All seven candidates for the Canal Winchester City Council were hosted at Meet the Candidates night by the Canal Winchester Chamber on Oct. 16 at BrewDog.

Voters were invited to submit questions before the Oct. 16 event and the chamber then chose the top questions to ask. All candidates were present for the event. Each candidate had two or three minutes to answer the question.

Video responses answer the following question:

What kind of development do you feel is appropriate for Canal Winchester? How would you guide the growth, so it supports our economy and provides services for our residents and businesses of varying backgrounds? Certain developments and projects may cause division among the community; how would you handle that?

The next question centered around the movement in Ohio to abolish property taxes, what would candidates do to ensure the city retain its budget.

Most of the candidates agreed that change was in the future, but the general consensus was that Canal Winchester has a plan and is already set up for success.

“For the most part the city will just run as it has been…I don’t think we, as a city, will feel much of a loss. But the school district will,” Shane Finkle said.

“All (this) will do is increase income or sales tax, I don’t believe in that. I want people to take as much as they can home from their paychecks,” David Payne said.

“I don’t like property taxes, so I understand why people want to abolish them, but I like it when an ambulance shows up because I’ve called an am having chest pain,” Patrick Shea said.

“Property taxes only account for four percent of our budget. I think with the growth we’re anticipating, it would equal out any property tax loss,” Chuck Milliken said.

Candidate Hanna Ditwiler voiced that conversations would need to be had with representatives and legislature for solutions.

Candidate James Holter said the budget would need to be addressed, “we’re going to have to look at expenditures.”

“I think it would be devastating to our school system,” candidate Laurie Amick said.

One of the last questions related to the charter amendments where salary increases were recommended for the Canal Winchester Mayor and council positions.

Most of the candidates shared that they do not do public service for compensation.

“Public service should never be about the money but its important people are compensated.” candidate Hanna Ditwiler said. She encouraged votes to visit the Canal Winchester website to read the amendments stating, “the people will have the final say.”

Most of the candidates did support a salary increase for the mayor.

Another question asked candidates was if they supported the surveillance of citizens with the increase in FLOC cameras.

If you would like to watch the complete night, the Canal Winchester Chamber has the video available on their YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/Tu0HLOe9LCM?si=HxCJqQETLj7OEdNj