Incumbent David Hastings Priority to Balance Budget

Name: David Hastings

Ward: Council Member for Ward 1

Opponent: Dan Liedtke

Occupation: CPA (Since 1974)

Education:

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Virginia Commonwealth University
• Completed two of three years of the Master’s Program at Virginia Commonwealth University

Incumbent David Hastings has been part of the Gulfport community since 1999. Hastings is a local business owner, cancer awareness advocate and is involved in volunteering.

Hastings believes he's helping make tough decisions during difficult economic times, and he wants to continue to provide his expertise and passion to improve the city.

“I just want to see if I can help the city. I run a successful business, the city is a business and if I can help, so be it. The city is like all other cities, we’ve been through some tough times.”

Setting Priorities for Gulfport

Hastings' first priority is to balance the city budget. He wants to keep all the services that the city has to offer without "losing anything."

"We have another budget year coming up, and I'm hearing that it (isn't) going to be any better than the year before. So we're gonna be facing some other tough  decisions. I don't know what's going to happen until we see how bad it is."

Hastings stands by his decision to outsource the Gulfport Police dispatch. "The police chief has said the transition has been seamless. That’s going to save us $300,000 a year."

"We still have our police department."

Hastings says financial decisions, such as outsourcing dispatch services, could in fact be saving the department in the future. It may ensure that there is enough money to pay for the department, even if the economy worsens.

Hastings also supports red light cameras at three of Gulfport's intersections and wants to keep the program going.

"Adding the red light cameras has added $100,000 in revenues that we otherwise" would not have.

"According to the police chief, it’s decreased accidents, it seems like a win-win situation."

Hastings believes the council and city manager will have to look closely at next year's budget and find out if there are "ways to cut the fat."

“I'm not going to dip into the city’s savings account.” 

“We are trying to be a full service city: fire, police, senior center, schools, rec center, library . . . everything. When real estate values go down, the tax base of the city goes down."

Difficult budget decisions were made in 2011. He expects to make more tough decisions this year.

“I would not have done anything differently, knowing what I knew then and even knowing what I know now, it was the right thing to do,” Hastings said.

Curb appeal, neighborhood involvement

Hastings is supporting a series of ordinances aimed at improving the city's "curb appeal."

Hastings wants "people to ride by and say: 'It’s a nice yard.' That’s not to say that I don’t dislike different colors or creativity. I just don’t like to see rundown stuff."

Hastings is passionate about neighborhood involvement and volunteering. In addition to helping at every neighborhood and city-sponsored cleanup, Hastings is a Senior Advocate for the Oral Cancer Foundation and organizes free oral cancer screenings annually in Gulfport.

FEMA Maps and cost reductions

Hastings is focused on balancing the budget but he also is looking toward finalizing FEMA re-zoning in Gulfport. Hastings says he's helped the city move forward with challenging the re-zoning map that FEMA put together years ago. He says the resolution from the challenge should take place sometime this month, and he believes it will save homeowners about $4 million dollars a year in insurance coverage, once the new maps are in place.

For more information

David Hastings' Campaign Manager is Gina Burke. For more information, check out his campaign website at www.davidhastings4gulfportcitycouncil.com. You can contact Hastings at his office: (727) 322-0909 Cell: (727) 434-0074 or via email at hastings4citycouncil@gmail.com.

The citywide vote is Tuesday, March 13. For more information about the municipal elections, refer to the the city's website.

Gulfport Patch has a Ward Map with this story.