After watching this year’s presidential race, the term “fact-checking” has become part of our vocabulary.   This is due to the candidates making so many claims that they represent as being the truth that we have to find resources to verify their validity.

Recently, Dr. Trey Lott put out a flyer outlining his “experience” as a candidate, and giving eight reason as to why the voters in Hoover should cast their ballot for him over the other candidate in City Council race for Place 1.

So let’s go through these eight items one by one.

1.  Dr. Lott supports the city and the school system.  You can do both. Is he telling us that you can do both, or is he trying to convince himself?  All of us who were candidates supported both.  Dr. Lott, though, supported a “balanced budget” and felt that giving to the schools would spoil that.  Now he’s had a change of heart.  Probably because he saw that the people of Hoover want  pro-adequate school funding city government.  But this is one of those times were actions speak louder than words.  Dr. Lott may “support” the schools with his words, but he didn’t support them during his tenure as council member from 2004-2015.  He was a member of the council that voted to reduce school funding by a drastic amount, causing the school’s deficit.    Until 2004, when Dr. Lott was elected, City of Hoover (COH) gave Hoover City Schools (HCS) 16% of the total sales tax revenue.   Beginning in Fiscal Year (FY) 2005, Dr. Lott’s voted on a budget that no longer included the 16% sales tax revenue for the schools.  The funding went from almost 10% of the Total City Revenue to just over 2%.  That percentage remained the same until his departure in 2015.

   

2. Dr. Lott demands fiscal responsibility from the city and schools.  This is confusing.  First of all, everyone who is concerned about a city’s budget and fiscal well being  would demand fiscal responsibility, so that’s a given.  But Dr. Lott didn’t seem to demand it while he was on the council, since Hoover City Schools, in the then mayor and council’s own words “Spent money like a drunken sailor” and never had a balanced budget.  So he really didn’t “demand” it.   But, to be honest, he could demand it all day long and it wouldn’t matter, since the council can’t interfere with the school system.
3. Dr. Lott has over 30 years experience as a business owner and knows the importance of balanced budgets.  Hoover had a balanced budget every year he was on the council.  We find this to be true.  With a caveat.  In 1987, when Hoover City Schools was first created by the city, they city earmarked 30% of the total sales tax revenue for the schools.  That amount was decreased to 16% prior to Dr. Lott taking office in 2004.   Hoover City Schools could have had a balanced budget had the funding promised by the city been kept in place.  They used money that should have gone to the schools for other city expenditures.
4. Dr. Lott has committed to work with Mayor Brocato to help him find additional money for Hoover Schools long term funding needs and he will do it without hurting the police and fire departments, senior citizen outreach, public works, or park and recreation department.  Hoover didn’t have a problem with funding the schools until Dr. Lott became a city council member in 2004.  For over 17 years the sales tax funding model worked, and allowed the city to fund schools AND the other items listed by Dr. Lott.  Dr. Lott, or any other council member, won’t have to look hard to find the additional money.
5. Dr. Lott has never voted for a tax increase and never will without a citywide vote to approve the increase.  We find this to be a true statement, provided he sticks to the portion of requiring a vote prior to approving the increase.
6. Dr. Lott put his family first and moved out of the city for 15 months resulting in his son being accepted to Yale University.  He knows the importance of family and will put your family first as well.  He just doesn’t know the importance of commitment, and the one he made to the people of Hoover when he decided to run for council in 2012.  Dr. Lott’s children never attended Hoover City Schools like many of our children.  We realize the importance of Hoover City Schools to our family.  If he truly put our family first, then he would have never voted to decrease funding to Hoover City Schools.
7. Dr. Lott has a successful practice where he has to listen, care, use wisdom and discernment, and always tell the truth.  He has always acted the same way as a councilmen (sic) and always will.  First, always proofread your statements.  Not adequately funding Hoover City Schools was not using wisdom, and was not using discernment.  Please see our post on Wisdom and Discernment.
8. Experience running a city matters.  Experience managing a budget close to $150 million matters.   Experience making tough decisions matters.  Experience making the right decisions matters.  Dr. Lott is the only candidate with the experience to lead the city.   Seems his “experience” is how we got into this mess with school funding in the first place.

When we look at the eight items, we find flaws with almost all of them.

The 2016 City of Hoover Municipal election was one of the most heavily contested since 2004.  Every Place on the Council was challenged, and the mayoral race consisted of 3 candidates, including incumbent Mayor Gary Ivey.  The resounding theme during the campaign was “adequate school funding”.  The people of Hoover were tired of the “experience” that they had gone through in the previous 12 years and made their feelings known at the polls.

Experience may matter in certain fields.  But sometimes experience is not a positive one.  In this case, we need a different experience than what Dr. Lott has shown since 2004.