Connie Smith said she is running for the Ward 5 seat on the City Council because she thinks the city could benefit from having a senior citizen on the council.
“I think the council could use some senior citizens, because I think seniors would listen about taxes more,” said Smith, R-Summit Circle.
Smith said she thought taxes in Westbrook were way out of sight. She said she would like to see the city look at curbing spending. “We spend and spend and spend, and it’s all on the taxpayer’s back,” she said.
One area she would like to see trimmed is the school budget. Smith said she believes the school department was top heavy with administrators who are paid too much. She also said she would support increasing the size of classes if it would save money. “I don’t think 30 (students) is a bad number,” she said.
The city also needs to do more to try and attract larger businesses to town to help foster economic growth, said Smith. “We need to get out there and look for companies that are looking to expand,” she said.
Smith said she was opposed to a city-wide property revaluation because she thought it would result in a tax increase. She said she favors revaluing individual properties as they are sold.
While she would like to see more businesses come to the city, Smith said she would not be opposed to more residential growth as well, as long as that growth doesn’t interfere with commercial growth. “I’m not opposed to more building,” she said. “The more the merrier, as long as there’s available land, and it’s not going to take away from land that could be used for business.”
If she were elected to the council, Smith said she would work to do the very best job she could. She said as a senior citizen, she believes she has learned things through her life that would allow her to be useful to the city. “And I’d like to be useful,” she said.
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