Oak Harbor City Councilman Richard Davis and his challenger, Pat Gardner, have different visions for the city’s economic future.

But they both agree that the city’s biggest challenge will continue to be dealing with the faltering budget — a problem that looks to get even worse.

Davis, an investment representative for Edward Jones in Freeland, says he wants to see Oak Harbor become a strong and healthy economic engine for the entire island. He wants a city government with development-friendly zoning, streamlined development and permitting processes, all the necessary infrastructure and other possible encouragement to business.

He says the city needs to do a better job of marketing itself, especially the large pool of over-educated, under-employed Navy spouses.

“With the low wages here, we should be able to bring companies here …” Davis said. “We need to be competitive with Skagit County. They can get a business up in a matter of weeks. We can put a business up in a matter of years.”

Gardner, who describes herself as “a working homemaker,” says the needs of business and development have to be weighed against the needs of the city’s residents. She doesn’t want Oak Harbor to become another Lynnwood. She says the city’s quality of life has declined in the last four years as “big box” corporate retailers moved in, home-grown businesses like Logos left town, and Highway 20 became more and more congested.

While she supports business and development growth, she says it needs to be managed so it won’t “choke out our enjoyment of living on this lovely island.” She says the city should pursue appropriate, clean industries, like software development.

“I don’t want to see big-city development coming into the city,” she said. “I want to keep it an island community as much as possible.”

With the downturn in the economy and Initiative 747 on the November ballot, the city’s bare-bones budget will likely get shakier. The city’s budget depends in part on sales tax, which is sinking with the economy. I-747 is another Tim Eyman tax-cutting voter initiative that would limit property tax — another major source of city revenue — to 1 percent a year unless the voters approve a greater increase.

Both Davis and Gardner agree that the budget outlook means big trouble with no easy fixes.

Davis says the only long-term solution is to build the city’s economy. But in the short term, he says he is willing to look at all the options, from tax increases to staff cuts. He says he supports Mayor Patty Cohen in her effort to identity the city’s essential services from among the services that could be cut.

“We must assess carefully those things that we must provide,” he said. At the same time, he admits that there’s very little room for cuts of any kind, especially since two-thirds of the budget goes to police and fire. “Not without seriously compromising the safety services,” he said.

As a life-long volunteer, Gardner says the city should take a somewhat different approach. She suggests that the city cuts its budget to vital services, and beyond that, call on volunteers to help. She says volunteers could definitely help with things that are currently costing the city a lot of money, like taking care of city parks, drug education in schools and paying consultants to create a myriad of plans that are never even implemented.

“My God, I’ve been volunteering for years,” she said. “Sometimes you have to help your fellow man.”

Instead of constantly planning and grumbling about nothing getting done, Gardner says council members should take a little more active approach. If elected, she says she plans to simply call companies that run the type of businesses Oak Harbor needs and ask them to consider a move to the city. For example, she says the city needs an “upscale steak and spirit restaurant.”

In addition, Gardner suggests that the city is “a little top-heavy with administration.” The city is one of the few or only strong-mayor municipalities in the state with an administrative redundancy of a paid mayor, a city supervisor position and a human resources director. Cutting one of these position could save the city a six-figure salary.

Gardner and Davis disagree about the role of the city council when it comes to taxes. While neither want to see taxes increase, Davis says city government is a representative democracy and elected officials have to be willing to make the tough decisions. After all, he points out that it’s the city council members’ job to be knowledgeable and educated about the issues and all the complications.

Gardner, on the other hand, said voters should vote on tax increases. She said voters can be educated and they should decide for themselves whether they want services cut or taxes increased.

Davis and Gardner both offer mild criticism of Cohen’s restructuring of city government, which has resulted in former Police Chief Tony Barge being fired and former City Planner Tom Burdett quitting.

Davis said the restructuring was needed, but he doesn’t agree with all the staffing changes. “Some I agree with, some I don’t,” he said.

Gardner said Cohen was wrong to get rid of Barge, who she said did a great job for the city. She also questions whether the consolidation of the planning and engineering into the new development services department really accomplished anything.

“It may seem like a good idea, but did it save any money?” she asked. “Or did the money just get shuffled around?”

You can reach features editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.