Candidate questionnaire — Eric Jergensen

Question 1: Mayor Rocky Anderson has said the city needs to increase its police force by 90 officers by 2010. In order to do that he will need the City Council to allocate the funding needed for these new officers. Adding that many more officers will be wildly expensive for the city and may require tax increases. As a council member will you support adding so many more officers to the force? Would you support tax increases for more police officers?

Answer: The Mayor and the Police Department are not in total agreement as to how many officers are necessary to provide the level of public safety expected by City residents. I have heard that an additional 45 (including this year's additions) may be sufficient and not the 90 that the Mayor is proposing. I fully support the addition of more police officers - specifically patrol officers - to our police force in a number to be discussed strategically with the Police Department. No matter the number, there will be a need to significant expenditures to accomplish this goal and those expenditures should be considered methodically in relation to other City priorities. These officers do not need to be brought on at once - maybe phased in over a number of years. Should we raise taxes to bring on new officers? We were able to reprioritize the Mayor's proposed budget in order to identify funds sufficient to hire new officers without raising taxes this past year. However, I would not be opposed to reviewing other revenue sources, including raising taxes, if it would mean greater public safety in our neighborhoods. Raising taxes would never be my first choice, but I would be willing to consider it as an option.

Question 2: Downtown remains a concern for many residents. Do you feel the city is doing the right things to help revitalize downtown? What would you do as a council member to help downtown?

Answer: We have worked very hard to implement the City's Downtown Master Plan and, I believe, with the collaborative effort of the Council and the RDA, have made significant gains. Key to downtown revitalization is the expansion of downtown housing - with both market rate and affordable units. If we desire to have a robust downtown, we need to have a more consistent downtown population. This can be accomplished through greater numbers of both rental and ownership opportunities. The RDA is a great facilitator of such development and Council members, acting as Board members of the RDA, can accelerate and support such efforts.