The candidates in next months's Moraga Town Council election agree the town faces several looming questions — how to manage the budget, what development to allow and how to address police needs.
They differ in their views on which is most important, and how to address them.
The six candidates for three seats faced off at the taping of a 30-minute televised forum moderated by Contra Costa Times Political Editor Lisa Vorderbrueggen.
When the candidates were asked their top priorities in two words or fewer, Karen Mendonca identified open space and the budget as priorities; Brad Kvederis wanted to focus on saving open space; and incumbent Michael Metcalf said adding police was most important.
Three other candidates — Howard Harpham, Janice Kolbe and Dennis Wanken — simply said "budget."
"It's all about the budget," Wanken said, echoing the sentiments of Harpham and Kolbe.
Wanken's proposal: the creation of a separate police district similar to the Moraga-Orinda Fire District, and possibly a parcel tax to raise money.
Other candidates said the town needs to better manage the money it has.
"You have to start cutting wasteful spending," Harpham said.
Harpham and Mendonca cited money spent on the Camino Pablo speed humps as waste.
"That could have been avoided with a little different planning process," Mendonca said.
Harpham also advocated "some intelligent, moderate growth."
Kolbe Advertisementsaid she was a "proponent of some type of growth."
Metcalf said the town would have to "resize" its staff, looking at where there were deficiencies and where there were too many employees.
Kvederis was more optimistic about the town's budget than his opponents, saying that revenues would increase as older residents left town and sold their houses. "We're probably going to see more of a spike in property tax revenue than anyone thought," Kvederis said.
Until then, the town needs to take stopgap measures to control spending, he said, but Kolbe disagreed.
"We need to address these issues now," Kolbe said.
Metcalf said the town needs not just to look at the current budget, but at how to pay for more police. St. Mary's College should pay some of the costs, he said, because it frequently uses the town's police.
"It's time St. Mary's College steps up to the plate," he said.
The candidates also offered differing views on open space and development. Kvederis and Mendonca support Measure K, the more restrictive open space measure on the ballot. The other candidates support neither of the two competing open space initiatives to appear on the November ballot.
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