Love Is On The Air: Election Eve Edition "The Debate": Transcribed Remarks

The following is a transcription of the candidate remarks you will hear in the "Love Is On The Air- Election Eve" posting:

Satish Hiremath: Oro Valley's 2011 Budget

“Town Manager…the very specific question I asked her… Am I correct in assuming that his balance is completely balanced solely by just cutting expenditures. And her reply to me was ‘Yes’.”

“We can’t cut it anymore.”

Mike Zinkin: Oro Valley's 2011 Budget

“I don’t believe that we’ve cut Government as much as we can cut Government [spending]. We’ll see what next year does. Everything is cool for another year. We’ll see what next year does. We might have to make more cuts. It depends on what the income is.”

“Ten years ago we had 29,000 people, or something like that, and it was [we spent] $1,700 per person on government. It’s now $4,600 per person with 45,000 people. [Oro Valley] government has gotten too big. We need to cut back on government.”

Satish Hiremath: Getting More Business To Oro Valley

“The bottom line is: We make it very difficult for businesses to succeed in Oro Valley.”

“All we need to do is create a two way communication. We have to have respect for what the business sector can do and we also have to have Citizen’s respect for what the business sector can do.”

Mike Zinkin: Getting More Business To Oro Valley

“[We have] empty storefronts. It’s not that the Town of Oro Valley is keeping those storefronts from getting filled up. They’re built. The architecture is in. They’re painted. Their signs have been approved. The landscaping is in. The parking lots are in. What’s keeping those businesses from coming to Oro Valley is Bank of America, City Bank, Wells Fargo. There’s no credit out there.”

Satish Hiremath: An Oro Valley Property Tax

“Plan A, in my opinion, is to stimulate business development so that we don’t even have to consider a property tax.”

Mike Zinkin: An Oro Valley Property Tax

“You can’t stand up here and be an honest politician and say never; because it’s going to come back and bite you.”

“You on your fixed incomes; me on my fixed income. I didn’t get a COLA [cost of living adjustment] in my social security. We’ve all taken hits in our IRA’s."

It would just be insane to go other there and ask for additional tax money in the form of a property tax. There’s too much we can do in government, to cut down the size of government before we ever, ever have to consider a secondary property tax. And that [spending cuts] is not [at the expense of] public safety. I promise you that.”