Name: Jai Mahtani
Age: 67
Occupation: Retail store owner
Where are you from? How long have you lived in Ketchikan?
New York City 30 years
What is your community involvement, past and present?
KRBD board chamber board Kvb board city council
Have you previously run for public office? When and what office?
Yes
Why are you running for city council?
I am running because our city spending is a runaway train we have always balanced our budget by drawing down from reserves over many many years we keep increasing rates and taxes
I have had worked on reversing that trend and the work is not complete
What are your top priorities if elected?
Control spending most of our spending is for wages and benefits we need to concentrate on infrastructure needs stop buying equipment that still has not been delivered and we are paying for it if rates and taxes go up we are loosing young workers and families closing of schools is the proof the trend has to be reversed
What is your stance on the ballot proposition asking for the transfer of library powers?
After much research my stance is no because folds city taxes and rates will have to be raised on city residents the solution is not transfer but change of library management
Do you think the city is doing an adequate job keeping up with infrastructure and community needs that come with increasing tourism? If not, what steps should be taken to address it?
Well we need to concentrate on infrastructure needs and not spend on benefits and not needed equipment (toys) that department heads covet
We are going to be over 200 million in debt we have only the tourism industry paying our debt service not even the principle if you take that away the state would have to move in and tax and raise rates on residents do we want that
What are ways the city council can address the housing affordability crisis?
To encourage builders to build as our permitting processes are to expensive and to control air b and bs opening up by outsiders. A small start
How do you think the city should continue to fund capital improvement projects?
Being prudent in our other spending prioritizing infrastructure needs and working with the cruise lines to use the 11 million dollars that is burning a hole in our banks that we cannot use but for passenger amenities my opinion is all infrastructure betters the experience of our visitors work with CLIA rather than fighting with them so we can use those funds
Describe one piece of legislation you would like to bring forward as a council member, and explain how you think it should be funded.
We have a mou with the cruis lines so come up with an ordinance to use cvp funds for infrastructure without restriction
Also have a cap on spending to 5 percent of the previous year as a perminant cap.
