Fiscal Responsibility

I believe that vision must direct dollars and not the other way around. The County has done some good work on strategic planning. And, there is more to do to connect that strategy to spending.

When governments become so tied up in their current existence that they can't move forward, they flounder. In government, the only correcting force to not setting vision is disaster. 

Those who recall Valley County in 2007-2010 remember what disaster looks like for budgets and community progress.

Valley County shouldn't wait for disaster to begin setting a vision-based budget. Department heads all have a vision for their areas. If they don't, we should demand them, develop them and let them loose to enjoy the fruit of making it work. 

Success breeds conservatism. Conservatism stifles innovative ideas and thinking and slowly leads to death for our County. The problem is, our County can't really die because it is a government institution. Instead, we overspend on misguided and strongly rooted traditions and we don't spend money where we should on necessities that are good for the future of the tax-payer. 

Who suffers the most from this? The tax-payer. They continue paying to prop up traditional expense lines while taxes have to be raised to support anything new that demand requires.

If elected, I will take these ideals I have learned from private work and apply them to helping manage the County. Every conversation around money should start with, "What is the vision for this money and how does that help families in Valley County?"