Name: Mike Cady

Party affiliation: Republican

Place of residence: Frederick

Date of birth: June 21, 1943

Place of birth: Riverdale

Current occupation: Vice president, Board of County Commissioners

Education: George Washington University Monroe School of Business, three-year program

Community associations, involvement: Immediate past vice president, U.S. Olympic Committee National Governing Board; past president, Timber Ridge Community Association; past president, St. Paul’s PTA; member, Frederick Rotary Club.

Professional associations: Past member, Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, American Society of Association Executives, Maryland Society of Association Executives and Greater Washington Society of Association Executives.

Family: Married to Darlene Cady, school teacher. Three grown children, Michelle, 39, Steven, 37 and Darren, 35.

Campaign office address and telephone: 228 N. Market St., Frederick, MD 21701.

Candidate’s Web site: www.votecady.org

Link to state Board of Elections campaign finance database

1. Continue a balanced growth program that maintains the existing robust economy that Frederick County enjoys while educating the public that growth is not solely about residential units, but includes consideration of a number of other important issues, such as: creation of good-paying jobs by attracting new businesses and encouraging existing business to expand their operations in Frederick County; timely provision of water, sewer, roads, schools, parks and other public facilities and services; aggressively preserving agricultural land through permanent easements; and facilitation of a balanced growth policy that provides for the above three considerations with the concurrent construction of new homes to meet the economic and social needs of Frederick County.

2. Manage the county’s financial resources in such an effective manner that the property tax rates will not exceed the constant yield rate, and property tax assessment increases will be capped at the current 105 percent rate. Government should not grow at a rate greater than the income of the residents and businesses that support it.

3. Aggressively address the lack of affordable housing for work force and low-income residents. A dedicated stream of revenue needs to be identified for this purpose.

How would you rate the performance of the current commission: excellent, good, fair or poor? Why?

I believe the current Board of County Commissioners has done an excellent job in meeting the challenges it faced over the past four years. For example, Frederick County led the state in new jobs two of the four years and ranked 10th in the nation for job growth with 11,730 new jobs; median family income rose from $55,000 to an estimated more than $80,000 (2005 figures pending); unemployment rates have averaged less than 3 percent and about 1 percent less than the state average; built an average of 2,000 new homes each year, which is a sustainable number; constructed three new classroom seats for every new student added to our enrollment and, at this rate, our county-wide school capacity will be at 90 percent or less by the end of the decade; and doubled the amount of land placed in agricultural preservation that totals more than 40,000 acres.

Is the rate of growth in Frederick County too fast, too slow, or just right?

I believe the rate of residential growth of approximately 2,000 homes per year is about right and economically sustainable. This is the average number of new homes annually built for the past 25 years.

However, educating the public on the truth concerning the New Market Region Plan update is a real challenge. For example, the news media stated that the county commissioners approved a plan for 14,000 new homes, when the actual number was less than 500 compared to the 1993 approved plan.

Page 36 of the 1993 approved plan states that the total number of potential residential units is 15,418 based on the acres zoned by all of the types. When this document is compared to the staff prepared New Market Region Plan update dated May 22, I calculate that the approved 2006 New Market Region Plan update adds no more than 357 new homes to the 1993 update (a far cry from 14,000) and the media never reported it.

Of the 15,418 residential units approved in 1993, approximately 5,850 were built since (450 homes per year times 13 years), leaving a balance of 9,568 homes to be built. Of these, 4,350 are in the Linganore planned-unit development. Leaving a balance of 5,218 to be built. I believe everyone understands that the total number of potential homes in a plan will never be built.

Recently, Mr. Gugel of our Division of Planning told the Frederick News-Post that ‘‘... the Commissioners approved a Plan (2006) that resulted in a net decline of about 400 residential acres ensuring the New Market area will not go higher than the remaining 11,950 units from the 1993 plan.” Lastly, Mr. Gugel stated, ‘‘If anything, we are going to be less than that. The 14,000 is not accurate”.

What’s your plan to provide more affordable housing in Frederick County?

The challenge of providing workforce and low-income housing is among my top priorities. Nearly everyone understands that economic pressures and restrictions on the number of homes being built have caused the cost of homes to escalate much faster than family incomes have risen during the past decade.

Government has attributed to this problem by adding and increasing fees to the construction process. Presently, county fees may total as much as $30,000 per dwelling unit. Few meaningful solutions have been discussed, much less implemented in recent years.

The moderately priced dwelling units will provide some relief to the problem, but not nearly enough. The Affordable Housing Council recently presented a number of actions that will, if fully implemented, help address this problem and I have supported each initiative. For example, recently, the county commissioners created a fund to help low-income families enter home ownership by allocating funds to pay for all county fees and provide loans at modest interest rates.

I voted for these measures and support them. However, this was done with ‘‘one-time” funding. We need a dedicated source of revenue for this purpose and I suggested up to 10 percent of the recordation tax.

Do you think the county is doing enough to meet the needs of its growing population? If not, what do you think the county needs to do?

Today’s accomplishments are never enough. We need to continue our efforts to provide essential services better in the most cost effective manner possible. Creating and managing a balanced growth policy and providing the infrastructure and services necessitated by it is at the core of such an objective. Once facilities and services are in place, we need to maintain and improve upon them as time progresses thereby avoiding costly upgrades.

Does the commission form of government still work in Frederick County? Should we adopt a charter government, or code home rule?

Frederick County is the largest county with a commissioner form of government, and the time has come to consider adopting a charter so that the executive and legislative functions may be separated.

Does the Board of County Commissioners need to tighten its lobbying regulations?

Under a charter form of government, I believe new lobbying legislation should be adopted. However, with the current commissioner form of government, I think the present lobbying laws meet our needs.

Should the Board of County Commissioners adopt stricter campaign finance rules?

Yes, particularly as it relates to maximum contributions over a four-year period. This would require the General Assembly approval.

What programs would you add to the budget and how would you pay for them?

We have plenty of programs funded in our budget. With the exception of the affordable housing challenge, I would not add any new ones and, instead, evaluate the effectiveness and necessity of existing ones.

Are there any programs, taxes or fees that should be cut? What would you do with the money from the savings?

Cutting programs or funding for programs is a popular thing to advocate. However, the truth is, it can rarely be done. Once a program is in place, it is nearly impossible to reduce it, much less eliminate it. I believe the focus should be placed on managing the growth of government.

Do you think the current system for renovating schools is adequate, or does it need changing?

No, we are far behind on modernizing aging schools and nearly all new sources of funding are allocated to construction of new schools. We need to have a dedicated source of revenue for this purpose if we are going to bring our older schools up to the same standards as our new ones.

Do the commissioners have too much, too little or not enough oversight of the school system?

I believe the relationships between the Board of Education and Board of County Commissioners, as well as the balance of power, is very good. The county commissioners have final say on the Board of Education’s budget and budget transfers with is enough oversight to ensure the public that resources are being properly and effectively managed.

What is the No. 1 public safety concern for Frederick County? What would you do about it?

Highway safety for both motorists and pedestrians, especially school age children, are my number one concern. We need to continue to adequately fund our Sheriff’s Office and provide sufficient number of deputies, crossing guards and equipment for them to do their job. At the same time, we must effectively work with the Maryland Department of Transportation to improve our roads giving priority to locations with high incidents of accidents.