Whereas the city of La Crosse has now had three straight years of no tax increases under the leadership of Mayor Harter, who at the same time was dealing with a recalcitrant city council;

And whereas the local Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) group is convinced a city administrator, at great cost to the city, could do no better;

And whereas the Common Council noted with great emphasis that they cut everywhere possible, (which would suppose that would leave absolutely no room for ANY amount of expense for consideration of a city administrator), in overriding the Mayor’s veto of the budget;

And whereas CRG believes that the city is already top heavy with supervisory personnel and burdened with the accompanying administrative costs in salary and fringe benefits;

And whereas a city administrator adds an additional layer of government that is not directly responsible to the voter further buffering his actions and those of city employees and the city council;

And whereas the city has failed to substantiate that any other system of government would run any more efficiently or openly;

We therefore oppose the proposed creation of the position of a city administrator by a unanimous vote taken on November 16, 2011 and will devote all our energy to see that this action to employ an administrator is defeated.