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Our Mayor, City Council members and City Manager have continued to tell us that vital city services may have to be cut in order to balance the budget.

It worries me that we may have to cut Police and Fire services and programs for our seniors and youth, or repairs to our infrastructure.

I have attended a few of the debates in recent weeks to see what solutions the
candidates for City Council have developed..

I was immediately impressed with candidate Christoper Armenta both because of his experience and ideas.

Chris has run a city department as City Clerk for the six years. He has had to prepare budgets for Council approval each year, and he understands how to make decisions that will save the city money without affecting our level of services.

In addition, his work at the state and federal level as an accountant and financial expert is encouraging since it will help to make sound fiscal decisions for our city.

But it's not enough to have experience if you don't have good judgment to protect our community during the coming years.

Chris’s ideas about expanding revenues
without raising our taxes and limiting the bloated salaries of some our high level city employees sound's like just the kind of creative ideas that come from someone with his experience.

I know that this is more than just empty promises since Chris has done just that as our City Clerk. In order to bring money into the general fund, the
City Clerk's office has begun processing passport applications and keeping some of the revenue. What a great idea.

I hope that you will be joining me in voting for Christoper Armenta for City Council on April 8 in order to make sure that we have this leader protecting our cit’'s money.