Candidate Q&A: Rodney Wilkins

What makes you the best candidate for City Council?

I am not a politician, just a concerned citizen. My main reason for running is to help attract more business, bring in higher paying jobs and reducing real estate taxes. I have the skills, passion and drive to do everything possible to ensure the citizens receive the reduction in real estate taxes they deserve.

What should be the city's top priority now, and how can it be achieved?

To reduce real estate taxes. There are too many citizens who are struggling to afford their houses due to high real estate assessments and increased taxes.

We have to analyze the city spending looking for areas of wasted revenue and making changes there.

Improve transportation. The streets are over-crowded and we need to lobby the state to increase funding to upgrade our roads and bridges, especi-ally Dominion Steel Bridge.

What do you think will be the city's most pressing issue in 10 years, and how can the city prepare for it?

Similar to what it is today – overcrowding schools and streets. We have to start building the infrastructure today in preparation of tomorrow. We keep spending the funds on unnecessary projects versus where the specific needs are. The city has to be good stewards of the citizen’s money and spend it like it is their own.

How do you respond to complaints that city leaders put developers’ interests ahead of residents’ needs?

I have to agree with the citizens. When the city keeps offering developers funding from the taxpayers, things have to change. When the city offers Wal-Mart $4.3 million from the taxpayers for a road, the city is putting developers’ interests ahead of residents’ needs.

Cite one vote by a majority of City Council that you disagreed with in the past year and why.

The decision to lower the real estate tax from $1.09 to $1.04 was not enough. The city has too many areas in which we can reduce our spending through better fiscal responsibility. The City Council likes to talk about decreasing the tax rate by $0.12 over the last several years however the citizens are still paying 80-100% higher real estate taxes over the same period.

Should the city and state raise more money to pay for transportation projects? If yes, how?

I think we speak too much about raising more money or having to cut projects and services to reduce spending. We have to start thinking outside of the box and looking at how to better utilize the money we currently have. I have been fortunate enough to talk with many folks in the city and they have such wonderful and practical ideas for saving money. If we better utilize the taxpayer’s money we will be able to fund more projects without raising taxes.