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Lehigh County Executive Virtual Debate
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1) What qualifies you to be county commissioner?
SCOTT OTT ANSWER: I'm a resident of Lehigh County, of age for public service (48 years), a natural born citizen of the United States of America, and willing to serve my neighbors as Lehigh County Executive. For five years, I served as executive director of Victory Valley Camp, in Zionsville, where I balanced budgets, streamlined processes, contracted with local people to increase efficiency and effectiveness, moved business processes online for ease and cost-effectiveness and improved both the property and the customer service experience. My background in small business, in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, has prepared me to make the tough decisions necessary to avoid a looming tax hike, and improve customer service for those who interact with county government. My track-record as a catalyst and agent of transformation demonstrate that I'm not controlled by "the way we've always done it." I perpetually ask, 'How can we do this better, cheaper or stop doing it to focus on our core competency?" More information about my background can be found at http://www.VoteScottOtt.org
DON CUNNINGHAM ANSWER: Four years ago the voters of Lehigh County elected me to be their county executive by a 61 percent majority. Since then, my administration has delivered good government at a good price -- not raising taxes, keeping spending under control, fixing what's broken and investing in public safety, economic growth and quality of life. Previous to this position, I was twice elected mayor of Bethlehem, where I worked to help revitalize a city devastated by the loss of Bethlehem Steel. I also have served as a state cabinet secretary with responsibility for $4 billion of the state's budget, where I led the effort to reduce $500 million in operating costs. I've managed government through challenging times and have always found a way to do more with less and deliver results.
2) Why are you running?
DON CUNNINGHAM ANSWER:
I believe that county government can play a critical role in helping to make the Lehigh Valley an even better place to live, work and visit. Along with running our core functions well, county government can serve as a catalyst to continue the growth and prosperity of the Lehigh Valley and play a leadership role in regional efforts. Basically, I would like to continue what we've been doing the last four years for the next four years.
I believe that county government can play a critical role in helping to make the Lehigh Valley an even better place to live, work and visit. Along with running our core functions well, county government can serve as a catalyst to continue the growth and prosperity of the Lehigh Valley and play a leadership role in regional efforts. Basically, I would like to continue what we've been doing the last four years for the next four years.
SCOTT OTT ANSWER: I seek this office to serve the people of Lehigh County by restoring government to its crucial, but limited, functions, put an end to the unsustainable spending that leads to periodic large tax hikes, and to protect the rights of the people to be secure in their persons and property...considering that folks who can no longer afford to pay their property taxes are vulnerable to government confiscation of their property. Low, stable tax rates, smooth infrastructure, cost-effective results-oriented human services and swift fair criminal justice foster and atmosphere of prosperity and long-term growth. Government is not the engine of this growth. I aim to reduce the extent to which government hinders prosperity.
3) What are the three biggest issues facing the county?
DON CUNNINGHAM ANSWER: This is the third government that I have managed. I've been at the city, the state and the county level. The biggest issue always facing every government is how to balance revenues with expenditures, to keep taxes as low as possible and manage other people's money. This is even more difficult when the economy is in recession and growth is slow or non-existent. It will take a seasoned, proven and steady hand to continue managing county government through difficult economic times and to work to balance budgets without raising taxes.
Second, we need to continue to find ways to grow our economy, to create jobs and rebound from the recession that has slowed things down in the last two years. That means we need to continue to invest in maintaining our infrastructure, keeping our communities safe and growing and developing our downtowns and general economy. This continues to be more challenging than it was several years ago because of what has happened with the national economy.
Third, we need to make our county safer. Seventy cents of every local tax dollar we spend is in the area of law and order -- courts, prisons, prosecutions, probation, parole, etc. And, we still have an unacceptable level of crime and delinquent activity in our county. All governments have a core responsibility for public safety. If people aren't safe in their own neighborhoods, nothing else matters. We need to be involved and innovative and support our district attorney and our police departments to improve the level of public safety in Lehigh County.
SCOTT OTT ANSWER:
a) The looming 2011 tax hike
b) The practice of annually outspending revenues.
c) The ongoing expansion of government beyond its necessary functions.
4) Will you agree that the $20 million Rainy Day fund cannot be used for purposes of balancing the 2011 budget?
SCOTT OTT ANSWER: Yes. It is off limits.
It would also be useful if Don Cunningham would stop mentioning the Tax Stabilization Fund as if it were a defense against a tax hike. It is not. He has already ruled out dipping into it, and in fact he cannot do that. However, in his advertising and public appearances, he speaks vaguely about it, leaving the impression that it's a cushion that could be used to avoid a tax increase.
DON CUNNINGHAM ANSWER: Yes. As I've said repeatedly, Lehigh County retains a very healthy level of reserve funds for a budget of our size. And it is my intention to retain those funds for that purpose.
5) With most likely scenarios suggesting a budget imbalance between current expenses and current receipts in 2011 and with the limited amount of funds left after the Taxpayer Relief Fund is exhausted in 2010, ASSUMING there is a budget gap of $8 to $20 million in 2011, would you plug that gap by cutting spending, raising taxes or a combination?
DON CUNNINGHAM ANSWER: I'm not sure that I ever entered a budget at the outset -- whether I was mayor or county executive or a state cabinet official -- where initially there wasn't some shortfall between spending requests and revenue expectations. We don't know what the potential revenue/expenditure gap for 2011 will be -- that will depend upon many variables, such as performance of the stock market, interest rates, economic growth, the cost of health care and energy, etc. But, every year that I've worked on public budgets since 1996, we've sat down and looked at how to cut costs, reduce expenditures and focus on delivering high quality performance in our functions. When there is less money available, the cuts are much deeper. In all my years of budgets, I proposed one tax increase -- 5 percent -- and that was after Bethlehem lost nearly 20 percent of its tax base upon the closing and bankruptcy of Bethlehem Steel Corp. and we couldn't cut any deeper without risking core functions the city needed to provide. Fourteen years later, Bethlehem is a shining example of how a city can be revived and grow after an economic downtown. The city has seen more than $4 billion in new investments, growth in population and jobs and has become the safest city per capita in the state of Pennsylvania. That didn't happen by accident.
SCOTT OTT ANSWER: [Scott’s answer is combined in 6 below.]
6) To the extent you would cut spending in number 5, please give specifics as to what you would cut.
DON CUNNINGHAM ANSWER: We’ve already made lots of cuts in county government. We have the smallest work force in the county in 20 years. We've held average annual general operations growth to under two percent, despite inflation that has run at five or six percent in the Lehigh Valley. We don't have a spending problem in county government. We simply have lost revenue because of the economic recession. The harsh reality, however, is that when necessary what gets cut are the number of jobs you can support, the level of pay and benefits you provide to employees, the level of spending in department operations, programs or initiatives you would like to do but cannot afford and/or the county's support of entities that rely upon government funding. Those are the obvious places you need to look for cuts. Every year, we look at those factors and what level of financial support is necessary to maintain quality operations -- and, of course, every new year those realities are balanced against how much revenue is available. The last resort is always to raise the tax rate.
SCOTT OTT ANSWER: Given the size of Don Cunningham's 2010 budgetary imbalance -- $19.4 million -- perhaps the most succinct answer to "what would you cut?" is this: Everything I legally can.
No one outside of the organization, including the county commissioners, knows the budget well enough to recommend significant, specific cuts. This is a flaw in our Home Rule Charter that essentially makes the executive all powerful, since he has a lot more information than anyone who would challenge him. To overrule him requires six commissioners to vote 'No'. Oddly enough, studying the budget cannot overcome this knowledge deficit, since the budget lacks the kind of detail, and human insight, required to make wise decisions about spending cuts.
No one knows better what can be cut than the people who work in the various departments of county government. When I'm county executive, I will meet with department leaders and front line workers alike to determine the most prudent approach. The executive sets the broad parameters and goals of the organization. The department leaders, managers and frontline workers flesh out the specifics, and carry out that plan.
No one applying for a job would have the arrogance to suggest that he knows all of the specific places that cuts can be made before conducting a thorough, in-depth analysis in consultation with the people who actually run the organization and the customers whom they serve.
Deep cuts must be made. Because the greatest expense in most organizations is human resources, that means people will be affected by those cuts. Because bargaining units are under contract, and non-union workers have just received a 1.5-2.5 percent pay hike for 2010 (if this budget passes), that means positions will have to be eliminated. Bringing this budget back into balance will cause sacrifice and hardship. Still, it must be done in order to have a sustainable model of governance that performs the core functions effectively and efficiently without periodic tax hikes that hinder prosperity and hamper private-sector jobs growth. The taxpayers have already sacrificed much. It's time for public servants to set an example, and hear the voice of those whom we serve.
The determining factor, to a large extent, in whether major spending cuts are made is the mindset and boldness of the executive. I believe government serves a crucial, but limited, function. Government should do only what it must do, not everything it conceivably could do. As a result, most of what might be called "quality of life" spending should stop. These are projects beloved by well-meaning politicians because they get to hand out large cardboard checks, appear in the papers and on TV, and get to curry favor with special interest groups. However, all of that money comes not from the headline-grabbing politicians, but from the local taxpayer -- my favorite "special interest group".
Government grants and tax breaks for particular businesses and organizations take money from 'the many' and channel it to a few private interests. These too should stop. Private enterprise is the engine of prosperity and economic development. Elected officials who boast of bringing jobs to the area, or turning the local economy around, understand neither macroeconomic forces, nor the unintended consequences sparked by government intervention in free markets. These career politicians, like Don Cunningham, also apparently fail to understand how they offend working people and small business leaders when they brag about economic growth, yet refuse to take responsibility for economic downturns. When's the last time you heard a politician say: On my watch, in 2009, PP&L and Air Products Inc. lost 600 jobs, Mack shut down and unemployment approached 10 percent? Those aren't Don Cunningham's fault, but neither are jobs growth and prosperity his doing.
People don't buy the false choice offered by career politicians, like Cunningham, who want us to believe that we can either resign ourselves to ever-increasing spending and taxes, or watch the world collapse into chaos sparked by cutting the county budget.
While cuts to the county budget will cause changes that some in government will perceive as sacrifice, the history of organizational development also shows that such necessary measures often spark creativity, innovation and shared commitment to becoming more effective. Necessity is the mother of invention. Unless you believe that county government is a model of efficiency and customer service excellence already then you must agree that there's room to cut, and to improve.
As county executive, I'll lead a reformation in county government that cuts costs, improves customer service, and puts us back on track for long-term sustainability without tax hikes.
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