Below are the comments I made in today's American Fork City Bond Hearing as public input:

Why the Bond is a Bad Idea

Fellow Citizens, Mayor, City Council, Staff, "Only a dead fish goes with the flow."

Those who argue for the bond say we must continue borrowing, and continue raising taxes now, or raise taxes even more in the future.  I would like to point out that over the last five years, this city has borrowed 38 million of the 56 million currently owed, more than half, in a short period of time.  During this same period, utility rates have skyrocketed.  Now the city is seeking to borrow even more, 20 million dollars more, and increase taxes yet again.   Higher taxes and massive new borrowing is the wrong direction for our city to go and is not a viable solution.

No one disputes the need for road improvements.  The question is how road improvements will be paid for.  Those who argue for the bond want you to think the only answers are more debt and higher taxes.  But more debt and higher taxes are not the only answer!  There is another way, a harder way, but a better way.  It's called, living within our means. 

Let me give you an example of how this would work.  There was $500,000 dollars more in June of 2013 from Sales Tax revenue, than the city had originally planned on.  There was 2.7 million dollars more revenue than originally planned on, from our high utility fees.  American Fork City recently paid off the internet bond.  The money that had been spent on that, can now be spent on roads.  Combined, that's more than 4 million dollars, and that's without digging.  That's just looking at the surface.  That 4 million is 40% of the 10 million the city wants to borrow next year. 

I would like to point out that no matter what the interest rate is, money borrowed via a bond will not be paid back for 20 years.  That's a long time.  And even with low interest rates, there is still interest due, in this case more than a million dollars (corrected to $400,000) a year in interest.  We can save that money by simply not borrowing, living within our means, and using our existing means to fund our priorities.

What  will our city do, if a true emergency comes up in the future?  Having already maxed out our card, so to speak?  The city will be in an even more difficult position, being highly leveraged with debt.  This bond pays for less than 15% of the urgent road needs identified.  Does the city plan to borrow a bunch more two years down the road, and raise taxes again?  This is the wrong direction for our city to go. 

Some arguing for the bond will say that it will cost more on down the road, if we don't borrow now.  But that assumes that we are not addressing the road issue now, and that's not what I'm advocating.  I'm saying, we can address our road needs now, without massive new borrowing, and without higher taxes.  I know it's not as easy to live within our means.  It's much easier to just whip out the credit card.  But anyone who has done that knows that it hurts later on, when the bill, including extra money for interest, has to be paid. 

I urge this community to not saddle our future generations with our bad spending habits now.  We can effectively address this current need now, with our existing means.  It is not the easy solution, but it is the right solution.   It's the best solution to help keep our great city great. 

We cannot continue this devastating path of borrow borrow borrow, tax tax tax.  It will ruin our city.  Higher taxes and more debt are not the solution, and is the wrong direction for our city to go.  Being fiscally responsible, living within our means and keeping taxes low is the right direction.  I, like many, vote No on the bond.