Dale Sprague
For an At-Large seat: Dale Sprague (Incumbent)
Age: 46
Occupation: Self-employed as a real estate broker and excavation and building contractor
Years living in Somersworth: Lifelong resident
Prior public service experience: City councilor (six years) and serving also as state representative for Somersworth and Rollinsford (fourth term).
The last two years have seen the completion of the large downtown road, sidewalk, and infrastructure project, as well as the passage of an ordinance that requires landlords to clean up their property. In the next two years, what do you think is the most important think the council can do to build and support vitality in downtown?
I have said from day one that just by putting down new sidewalks with fancy curbs, hot top paving, bright line stripping, fancy new lights, and landscaping isn’t going to change our downtown business climate overnight, but it’s a start. It’s a start in the right direction, and now is when hard the work starts for us all. The city council has stepped up and showed the downtown that we we’re willing to make a huge capital investment in that area because we believe in it, and that developers should take notice. We need to continue with the momentum we created and help spawn the growth of that area by starting a TIF (tax incentive fund) district which will help property owners in that area feel that by investing in improving their property appearance will also help benefit the area as a whole. Development of the city plaza with a private/public partnership, and also the formation of a Tri-City transportation hub to join the three downtowns together, instead of paying out of our respective budgets for a bus service to take people out of our communities so they can spend elsewhere are two ideas that I will be making my top priorities in my next term if re-elected. We need to help consumers have a reason to want to come to our downtown and spend money. This can be accomplished.
What should the city’s priorities be for future capital improvement projects in the community?
In my opinion, our roads and water/sewer infrastructure in so many parts of the city have been ignored for so long in years past that it is vital we give serious attention to the information we received from a road maintenance program we just invested in and start moving towards getting ourselves on track to realize future stability on this topic. Currently, against my wishes, we have hovered around only putting between $250,000 to $350,000 yearly in our budget for road maintenance. In actuality, the study revealed that with modern-day prices and current conditions of our roads, that we are a $1.25 million dollar-a-year community. The longer you let things go unattended to, the more it will cost you to repair in the future. With the cost of services the city redeems for our roads escalating quicker than we invest in them, we are putting our future position into a very dangerous area.
Would you be willing to support a tax cap override while developing city budgets? Why or why not?
I am the only incumbent currently running for a city council seat, that also includes any ward candidate, that did not vote to override the tax cap in last year’s budget vote. I would support a tax cap override, but not until all options have been exhausted and it would have to be an obvious situation in my thought process of putting our community backwards as far as public safety or services.
How can officials best address the opioid addiction epidemic that’s effecting the city and the region?
Money. We need funding. We need more boots on the ground that can help fight the root the issue, which is (drug) dealers. We need to put pressure on the judicial system to be harder on dealers and not lighten up on the penalties they receive just because they are also addicted. The way we are currently approaching the problem is not working.
What is the most recent cultural event you attended in Somersworth?
Pumpkin Festival on Oct. 10 and the Senior Picnic on Oct. 15. I try to make as many community events as possible while juggling the state-wide events I need to attend also.
What are the most important issues facing the city that no one is talking about right now?
The most important issue facing Somersworth in the next few years will be our lack of funding resources to accommodate our infrastructure and growth needs. There are three ways to pay for needs. You can either increase rate of taxes, increase the amount of people paying taxes, or work hard to find alternative funding sources that are not currently a part of the income stream. In order to increase the amount of taxpayers, we need to be development friendly towards some projects that can (increase our) tax base and not adversely strain of cost of services to the community — i.e., schools, police, fire or sewer plant. Finding other ways of funding will force this city to be a little different in the way we conduct our business. Some private/public partnerships to take care of some of the infrastructure needs will more than likely have to be on our horizon.