As a 30-year Riverside resident, I am proud to be a candidate for village president as a member of the Riverside Community Alliance. We are challenging the incumbent Riverside Party, slated by the caucus. We are challenging the status quo.
Why? As a direct result of my work on Riverside’s Long-Term Finance Committee and as a citizen advocate for fiscal responsibility over the past three years, I know that Riverside can do better than TIFs, a sub-par downtown and wasteful spending that leads to tax increases.
Most of the challenges Riverside will face over the next four years will revolve around finances. I am a CPA and business attorney and know my background will be invaluable in setting a better course for the village.
I have the proven track record to lead the village board in developing win/win solutions for the complex financial times on the horizon. Leadership derives from competence, experience and compassion. Those residents, who have worked with me or have observed me from afar, know that I possess these qualities.
I did not agree with pursuing a TIF for Riverside, a proposal that was never in the best interest of Riverside taxpayers. But what if the village board pushed through the TIF? Our tax dollars would have been diverted from our five elementary schools and Riverside-Brookfield High School directly to the balance sheets of real estate developers. This would have included the owner of the now boarded-up Arcade Building, who is currently under federal indictment for fraud and securities law violations.
It is also clear that Riverside needs a smarter, more efficient budget process based on a careful assessment of personnel and service performance, not the current across-the-board approach that has contributed to the financial situation the village now faces.
Only the RCA has pledged to go line-by-line through the budget and identify ways to create a more efficient village government. Our opponents reject this idea flatly. They insist Riverside’s future depends on finding more revenue – which means higher real estate taxes. They say service cuts are coming and little is to be saved by controlling spending. Do you agree with that? I don’t.
For too long, the caucus-held board pursued agendas that put taxpayers on the defensive and then claim opposition to their bad ideas is negative. It was not negative. It was necessary.
Using common sense and armed with facts, voters rejected the TIF and tax referendum, both by 4-to-1 margins. I assure you that, if elected village president, the days of spending your tax dollars on these agendas will end and tax dollars will be used responsibly.
Now is the time for Riverside residents to elect new leadership. It is time to elect those who have already stood up for Riverside. It is the village board that serves the people and not the other way around. Make your voice heard. Vote for the Riverside Community Alliance candidates for village president and for village trustee. Thank you.
Michael Gorman is a candidate for Riverside village president.