13WMAZ's Lorra Lynch Jones and Randall Savage were panelists.
With less than three weeks to go, Macon mayoral candidates took center stage Thursday evening to discuss their plans for the city's future.
The event was moderated by a representative from the League of Women Voters. 13WMAZ's Lorra Lynch Jones and Randall Savage were panelists for the debate.
Robert Brown, Mayor Robert Reichert, C. Jack Ellis, and Paul Bronson answered questions from the panelists for about an hour.
In light of the shrinking tax base, the first question asked which services or departments the candidates would cut to avoid raising taxes.
"The fact of the matter is, you don't run the government off water," says Brown. "Some of you may recall, in the mid-1990's I tried to put this city together in a restructured plan. Of the people in the legislature, I was the only one willing to take that risk. We could have avoided some of the things that we have facing us today."
Mayor Reichert said recreation would be up on his chopping block. He says protecting the core services -- fire, police, and sanitation -- is crucial.
In response to another part of the question, Reichert said he would also consider privatizing sanitation services to save money.
Paul Bronson says raising taxes would be out of the question if he becomes mayor.
"To raise a tax on the people is a very hard pill to swallow for me," says Bronson.
He didn't say what services he would cut back to save money.
"I would go by, having a team that would go line by line and look at the spending and let's find out exactly what we're spending money on."
Ellis also said he would support privatizing sanitation. He says he proposed it during his time as mayor.
But he says he would only go through it with it if he had an "iron-clad" agreement that employees' jobs would be protected.
He says, after seeing the way employees of the Centreplex were treated after it was privatized, he is especially leery of turning over sanitation.
The Centreplex employees "were treated as though they were less than human," says Ellis.
Ellis didn't say what cuts he'd make.
"What we want to do is grow this city so we can have more revenues as opposed to cutting revenues," says Ellis.
Candidates were also asked how they would reduce crime without using new state or federal funds or more local revenue.
Bronson says he believes the community needs to come together to combat crime.
"I would like to see a united force between the educational system, the religious system, and our community leaders, including our city officials."
In an earlier forum, Brown called crime his number one priority.
"For the first time in the history of the city of Macon, the police have organized a union. I would recognize the union, I would sign a memorandum of understanding with the union," says Brown. "And as a part of that memorandum of understanding it would be an understanding that you would be committed to a certain percentage of reduction in crime."
Reichert says he's proud of his record and would continue with more of the same.
He says his administration has invested in new technology and cars for the police force and improved morale.
He says under his administration, the police force has implemented several successful neighborhood patrol programs.
Ellis reiterated that growing the city is key to success, including reducing crime.
"How do we get jobs here? How do we get people out of poverty? How do we have more prosperity for those in our city?" asked Ellis. "If we do those things, I think we will see a reduction in crime."
13WMAZ's Lorra Lynch Jones was one of the panelists for the event. She asked Ellis if he ever officially changed his name and whether he planned to continue the amount of international travel if elected.
Ellis refused to answer if he legally changed his name. In 2007, he announced that he was converting to Islam and changing his name to Hakim Mansour Ellis.
"I will not address my religion," he said. But he did say later that he attends a Baptist church.
His campaign later sent out a statement saying Ellis can provide documentation of his legal name: C. Jack Ellis. The email says he will not answer anymore questions on that subject.
As for the travel, he says he went to Macon, France on three occasions and Ghana on three occasions during his time as mayor.
"What's the difference?" he asked. "We ought to be going back to Ghana. Part of the gas you put in your car this morning came from Ghana."
Candidates also answered questions about the upcoming SPLOST proposal, and how the county's decision to raise the millage rate could affect the SPLOST's success with voters.
Mayor Robert Reichert called the timing of the county's decision, "unfortunate." He says he hopes voters remember that it was excess SPLOST money that allowed the county to lower the millage rate in past years.
He says he'd like to add recreation projects to the list.
Ellis says he won't support the SPLOST as long as it's tied to the new city/county service delivery strategy.
According to Mayor Reichert, if voters pass the SPLOST the county would take a percentage of the funds to run recreation as part of a new service delivery agreement.
But Ellis says that's essentially a blank check for the county. He says if county officials come back and ask for more money, the service delivery strategy says the city must give it to them.
Bronson says he's still researching SPLOST projects. He say he'd be most inclined to support recreation projects.