Some suggest raising taxes, federal grants to help police department

Candidates running for two City Council seats this fall have a couple of things in common with Modesto's budget -- cops and firefighters.

Public safety consumes 70 percent of Modesto's $127 million general fund. It's one of the most visible services the city provides to residents.

So it's no surprise that this fall's council candidates want to find ways to bolster Modesto's public safety ranks in a time of tightening budgets.

Their ideas include looking at sales tax increases, offering incentives to keep Modesto officers from changing jobs, or prioritizing certain crimes for crackdowns.

The field is relatively thin compared with the city's previous three elections.

Mayor Jim Ridenour and Councilman Garrad Marsh face no challengers in their re-election bids.

Councilman Brad Hawn is defending his Chair 6 against taxpayer advocate Tom Maher.

Four men are running for Chair 1 to replace outgoing Councilman Bob Dunbar, who is not seeking re-election.

The candidates vying to succeed him are attorney Robert Farrace, business account executive Dave Lopez, electrician Brent Maynor and airport neighborhood activist Robert Stanford.

Concerns about public safety are rising to the forefront of their election pitches even as the Police Department seeks to cut its overtime spending and trim 7 percent of its $59 million budget.

With an eye on those budget demands, Hawn said it's time for Modesto to consider a way for the city to raise more revenue to pay for better public safety services, such as a sales tax increment.

Maher, his opponent, spent two decades challenging the council's spending decisions as a taxpayer watchdog. But like Hawn, Maher said he's open to raising taxes to pay for those services.

Farrace wants to find ways to retain police officers. Some starter ideas include offering them incentives with partially forgivable home loans, a measure gaining popularity in other nearby cities.

Lopez said he would ask the Police Department to focus even more of its resources on gangs, perhaps by zeroing in on young members. He said disrupting gangs could offer opportunities for young offenders to reform their lives.

Maynor ranks maintaining public safety as his top goal. He said he would cut other city services before taking a scalpel to the police and fire departments.

Stanford, a onetime police protester, said it's imperative for Modesto to show a zero tolerance attitude toward gangs and drugs.

Here's a look at the six candidates in the contested races and their broader goals.

* Hawn, 52, is an engineer who doesn't describe himself as a politician, even though he was a top fund-raiser in the 2003 elections.

"I love Modesto," he said. "We've done some good, and I want to continue doing it."

His focus in his first term cen- tered on leading the council's Finance Committee, which assessed plans to shore up Modesto's sewer and water systems with hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements.

The drinking water plans opened the council to criticism because of costly errors in the methods the city used to set new rates to pay for the improvements.

Nonetheless, Hawn and his colleagues describe their effort as essential to securing Modesto's basic services.

"Water and sewer aren't very glamorous, but it's part of who we are and part of coming together as a city," he said.

Hawn is one of the council's main arts supporters. He organizes the annual Art and Wine Festival, and speaks up for downtown improvements.

If elected to another four years, Hawn wants to regionalize municipal services, such as waste-water treatment. That can be done at Modesto's sewage treatment plant on the west side, for example.