Politics & Government

Election 2013: Michael Horvath

Michael Horvath is one of six candidates running for the La Grange Village Board of Trustees.

Name: Michael Horvath

Position Sought: Village of La Grange Trustee

Campaign Contact Information: 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/trusteemike

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What will be your single most important priority if you get elected?:
The number one priority at Village Hall must be to address the the priority issues of the taxpayers in a fiscally responsible manner. Village Hall should establish a priority list of objectives based on a community wide survey and other outreach programs (resident/business focus groups etc...). To execute the plan in a cost effective manner, a new operational model must be adopted. Today, cost growth is far exceeding revenue growth leading to services, but higher taxes. We need to reset expectations and work collaboratively to establish a long-term model based on realistic financial projections.

Family Members: Married 25 years to wife Paula. We have two daughters. One attending Lyons Township High School and the younger attending Cossitt School.

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Education: Northern Illinois University, 1985 B.S. Marketing

Current Occupation and Employer: EVP and CMO at Forseva, LLC., a company I co-founded in 2009.

Political Party Affiliation: I'm running as an independent candidate and support the independent candidacies of Joan Hoigard and Jeff Tucek for Trustee and Lisa Sher for Clerk who all have similar ideas on how government can be more innovative, accountable and transparent.

Why are you seeking office?: I believe local government must be more innovative, accountable and transparent if it is going to deliver quality services at affordable tax and fee rates. The current 5 year budget calls for 5 consecutive years of property tax increases, 3 consecutive years of water AND sewer rates increases as well as other proposed fee increases. At the same time, funding for street, sewer and other infrastructure projects is being squeezed out by rapidly increasing salary and benefit packages. Village government must improve its operational model or this trend of growing taxes with reductions in services will continue.

What sets you apart from the other candidates (if applicable)?: I am the ONLY incumbent running for re-election that; 1) voted NO to the property tax increases adopted in 2012 and 2011; 2) voted FOR use of more fiscally responsible pension funding assumptions to avoid large future tax increases; 3) voted FOR requiring Board approval of all employee agreements prompted by the Village Manager authorizing (without Board approval) a one-year, confidential severance agreement with an employee that admitted to criminal and unethical behavior; 4) voted FOR adopting modern day police vehicle replacement standards which would have saved taxpayers about $400,000 over ten years. Village government can be more innovative, accountable and transparent.

What are the other issues you plan to address in this position, and how?: What I hear most often from residents related to Village government are concerns over flooding due to sewer capacity issues, concerns about personal safety when crossing busy streets (and the street conditions themselves) and speeding traffic and more recently, the burden taxes are placing on family budgets. The State is looking to invest $55 million in an overpass at East Avenue and 47th. I think the Village should strongly lobby for simply signalizing the intersection with lane improvements and request that the remainder of the money (estimated at $45+ million) be provided to fund our sewer upgrade and road/crosswalk improvement projects. That is a better use of the money and better fits the residential needs of residents. From a commercial perspective, I continue to hear that parking is a major issue for our businesses. The Village should adopt the recommendation of the parking consultant made 10 years ago to ensure La Grange road spaces are used for customer parking only. Expanding the valet drop zones would improve convenience. In addition, seek partnerships with the schools and railroad for strategic use of commuter and teacher parking for employees. We must also update our building policies, codes and ordinances to make it easy for private investment to occur across our community.

Please add any other information pertinent to your campaign:
To learn more about me, join the conversation at www.facebook.com/groups/trusteemike.


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