3rd District Candidate Vavricek

From OWH again.

The apparently very popular mayor of Grand Island is profiled. 2700 jobs in three years for a small city is pretty impressive. Substituting a sales tax increase for property tax relief is interesting, not sure I'd want to go along with that statewide. I do like the fact he managed to streamline the city government to help with the property tax relief. Not sure where the strong Club for Growth opposition is coming from unless it is the slight (1/2 of a cent) sales tax increase that he championed.

"After the City Council voted to put a half-cent city sales tax increase on the ballot in 2004, it was Vavricek's job to craft the ballot question.
He polled City Council members, sent questionnaires to residents and held public forums before drawing up a plan to use half the proceeds for property tax relief and half for projects such as a new fire station.
The measure, which had been soundly defeated two years earlier, won approval with 52 percent of the vote."

If you are going to ask the voters for a tax increase, this seems a pretty straightforward and justifiable way of doing it.