2013 Election Profile: Scott Volpe

Address: 500 block of Litchfield Way, Oswego

Campaign contact information: Oswego@Volpe.us or 630-882-5752

Family: Wife: Nicki Volpe, Daughter Cassandra Volpe

Education: Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL

Occupation: Electrical Engineering Manager, Musco Sports Lighting Currently serving as an Oswego Village Trustee 

Why are you seeking office?

I’m proud of Oswego and pleased to call it my hometown. I want to insure Oswego is the premier community within the Fox Valley. I’m working hard to protect our taxpayers by insuring we continually strive to lower our taxes and fees. We need to make sure current and prospective businesses know that Oswego is Open for Business and willing to assist them as necessary. I believe in three guiding fundamentals: Fiscal Responsibility, Responsible Growth, and Friendly Government. A vote for Volpe means a vote for these fundamentals.

What set you apart from other candidates?

As a candidate I believe in the fundamental purposes of village government - providing cost-effective, dependable friendly service to our residents. I draw upon my twenty five years of engineering experience to find innovative solutions to complex issues. I have a strong history of public service, a desire to advance our businesses climate while protecting our taxpayers. Those who know me say I am a personable team player with incredible work ethic who’s not afraid to debate the issues. I’d appreciate your vote so we can work together to make a difference within Oswego.

What will be your single most important priority if you get elected?

I want to continue finding ways of delivering high quality services while being mindful of the change our residents need; relief from high property taxes. I’ve worked hard to return Oswego to a strong financial position by trimming millions of dollars in unnecessary spending to balance our budget and ending the annual practice of raiding cash from our water fund. Today Oswego residents benefit from lower garbage, electric and water rates saving each household hundreds of dollars annually. But there is still much work to do.

What do you consider to be the main issues facing the Village of Oswego today?

Economic Development: We need to work both locally and regionally to attract and retain beneficial commercial, retail, industrial and food service establishments in an effort to grow and diversify our tax base as this will deliver much needed property tax relief. Historic Downtown: We need to protect our charming downtown for future generations by embracing it as the heart of our community and transforming it into a dining and recreation destination bringing much needed traffic to the area. Responsible Growth: The village needs to partner with Oswego308 to insure our growth rate is sustainable and does not force the school district to construct new buildings faster than they can afford, as this will further drive up their tax rate. Fiscal Responsibility: We need to control our spending and improve efficiency while rejecting new revenue enhancements such as additional fees and taxes. Infrastructure: Prioritize public works and infrastructure projects and then develop an implementation schedule which allows time to save for the expenditure and pay cash for the improvements. Transportation: Continue efforts to attract both Metra and Amtrak commuter rail to Oswego. Friendly Government: Insure our actions are transparent and residents can easily communicate with their leaders.

Going forward, what can the Village do to help improve the state of current businesses and work to attract new ones? How responsible should the Village be in regards to helping new businesses get off the ground, so to speak?

Oswego is open for business. That’s the message I want to make sure our nearly 1,000 existing and prospective businesses understand. Our soon to be completed market analysis will help existing businesses recognize market deficiencies providing suggestions for possible expansion. It will also help our economic development team target beneficial business types and most appropriate growth paths.

Additionally, the village should clarify the types of funding and incentives available along with detailing clear guidelines for their use. How responsible should the Village be in regards to helping new businesses get off the ground, so to speak? * Let’s be clear, it is never a government responsibility to get new businesses off the ground. Rather government has a responsibility to help target, attract and retain the types of businesses identified as beneficial in their economic development and long range plans.

Oswego’s economic and community development departments exist in part to assist businesses in their decision to locate and startup within Oswego. They help to assure business receive reliable answers to their questions and assist with the approval process. They also help make the business aware of any local, regional / state or federal funding programs or incentives that may be available and provide the necessary paperwork for local programs.

The Village levied the same dollar amount in the 2012 tax levy as they did in 2011, resulting in a very low increase for Oswego homeowners. Yet homeowners say they are still being taxed too high: what suggestions do you have to help ease taxpayer burden on Oswego homeowners?

The Village of Oswego has diverted all our operational expenses from property tax sources to other revenue streams such as sales tax. This allowed us to lower our property tax rate approximately seven percent over the last few years.

In fact 100% of our property tax collections are used to make mandatory pension plan payments for our employees. This suggests that further village property tax reductions may only be possible if the state reforms our government employees pension programs. Another effective method of lowering the entire tax bill is to grow and diversify our property tax base.

I believe this effort will be more successful if all the taxing bodies participate to insure new business and industries see a united front. While I can’t do much to control the school district tax levy, I can use our buying power to lower the amount you pay for other services, effectively leaving your money in your pocket. Our recent successes at lowering our garbage and electric rates along with our refusal to significantly raise the water rates 50 to 70% saves Oswego families several hundred dollars annually. While not a tax decrease, it’s just as effective.

But it’s time to go further; we need to begin seeking collaboration agreements with other taxing bodies in an effort to further minimize our operational and capital expenditures. For example, can we share the cost of an expensive piece of equipment across two or three municipalities lowering the cost for all? We need to work with our state legislators to allow aggregation of natural gas to hedge against future price increases. Ultimately, I believe we can find new innovative ways to lower our resident’s cost of living.