Name recognition a factor in county council race

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES
Doug Duncan "Monroe County is an exceptional place to raise a family, and it's a total package that can't be beat. But as I look out, I've seen government growth explode. Budgets have expanded, which has increased taxes and there's been a loss of manufacturing jobs. These are some of the issues that brought me into the race."

Top 3 Goals
1. Hold down property taxes.
2. Bring more good jobs that pay living wages to the county.
3. Make county government more "user-friendly" by working on the budget so money isn't wasted.

On the county's budget: "We really need to hold down property taxes. We also need to make the county government more user friendly. Too much money is wasted and the council needs to work on using the money more efficiently and prioritizing its needs."

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Jeff Ellington "We (the Republicans) take input in, consider it and get along with both sides. The Democrats don't get along with anybody. There are even some long-time Democrats who have helped their party a lot in the past and now dislike this new wave of extremists."

Top 3 Goals
1. Provide more opportunities for better education and safer neighborhoods.
2. Create more jobs and higher wages in the county.
3. Hire more police officers.

On the county's budget: "They say there's never enough money for the government, but I believe there is. I disagree with the user-fee ideas and the idea of a storm water tax. I also think we can relieve the county budget if we choose to operate the Juvenile Treatment Center with private funding."

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Randy May "We need to make Monroe County more business friendly. We have to get rid of the red tape and roll out the red carpet instead."

Top 3 Goals
1. Help bring more business and industry to the county.
2. See a smaller, more efficient government.
3. Increase involvement with property rights, education and get "back to basics."

On the county's budget "County government continues to grow, spending more and more money, even though our county's job base has been shrinking. This kind of 'government sprawl' makes our tax burden unbearable and the tax increases are difficult to stop. I will fight for a smaller, more efficient government."

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DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES
Julio Alonso "I'm running because I've always believed that we have an obligation to give back to the community and participate in political activity. This is somewhere I want to live for the rest of my life, and I would like it to be a quality place in the future."

Top 3 Goals
1. Ensure adequate funding for long-term planning for land use and environmental protection.
2. Move county government forward with better fiscal planning.
3. Provide voice for those who are disadvantaged and keep in mind the issues of hunger and homelessness in the county.

On the county's budget "The county suffers from a lack of adequate revenue to fund important needs. We need to carefully review the budget process and the manner in which we prioritize spending. We must consider both cost saving and revenue enhancement measures and establish user fees where necessary to help keep taxes down."

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Scott Wells "Why am I a Democrat? Because it's the we party, not the me party."

Top 3 Goals
1. Work on "smart growth" and change impact fees or up-front fees to help relieve county's financial trouble.
2. Minimize cost of the welfare fund to taxpayers.
3. Build county juvenile detention and treatment facility and a county community correction center.

"I believe by increasing user-fees, or up-front fees, it would generate over $110,000 annually of new, additional, up-front revenue which would be put into the county's general fund. If legal impact-fees were also enacted in the county, the additional revenue raised to pay for infrastructure costs would be significant."

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Charles Wilson "I've been with the county for 15 years and have watched the way they spend money, and I'm tired of them wasting it. I believe that you shouldn't complain about something if you're not willing to make the change ... The average Joe doesn't have a voice in the county, and I thought it was about time he got one."

Top 3 Goals
1. Move all juvenile centers in county to Grand View School so the Juvenile Treatment Center can be funded more easily.
2. Combine city and county planning departments.
3. Don't give 100 percent tax abatements to businesses, and, if the county must, require businesses to sign legally binding contract that says they will refund money if they pull out of the deal. On the county's budget "I understand that tax abatements are a necessary evil, but I don't think we should ever give a business a 100 percent tax abatement. If we do, they should have to sign a legally binding contract that says they will refund the county money if they pull out."