Janesville City Council Candidate Bill McCoy Answers Our 5 Questions

Question 1: Rock County currently ranks #1 in the state for unemployment. Much of this is due to business closings and layoffs in the City of Janesville. What will you do to bring jobs back to the City of Janesville?

I feel the city council should begin marketing our workforce to the surrounding areas. They could help bid on jobs to companies that are interested in our community. The council could also offer companies incentives to build and operate in our community.

Question 2: Janesville is known for its automotive heritage, however, much of that industry is now gone. If you were to define Janesville’s heritage for the next 20 years, what would it be?

I would define our heritage as a wonderful workforce for manufacturing. We will be known as hard workers, which will only happen if we keep our current workforce here in Janesville and in the area.

We should be seen as a city of modern technology. When people think of Janesville, they should think of a cutting edge workforce that is the brink of technology.

We have wonderful farmland. We need to keep up the image of the best farmland in the United States. So many crops and animals are raised here, that farming should be considered a staple of out heritage in the next 20 years.

Question 3: During the past year, several projects surfaced and were met with a great deal of public debate: the bike tunnel, the childrens' museum, the aquatics center, and the ice arena. Please explain what guidelines you will use to make decisions on projects such as these.

At this time we are unable to financially afford the bike tunnel. The children’s museum is unneeded. The aquatics center is not needed. Instead we should pay for the proper upkeep of our current pools. This should include Lion’s Beach, Riverside Park pool, Palmer Park pool and Rockport pool. My decisions would be based on the amount of people using the facility and the amount of money the City of Janesville has available for each project.

Question 4: What steps should the City of Janesville take, if any, in redeveloping the downtown area?

I would like to see the downtown to once again be thriving. In order to do that we would need to encourage stores and companies. This may mean the City of Janesville giving incentives to employers and companies to open downtown businesses.

Question 5: Explain your approach to budgeting and taxation: do you start with adding the expenses up and then setting taxes based on those expenses? Do you start with setting a cap on taxes and then working backwards? Do you strike a balance in between? Please explain.

The budget cannot exceed the taxes of homeowners and businesses, meaning we can’t spend more than we have. I would use this idea as my guideline for all budget and tax decisions. It is impossible to increase revenue when you don’t have any jobs in the community. First and foremost importance is to get the people of Janesville working again.