Jack’s 4 Pillars for a Stronger Shawnee County
Fiscally Responsible, Limited Government
The best way to promote economic growth is to keep tax rates low. As long as the Shawnee County tax rate remains higher than nearby counties, prospective residents and businesses will be repelled and the local economy will remain stagnant. Low taxes attract businesses and promote economic growth, increasing potential government revenue while minimizing costs. Low taxes require no government programs to administer, only the discipline to hold the line.
Keeping taxes at optimal rates requires budget optimization. This can be accomplished through fiscal transparency and clear priorities. Transparency in financial decision-making and reporting enhances government accountability and efficiency. To promote fiscal transparency, the county should centralize public, line-item reporting of budget spending and government contracts, and the multiple unelected mill-levying authorities should be consolidated. The county budget should be developed using clear priorities to ensure that critical spending needs are met while optimizing spending in non-essential areas.
Public Safety
Communities thrive when neighborhoods are safe and crime is low. Crime rates in Shawnee County are significantly higher than all surrounding counties both in violent crime and property crime. High crime rates, just like high taxes, keep people from living and doing business in the county. Maintaining safe neighborhoods requires sufficient funding of county law enforcement, efficient coordination between city and county agencies, and effective local leadership. County budget planning should prioritize law enforcement spending and crime reduction initiatives. Crime reduction promotes community and economic development by making Shawnee County a safe environment where families and businesses can flourish.
Smart Community Growth
The city and county should not be at odds. The best way to ensure low-density, rich country life is to promote healthy smart density in the city. That means more urban development with an emphasis on downtown. Our approach should be center-out: working to complete the footprint of continuous quality building embracing the principle of New Urbanism. We want walkable communities with integrated uses (residential, retail, commercial, even light manufacturing) built around public transportation. Suburban sprawl is the enemy of both healthy urban and rural integration, because large-lot single-family housing development consumes farmland and is impossible to densify. Walkable city living is what allows for a population increase without pushing agriculture out of the local economy. This is critical for Topeka and for our surrounding towns. We ought to build up downtowns (Topeka, Rossville, Silver Lake) by developing apartments above retail while building a community around the street. Our county government can’t force development but can make it more attractive for the free market to pursue with low taxes, sensible zoning, streamlined permitting, and infrastructure such as parking.
Protect Personal Freedoms
We all suffer when freedoms guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution are infringed. Strong, principled leadership protects individuals and families from harmful overreach by recognizing that there are certain freedoms that cannot be violated under any circumstances. Our freedoms to worship, gather, and speak the truth are far more important than any government policy, health and safety regulation, or expert opinion.