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Politics & Government

Clayton Residents Expressed Their Opinions On Clayton Budget

City Manager Craig Owens hosted his second of three interactive community forums Wednesday night.

The City of Clayton held the second of three community interactive forums Wednesday night at The Center of Clayton. Unlike the first event, which reached out to area business leaders, City Manager Craig Owens spoke to around 30 area citizens from every walk of life.

“This is a way to let people know we want their help,” Owens said during a break in the event. “Meeting like this, we’re going beyond state guidelines for political engagement. We’re letting the people have a voice in creating their budget.”

Similar to the , Owens explained what made up the city’s general budget, which accounts for around half the city’s total fiscal budget.

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“We try to balance the important interests of our customers with the financial tools at hand,” Owens said on the relationship between Clayton citizens and the services the city offers.

Over the last three years, Clayton has used the ETC Institute, a community-based market research firm based out of Kansas, to conduct and analyze community surveys to see how the city government can best serve the people.

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“During our first year, we set nine customer satisfaction records with ETC,” Owens proudly said at the start of the meeting. These records revolved around regional and national benchmarks.

Following his presentation, Owens presented the same three policy ideas he gave the business group earlier in the week for balancing the budget. They were:

  • Cutting services.
  • Increasing revenue by growing the city’s base or increasing the tax rate.
  • Drawing down the reserves. It is city policy to maintain an equivalent of at least 25 percent of the budget on reserve.

Owens informed the audience that the surveys carried out by ETC had shown that 64 percent of respondents voted against cutting services, while 34 percent agreed with a sales tax increase of a half cent and 24 percent agreed with a property tax increase of upwards of 12 cents.

Those in attendance generally agreed that services should not be cut, but the ideas of a 12-cent increase on property tax proved to be a fiery subject.

“What percentage of those polled were renters, not property owners?” Joe Wotka, a Clayton resident and businessman, asked.

Wotka expressed his concern on stagnant business development in Clayton, while development on new condos, apartments and other rental homes have boomed in Clayton over the last few years.

Mark Carle voiced his own concern on making sure that any increases in Clayton’s sales tax remain competitive with surrounding municipalities. Owens responded by letting the audience know that Clayton maintains a quarter of a half cent difference, plus or negative, with surrounding municipalities.

Local government officials were also present in the audience Wednesday. Alderwoman Michelle Harris from Ward II and Alderman Mark Winings of Ward III were in attendance, as well as Clayton Board of Education Director Kristin Redington.

“Is the city really doing everything it can to promote itself and grow its base?” Winings asked Owens.

The audience shared a concern with the handling of The Center of Clayton as well. The city sold the idea of the community center by saying that it would quickly begin to pay for itself, but since its completion the center has continued to be subsidized by the city.

Harris expressed her concern on city services like The Center of Clayton not being properly priced to the populace.

“If we want the service, we ought to be willing to pay for it,” she said.

While the forum did not produce any definite policy decisions, Owens was happy to see this kind of involvement from the community.

“We appreciate any input from the community,” Owens said of the city. “This is an opportunity to interact with your government officials who are making and implementing these decisions. The responsibility of all of us as citizens is to stay involved, and this is a process that we will continue to refine.”

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