DRAPER — With Election Day less than a week away, candidates in Draper are pointing fingers at each other.

The six candidates competing for a spot on the coveted city government dais — two running for mayor and four seeking at-large City Council seats — list different priorities for the city, from controlling development, lowering taxes and improving public safety.

Mayor Darrell Smith is running for a third term against Councilman Bill Colbert. The two have disagreed before, and now Colbert is calling for "the end of political favoritism."

"The mayor has been far too accommodating and sympathetic to property owners who have encroached on to the public's open space," said Colbert, director of the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission and a 10-year councilman.

Smith, co-owner of Smith's Meat Packing Co., is a lifelong Draper resident who pledges to work for a new senior center.

"My motto is: part-time job, full-time commitment," he said. "I will continue that commitment because of my experience and efforts to recognize all of the good that comes from our great (residents) and staff."

Candidates for two at-large City Council seats are incumbent Jeff Stenquist, former councilman Paul Edwards, 22-year-old substitute teacher Gregory Powers and William Rappleye, president of the Draper Chamber of Commerce.

Edwards, a civil engineer who did not seek re-election when his City Council term expired in 2007, is now tossing his hat back in the ring after watching the current council ignore residents, he said.

The City Council, Edwards added, is not adhering to the master plan and has been "changing low-density areas to high density."

"This has a huge impact on long-term residents who believe that areas adjacent to them would be developed in a specific manner," he said.

Stenquist, a software architect seeking a second term on the council, said the city sales-tax revenue has not kept up with the growth.

"This is why I have focused on economic development and reducing costs," he said. "We need to make sure we continue this focus in order to provide our residents with top-notch service while maintaining one of the lowest tax rates along the Wasatch Front."

Powers, who has worked for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, said he's concerned about the 70 percent property tax increase in 2007 approved by Edwards and Stenquist.

"I believe new taxes are just a bailout for poor fiscal policy. Levying new taxes before a recession is taking money away from Draper residents when they need it most," he said, pledging for no new taxes or fees.

Rappleye has been a Draper planning commissioner since 1999.

"The weak economy has hit the city in two major ways: New housing construction has almost come to a halt, (and) consumer spending is off by double digits for the second year in a row," Rappleye said, adding that he will keep "the lid on taxes and city infrastructure."

e-mail: astowell@desnews.com