One of my campaign pillars is Smart Growth. We need more walkable residential living in downtown Topeka. This will allow us to grow population with affordable sustainable living. It will also allow us to stabilize our most intense crime zone in the county and support meaningful regional amenities (restaurants, shopping) for all County residents and visitors to our State Capitol. I intend to prioritize the County financial lever of Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRBs) toward downtown renewal projects. This will allow sales tax and property tax incentives to be directed toward the type of development I expect to improve our county population and economic health long-term. If we have quality residential living downtown we will be able to keep our college graduates from leaving and attract businesses to employ them.

We need to lower taxes above all else. Too many tax increases have been put through in the name of growth and we can see now (looking at metrics over the last 10 years) how this doesn't work. We will work to limit government intervention and lower property taxes & sales taxes to a rate that is competitive with adjacent and countrywide alternatives. This will create the rock bed conditions for organic business growth and broader employment. Special deals with employers attract headlines, but often involve giving up too much to be worth it and warp the market dynamics allowing for organic growth. Customers will find products at the lowest cost "at the bottom of a river". If we think of the County as a business and lower our prices for doing business here, we will attract residents and business as customers. The secret will get out.

The county has a broad reputation for streamlined decision making. The 3-member board means that members represent the entire county (especially Topeka vs. Non Topeka issues) where the larger governing bodies can take longer to deliberate and work decisions often with district representatives competing in a zero-sum game for funding and services. As such, city-county consolidations have proven effective. Parks and Recreation (where I sit on the advisory board) is an excellent example of this. Other services managed by the County Government such as public works and solid waste are both effective and efficient - I think because of the decision making structure.

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