Today I filed as candidate for American Fork City Mayor
I've been honored to serve as your city councilman these last few
years. I've sought diligently to uphold
my oath of office in supporting and defending the Constitution of our great
country and state. I've endeavored to be
transparent and to help make our local government more transparent and
accountable. I believe we have succeeded
in doing that to some degree. My votes
on every issue have been thoughtful and in accordance with deeply held
principles. It has truly been a pleasure
to have a Voice and a Vote on our City Council.
I feel I can most benefit our citizens and our city by serving in the
Mayoral role in the future, and to that end publicly announce my candidacy
for American Fork City Mayor!
I have a vision of a debt free city; it's something we can make
progress towards and eventually achieve.
I led the fight against the 20 million dollar road bond in 2013 and I
want you to know that rejecting the bond was the right thing to do. I later found out that even without the new
bond, debt service was our city's single most expensive budget category per
year. It cost more to service our debt
than it cost to run our entire police department for a year!
We have funded road improvements with a pay as you go approach since
then, and we have completed some significant road projects, but we can and
should be funding our "Capital Improvement Road Accrual" account at a
much higher level than we currently do.
The road account needs at least 4 million dollars a year to adequately
maintain our existing roads. I think
it's also important that we keep our taxes low for both our citizens and our
businesses.
So with this vision and these goals in mind, I throw my hat into the
ring for American Fork City Mayor, and express gratitude to all those who have
supported me in the past and who are supporting me now. Together we can do this!
Carlton Bowen
American Fork City Mayoral Candidate
