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Santa Clara County, CA | June 6, 2006 Election |
Balancing the Budget While Protecting Essential City ServicesBy Dave CorteseCandidate for Mayor; City of San Jose | |
This information is provided by the candidate |
Dave Cortese's private and public sector financial experience provides a strong foundation for balancing serious city budget shortfalls without cutting into essential services like police and fire protection. Attracting new jobs and businesses to San Jose is an important component of this, because new businesses generate much-needed revenues for the City.With more than 30 years of business experience--selling agricultural crops, managing a mortgage and loan office, running his family's property management business, overseeing a multimillion dollar real estate portfolio and building a 300-unit apartment complex--Dave has mastered a very basic skill: how to fully understand the elements of a balance sheet. He leveraged this financial understanding in the public sector while serving on the board of the largest high school district in California. Dave chaired the East Side Union High School District's budget committee through an $11 million deficit without layoffs and without cutting into the classroom experience. Protecting Essential City Services With both private and public sector financial experience as a foundation, Dave has been instrumental in serving on the city's finance committee as a San Jose councilman. He has helped balance serious city budget deficits since the downturn--without cutting into essential services like police and fire protection. Dave will continue this successful financial track record as mayor of San Jose without jeopardizing our safety. He knows that the most important thing a mayor can do is keep our neighborhoods safe and secure. Dave was also appointed to the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) board when VTA faced a severe financial crisis. He co-chaired a Financial Stability Committee that kept VTA afloat, maintained service levels and set new financial standards for the organization. Isn't this the kind of nuts and bolts budget experience we want our future mayor of San Jose to have? As a businessman, a school board member, a councilman and a VTA board member, Dave has been at the forefront of dealing with budget issues in a way that's sensitive to essential services. Combating Waste and Bureaucracy to Get the Most Out of Every Tax Dollar Dave has been instrumental in bringing people together to combat waste and bureaucracy. He has served on the San Jose City Council's finance committee for almost five years, bringing audit recommendations that combat waste to the full city council. This includes recommendations on facilities, code enforcement issues and city manager's office reforms. In September 2003, Dave also recommended that the city auditor assist the city council in establishing performance measures for key economic development initiatives--including evaluations of key senior city staff members--to analyze how effectively these recommendations had been carried out. As mayor of San Jose, Dave will continue with similar efforts to combat waste and measure performance. Bringing New Jobs and Businesses to San Jose As a local businessman, Dave created hundreds of jobs. While serving on the board of trustees for the largest high school district in California from 1992 to 2000, Dave advanced vocational and college preparatory learning programs that he will continue to support as mayor of San Jose. At the San Jose City Council level, Dave served on the city's government development committee instrumental in advancing an economic development strategy for San Jose in September 2003. On a regional basis, Dave successfully spearheaded the creation of a Joint Policy Collaborative (JPC) while serving as president of the Santa Clara County Cities Association (SCCCA). JPC is a new regional body consisting of representatives of the 15 cities in the county, 15 business leaders in the county, and the CEOs of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. JPC brings together elected officials and business executives from the Valley to create new uniform policies and ordinances in the region that are business-friendly and streamline government processes. With his real-world business background, his time spent strengthening our classrooms and his work on the city council growing San Jose's economic base, Dave has the right skills to take our city in the right direction. As mayor of San Jose, he will:
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Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 18, 2006 17:50
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