NORWICH – With just a week until city residents head to the polls, Councilman Bryan McCracken is getting his name out in a bid for re-election as the city’s first ward representative.
The Democrat faces opposition for his four-year seat by Ward One resident Matthew Caldwell, a Republican who officially announced his candidacy back in May. Both candidates are running on a platform that challenges the year-to-year tax increases for city residents. Moreover, both advocate for a closer look at services to possibly trim the annual budget.
As one of the more outspoken members on the Norwich Common Council, McCracken says it’s his questioning of issues that he hopes will be at the forefront among voters. He also noted that he was the only alderman to vote down the city’s 2015 budget which entailed last minute revisions and a 6.5 percent increase for taxpayers.
“It wasn’t a popular approach, but it’s something I feel was important to do. I think more could have been done to cut items from the budget and save taxpayers money,” he said. “My responsibility as a representative of city residents is to make sure what I'm doing is in their best interest. I’m not afraid to ask hard questions and I’m not afraid to vote against things that others favor.”
Looking ahead, McCracken vows to take a stance against continued use of surplus to balance the annual budget. The city’s low surplus and three consecutive years of deficit spending recently put it on the NY Comptroller’s list of communities susceptible to fiscal stress. Norwich officials have planned additional deficit spending in the 2015 annual budget to the tune of $352,000.
It’s time that approach to management be re-examined, said McCracken.
“I think one of the issues we’ve had in the past is relying on our fund balance to keep taxes down rather than looking at services we provide and whether they are efficient as they can be.” he said. “In the future, I would like to see us move away from looking at the idea of using our fund balance to keep taxes low. We can’t keep doing that. It’s very low at this point, and we can’t sustain another year of using it to balance the budget.”
“We need to look at everything in city hall and all the services we provide comprehensively, and ask how we can make this more efficient,” he added.
McCracken proposes increased collaboration with departments – police, fire, DPW, human resources and finance – to ensure every dollar is accounted for and used in the most efficient way possible.
Illicit drug use is also a concern for the incumbent alderman. He cited the local heroin epidemic and the city’s role in combatting the issue.
McCracken recently favored re-creation of the Norwich Police Department’s narcotic detective position; however, he said the key is to take a more proactive approach.
“We do have an issue in the city with heroin, but I don't think we're alone,” he said. “It’s happening across the state ... I think what we need to do is find a way to deal with the core issue, which is the disease. Only then do I think we can really solve the problem.”
McCracken was appointed to the Common Council in 2012 upon the resignation of former Alderman Robert Carrey. He was elected later that year to finish out the term.