Provo Rotary Club that a rematch has made each testy toward the other.

Bailey, a retired Provo firefighter, said the Provo Police Department is 100 percent behind his campaign. Billings didn't address that claim, but he did attack a flier produced by Bailey's campaign that uses an FBI statistic showing violent crime in Provo rose 27 percent in 2004. Bailey said during the debate that Provo does not have enough police officers, saying that of 123 police agencies in Utah, Provo has the fewest officers per capita.

Billings said Provo's 98 officers are supplemented by 30 Brigham Young University police officers who safeguard the area around the campus and should be counted. He also said that of the 13 largest cities in Utah, Provo has the least amount of crime.

"There were four more rapes in 2004 than 2003," Billings said. "There were 28 more aggravated assaults. None of those crimes were committed because of the number of police officers we have. Adding more police officers is not going to reduce the number of rapes, necessarily. It is not a direct correlation."

He said decisions on police staffing are based on fiscal conservative philosophy.

Bailey made it a point to say he, too, is conservative, but he chided Billings for bringing partisan politics into a nonpartisan race and position. Bailey said he is a registered Republican who acts as an independent and doesn't care about the political leanings of his supporters or potential future employees.

While Bailey pledged not to raise taxes — "Yes, I can guarantee you I won't raise taxes. It's a horribly unpopular thing to do" — Billings called taking such a position "impractical." Billings hasn't raised any taxes during his eight years in office but said he couldn't swear "on a Bible" that it wouldn't be necessary in the future.

"It would be impractical for any politician or government leader to say so," he said.

Bailey called for better communication with the City Council and said he would end what he described as the micro-management of the city by the mayor.

"I don't know where the accusation of micro-managing comes from," Billings said. "When you become the mayor, you find out there's not time to micro-manage."