HOLMES BEACH – This November will see incumbent Mayor Judy Titsworth facing off with political newcomer Mike Roth to see who voters decide to have represent them for the next two years. Before the ballots went out, both candidates stepped up at The Anna Maria Island Sun’s candidate forum to answer questions from the community.
Questions for the forum ranged from what each candidate thought about a city manager to the Holmes Beach budget, infrastructure and stormwater issues, and what makes them the best person to be the city’s mayor.
On the subject of a city manager, Titsworth said she feels that the Holmes Beach charter is strong with the support of strong department heads and employees. And while she doesn’t think there’s a need for a city manager right now, she said it wouldn’t be up to her to decide if it went to the voters or not. Roth said that he thinks a single manager across the entire Island could be beneficial to unite the cities in a long-term solution to handle some problems, including infrastructure and environmental efforts.
Both candidates agreed that the relationship between the city and Manatee County and Florida state leaders has changed in dynamic after the Aug. 20 primary election. Going forward, Titsworth said she expects the relationship to be much better among elected officials and she wants to work to make those relationships better. Roth said he also would want to work to help improve relationships among elected officials, but he doesn’t think that the results of the primary election halted the efforts of state and county officials to control Anna Maria Island. His concern, he said, is that he’s afraid the Island cities and residents will become complacent and think the threat has passed. While the results of the primary election are viewed by many as a win for Holmes Beach, Roth said he doesn’t think the attention on the city is gone.
On the topic of the budget, Titsworth said she still thinks there’s room to decrease the budget, but she doesn’t want to lower taxes too much and risk not being able to fund necessary infrastructure improvements. Without proper funding, she said infrastructure improvements could fall by the wayside, which could make flooding and other issues worse and negatively affect property values, which would in turn reduce the tax base for the city in the future. Titsworth said she doesn’t think it’s logical to try and save taxpayers a few hundred dollars now at the risk of costing them much more in the future. Costs aren’t going down, she said, but as a city taxpayer herself, she sees that it’s important to keep the budget as low as possible.
Roth said he feels that the city may not be approaching creating the budget in the best way. He said he doesn’t feel that the city is improving infrastructure to the point that residents feel it and he thinks there could be better ways of doing things that may not cost or inconvenience the taxpayers as much. Roth said some easy ways of improving infrastructure, such as more sidewalk improvements, could visibly help improve quality of life for residents.
To hear what each candidate had to say about these and other issues, visit The Sun’s Facebook page to watch the forum video in its entirety.
