THE CITY’S ROADS are a wreck despite an additional millage dedicated to street repair that generates between $8-11 million annually. Our city’s water and sewer infrastructures have been allowed to crumble, with large portions of those systems dating back to the 40s and some sections dating back to 1910. It has been estimated that residents could need to spend as much as $350 million to update our water and sewer pipes. Meanwhile, water main break records reveal that city staff frequently repair breaks on the same streets. Unfunded employee pension and health liabilities stand at over $200 million when once that system was over-funded.

Instead of spending $40 million to build a community center, and moving city hall staff to unoccupied warehouse space, as was done by Dearborn’s mayor and City Council, in 2009 Ann Arbor’s elected officials voted to build a $50 million dollar city hall. Inside a new building that houses police on the second floor, a decimated force occupies a new space with elaborately tiled bathrooms and furnished with dozens of empty cubicles for police officers who once provided services to citizens.

In 2011, 2012 and 2013 voters elected reformers to City Council, individuals whose focus has been on maintaining, repairing and rebuilding the infrastructure, beefing up safety services and trying to solve the city’s serious pension funding problem. The reformers have been frequently thwarted by long-time Council members and the city’s mayor, all of whom have refused to get behind efforts to allocate funding to discontinued services. Rather, they fund consultants and city staff pay, perks and benefit costs that have ballooned.

We frequently hear that readers devour their issues of The Indy. We also hear that the newspaper’s dedication to investigative reporting and hard-hitting news about local politics take readers by surprise. Hard-hitting news and investigative reporting are what media experts and FCC research tell us is increasingly missing from the country’s 1,800 newspapers. When newspapers don’t hold government accountable through investigative reporting, government can become self-serving,  corrupt and wasteful.

We encourage Ann Arbor voters to continue to hold themselves and local elected officials accountable. Just as this newspaper is dedicated to reader education and reporting on the issues, we challenge Ann Arbor voters to continue to make voting booth decisions based on data rather than intuition or small-town connections.

It’s kind when elected officials bring candy to public meetings, and provide burgers and beer to constituents. However, we believe Ann Arbor’s voters need to see that giving away their votes in exchange for truffles and trifles means we all pay, literally. Our city’s infrastructure is a mess, in large part, because for a dozen years August primary election voters have not held elected officials accountable for their votes and their promises. It’s why current mayoral candidates whose voting records show them incapable of collaborating with colleagues  have the hubris to suggest they will provide collaborative leadership.

It’s neither unkind nor unreasonable to hold elected officials accountable. It’s responsible to vote based on how local elected officials perform, what they say, whether they keep their promises and how they cast their votes.