Barrow: Proud of Our Accomplishments for Four Years as Mayor

In an interview with the Central City News, Central Mayor David Barrow was philosophical.  “People turned out and voted, and you always have to respect that. I’m proud of my 12-1/2 years of service to the people of Central — 12-1/2 of the 15 years the city has been fully operational.  After 12-1/2 years, I was a little burned out but I was still available. I ran primarily because of the people who asked me to.”

The mayor said he has earned full retirement from the state, and he will find something he likes to do.  When asked what he was proudest of during his four years as mayor, Barrow listed several things:

• City Hall – Purchase of 9 acres for new Central City Hall

•Transparency – “We put everything on the city website so it would be accessible to everyone.”

•Communication – “We let people know what was happening.”

•Controlled growth – “The people wanted natural growth, not forced growth, and that’s what we provided.  We approved only one new subdivision with a total of 50 homesites.  Big developments approved in the past came back for revisions to their plans, and we reduced the number of homes in those developments.  Four years ago, people were concerned with uncontrolled growth.  We have taken the city back to natural growth.”

•Fiscal responsibility – “All of our mayors have been conservative with our tax dollars, and I have continued that.  The only time we have dipped into our surplus was for big drainage projects.”

• Leaving a legacy – “The new mayor will inherit a very strong financial situation.  We are in a very good position.  This reflects on all previous mayors and city councils of Central.  We have been very careful of taxpayers’ money.”

As of June 30, 2022, the city has unrestricted funds of $14 million, not $64 million as some have claimed, he said.

Mayor Barrow said the City of Central also has $7 million on hand as an Emergency Fund, enough to run the city for one full year without revenue in case of an extreme catastrophe.

The dedicated funds include:

•Sullivan Road from Wax to Hooper – $14 million

The mayor said the city has $10 million in other projects on the books.

“It must be remembered that the various projects the city considers all have to be funded.  You have to save money in order to have the money for those projects.  One project can wipe out everything.”

One good thing, the mayor pointed out, is that city revenues have been growing. The period 2019 to 2022 has seen revenue grow by $2 million.  General sales taxes are up, and online sales taxes have contributed a lot, he said.

Mayor Barrow said he is looking forward to the transition and to deciding on some new directions in life.