Dan Harris Says Montgomery’s Debt Out Of Control
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The race for Montgomery mayor continues to heat up with one candidate claiming current mayor Todd Strange is hiding the city’s debt.
Candidate Dan Harris wants to take a fresh look at the problem.
Harris sits on the county commission, but he says he had no idea how much debt the city was in.
“We’ve seen the debt increase by 16 million dollars a year and we’ve seen our credit rating downgraded so obviously there’s no intent to address this issue. I go in with the intent to have an audit done to come up with a comprehensive plan to address the issue,” said Harris.
After looking at the city’s financial report, Harris says we’re relying too much on lines of credit to support the city.
He’s also worried the city’s debt has gone up by about 70 million dollars in the last 5 years, and the city’s payments could double in the near future.
“You got to consider how to rearrange this debt so we can afford it. There’s no way we can afford a 20 million dollar increase from 2016 to 2018. There’s no way we can afford an increase on this kind of income,” said Harris.
Mayor Strange chose city finance director Barry Crabb to sit down with me and explain some of these numbers.
“We have incurred additional debt but we do think we’ve spent the money responsibly and for the betterment of Montgomery and for the improvement of infrastructure and just preparing us for the future,” said Crabb.
Harris pointed out the city’s total debt as a real problem, but Crabb says it’s not out of control.
“You look at how we compare to say the 5 largest cities in Alabama and our debt level is 307 million, birmingham at the end of 2013 was 483 million, huntsville was 566 million,” said Crabb.
You can view the city’s financial reports on there website, just click here.
