George Wenschhof
 |
| Jennifer Dougherty |
Jennifer
won, as a Democratic candidate in 2001 and served one term before losing in the
2005 Democratic primary to former four term mayor Ron Young.
I asked
Jennifer, who is known to go door-to-door, what she is hearing from the
voters. She told me she was receiving a
positive response with voters often telling her they were supporting her
because “she got things done.”
Jennifer
said they would add, “hope you get a different type of board”, referring to the
contentious board of aldermen, she was often at odds with, during her term in
office. Interestingly, Jennifer added
they would often ask her “who is the mayor now?”
When I
asked Jennifer what was the main issue she was focused on in her campaign, she
spent the remainder of the interview describing the poor fiscal management
displayed by the current administration.
First, she
pointed to the city rainy day fund, which she said the board voted unanimously
to increase from the mandated 12% to 17% level.
Jennifer says this action resulted in an excess of $15.8 million in
funds. She said “the city was sitting on
cash and not spending on services that are needed.”
She would have rather seen the city using that money to pay down the pension, other post employment benefits (OPEB) debt and for much needed road improvements.
The
inability of the city to reach and maintain the current budgeted level of 141
police officers is another example of poor management. Jennifer said she would run two police
academies at the same time with split shifts, until the city reached the
planned level of officers. She added the city did more outreach during her
administration and in addition to that, she would examine lateral transfers as
well.
Overall,
Jennifer complained to me the city fund balance was under spent in each budget
category with a combined fund balance of $43 million which she felt clearly
displayed the current administration was not effectively managing the budget.
The change
to tax differential as the way city residents pay their taxes was another
example of bad management Jennifer pointed to during my interview.
The move
to tax differential was made by the current administration in an effort to
avoid the duplication of taxes by city residents and the previous manner
Frederick County government would rebate revenue received back to The City of
Frederick.
Jennifer
told me the city accepted the formula from the county without analysis pointing
to the city of Annapolis who received $25 million in savings compared to The
City of Frederick who received $5 million.
Showing me
her own tax bill, on a house appraised at $300,000, the average for the city,
she claims she was overpaying up to $1,000 for services she was not receiving
from the county.
Addressing
the tax differential formula is one thing she will focus on as mayor and she
will fight for city residents to receive that $1,000 in savings on their tax
bill.
The city’s
purchase of the Hargett farm for use of a regional park is another example of
how the city is managing the budget poorly, according to Jennifer.
She says
the city needs to look at all options on the Hargett farm property and
complained about the debt service it is costing the city. Jennifer said the mayor and board had not
been able to make the difficult decisions, pointing out to me developers would
have paid for road improvements, a school site, as well as water and sewer
fees.
Jennifer
said another illustration of poor budget management was when the board voted a
year ago to give the board of education a portion of the Hargett farm for a
school site. Then, she said the city
turned around and recently bought a site from the county for a water
tower. Her question to me was “why did
this happen?” She would have hoped, at
the least, a land swap, would have been in order.
The costly
availability charge to the city resulting from the Potomac River water services
agreement with Frederick County government was another area Jennifer was not
pleased about. It was these terms that
kept her from agreeing to the contract with the county. She pointed out to me, Mayor Randy McClement
was not happy with this expense agreed to under the Jeff Holtzinger
administration.
Jennifer
added she would like to reduce the Homestead tax from 5% to 3%. She informed me she had reduced it from 10%
to 5% during her administration and felt the anticipated increase in property
assessments for next year, would keep revenues in line.
As we were
nearing the end of a lengthy interview, Jennifer said as mayor she would also
move to lower the personal property tax businesses pay in the city, by 50% and
eliminate it in three years. She told me
the loss of $1.5 million in revenue would be made up by the increase of
business locating in the city.
Jennifer
also pointed out to me alderman Karen Young, who is the Democratic candidate
for mayor, voted for every budget and the mayor and board have not been focused
on the results.
In regard
to the Pension and OPEB programs, Jennifer was again critical of the
administration, asking why they haven’t changed the programs. She wants the city to shoot for an 80%
funding level in 10-12 years and not the 20 years the mayor and board have
agreed on.
In
addition, she would create a pension oversight board to review management of
the pension and OPEB programs.
Jennifer
told me, I have had the luxury of being mayor and knows what she would do
differently if elected mayor.
Concluding
the interview, Jennifer said “a sea change is needed in management”, not with
employees in the city.”
Registered
voters in The City of Frederick will elect their mayor and a five member board
of alderman on November 5.
Stay
tuned.
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