Kim Mahoney: Village of Mount Pleasant Trustee #3 candidate

Racine County Eye asked candidates to fill out a questionnaire so that our readers could learn more about them. These are Kim Mahoney’s answers for the Mount Pleasant election.

Kim Mahoney

What motivated you to seek office?
I was directly affected by the government’s abuse of power for the Foxconn project. Now I want to make sure that doesn’t happen to my neighbors. I want to serve as an advocate — to ensure people are treated fairly and with respect, not as a nuisance. I want to help Village Hall serve the residents who have chosen Mount Pleasant to be their home.

What do you think Mount Pleasant’s strengths are?
Mount Pleasant has a diverse, welcoming community with beautiful rural and suburban areas, perfect for raising a family. We have access to good schools, good-paying jobs, great parks, and fun community events.

What do you think Mount Pleasant’s weaknesses are?
Mount Pleasant’s biggest weakness is the hundreds of millions of dollars in debt it has taken on for the Foxconn project. If Foxconn decides not to pay its special assessments on the land given to it, Mount Pleasant is at risk of defaulting on that debt, which would fall on the shoulders of the residents. We have to come up with a contingency plan in case Foxconn does not fulfill its obligations.

If elected, name three priorities you would want to focus on during your term.
1. I want to reduce spending. The budget has increased more than 30% in the last five years.
2. We will terminate the contact with Kapur that requires the Village to pay Claude Lois $32,000 per month as the Foxconn Project Director.
3. Change the culture at Village Hall so residents are treated with respect.

If you are proposing any new programs, how would you pay for them?
We will use the $1.25 Million generated by Mount Pleasant hotel room taxes and give it back to Real Racine to generate regional tourism in Racine County. We are currently paying the tourism director approximately $100,000 per year to bring tourism to Mount Pleasant. She is also being paid by Real Racine for the same job. The current Mount Pleasant Tourism Commission has no experience and no oversight for their $1.25 Million budget. It has no Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts. We need to let the experts do the job.

If you are proposing cutting services, please explain why that would be a priority.
I don’t propose cutting any services but I do favor investigating whether it makes sense, given our geography, to combine fire services with Sturtevant, Caledonia, and/or the City of Racine to establish a more efficient fire department with better response times. The fire chief’s salary has increased significantly over the last couple of years but he has not provided any reports identifying the number of calls and response times in the Village ever.

Did the Foxconn project benefit the taxpayers in Mount Pleasant? Please explain your reasoning.
No. Current local officials like to talk out of both sides of their mouths and gaslight us into believing the project is on track. They say Foxconn is the largest taxpayer in Racine County, but the taxpayers do not benefit from those taxes — they are paid into the TID fund to pay for the infrastructure, not into the General Fund. To the contrary, they are a drain on local resources.

When we talk about expenses like Claude Lois’ $32,000 per month salary, they say that money is not coming out of the General Fund, it is being paid out of the TID. They can’t have it both ways. The Foxconn project is a huge liability for Mount Pleasant and we do not have good options for recovery should Foxconn decide to close its doors and leave the country. If the current board has a contingency plan, they aren’t sharing it. They refuse to answer questions about the project or their plans for the nearly 2,500 acres they acquired. We need a new team to address this unprecedented situation.

Why should people elect Kim Mahoney?
I am honest, hardworking, and I will do my homework and ask the hard questions. I am not intimidated by highly-paid consultants and attorneys hired to tell us what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. I will advocate for my neighbors to ensure they are treated fairly and with respect. I will push for transparency and participation by the residents so we are representing their interests rather than out-of-state developers. I will push for smart and measured development rather than urban sprawl. I am committed to looking for ways to reduce spending which hopefully leads to reducing property taxes.