City Government
Council Candidate Slams Mayor Over Bonds
October 28, 2013 
After attending the City Club of Boise forum Monday which featured only pro-bond speakers, City Council Candidate Bill Jarocki came out swinging with his views.
Here is what he reported to the GUARDIAN:
“Mayor Dave Bieter was one of three guests at the City Club of Boise today who were trying to convince the audience to join in support of bonded indebtedness to fund new parks, open space, firefighter training facilities and upgrades to fire stations.
The Mayor and the incumbents running for re-election want voters to vote for more property taxes on November 5th to fund two separate debt issues.
Together, voters will be paying $18,000,000 to borrow $32,000,000.
About half of the total $50,000,000 price tag will pay for open space (to be determined) and park development (also to be determined). Since we don’t know exactly what our return on investment will be, if this group is re-elected we will just have to trust that they have our best interests in mind, right? The Mayor makes a good point in saying that if the word gets out on the open space purchase targets, the prices will spike from speculation. I get that.
But, fundamentally, trust is the issue. This is the Mayor that in the City’s Budget document stated that “(t)he Mayor’s office is preparing to launch a public process that will review priority projects and help determine possible alternative approaches to funding and/or implementing these projects.”
Did we miss something? Nope, Lucy moved the ball when Charlie Brown ran up to kick it, again. The public meetings were on the proposed bond projects, and it seems that there weren’t “alternative approaches to funding” as promised.
Let’s send the city council back to the drawing board. Does this city council miss the point when it comes to public trust? Yes, yes.”
The candidate, who is running against TJ Thomson, went on to urge a NO vote on the bonds.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Oct 29, 2013, 5:48 am
I agree that we CANNOT trust the Mayor and council and am voting NO on going into debt. I suspect Bieter wants to build a baseball “park” and put his name on it.
Oct 29, 2013, 1:12 pm
Again, I’d like to know if Mr. Jarocki would have opposed the Boise School Levy. Just how far does his no new taxes/bonds go? I am concerned that he may just be another anti-investment conservative with a good resume.
Oct 30, 2013, 9:00 am
Dear Boisean:
When governments overlap, as the Boise School District and the City of Boise do,it is important for local government officials to be aware of the debt load of their citizens.
Each debt issue reflects priorities of the community. I agreed with the supplemental levy for schools. That is a more valuable investment in the community than more parks and trails.
Please understand, that the city has the ability to fund the fire facilities and the parks and trails through other less costly mechanisms. The fact that the incumbent mayor and council chose to ignore the alternatives is proof that someone with my resume will bring value to the debate.
I do intend to debate every investment so that we get the best service at the least cost.
For the bonds before the voters there are alternative funding strategies. That is why I am saying no. We need to find the next best idea.
That’s not “anti-investment conservatism”, it’s just being smarter with your tax dollars.