You can visit Jeremy Matlow’s campaign website HERE. On his website you can find various tabs ranging from “internship” where College neighbors can work on his campaign, “Meet Jeremy” where we can read about Jeremy Matlow, “Events” page, and “issues” page where Jeremy discusses what he identifies as the issues in Tallahassee. We encourage all our neighbors to view his website to learn more about him.
Where are you from and how do you feel that impacts or influences your decision to run?
I’ve lived in Tallahassee since I was three years old and was raised on the Southside of Tallahassee. Seeing the lack of infrastructure investment in my old neighborhoods greatly influenced my decision to run.
Will you raise property taxes? Should an issue arise where an increase in property taxes is suggested by staff, how would you insulate the taxpaying neighbors from excessive tax burden as a result? What measures would you take to independently understand the proposition, versus policy alternatives?
The City of Tallahassee currently has more than enough resources to meet the demand for services in our city. The issue we see most is wasteful spending, developer subsidies and other insider contracts that would be best managed in-house. Every year, I recommend cuts to the budget that would keep the tax burden low.
There has been much public question about the city’s response to the county wanting to see the fire fund spending. How transparent do you feel that should be and given the questions remaining about whether station 17 has already been funded in previous years or why the city said the fund is short, would you call for an independent audit of the department and the fire fee funds?
Yes, I think an Independent audit is needed as well as direct comparisons with other departments around the state. In my view, the City should continue to provide fire services for the region.
What is something your opponent(s) have suggested that you don’t agree with but if you were elected into office you would be willing to make a good faith effort to explore feasibility and possible outcomes?
At this time, I haven’t seen suggestions from my opponents. As their campaigns develop, I look forward to finding common ground on ideas to improve our city.
Will you do a public audit of all tax dollars? If not, why? If so, will you open the books for public oversight?
Yes. The books are currently open for review, but not organized in a way that makes it easy for the public to track how money is being spent. I recommend going through a zero-based budget exercise to reprioritize our spending,
Is part of your spending strategy to sell more city property and assets? Or do you plan to make our city assets profitable for the taxpayers rather than individual pockets?
I’m a firm believer in protecting public assets and property. Public land should be used for the public good.
Do you feel the FSU purchase of TMH has been a transparent process? If not, how would you remedy that moving forward?
It has not been. All new big ideas in our city should start in a public forum, at a City Commission meeting so the public can track the entire decision making process. This is the intent of the Florida Sunshine Law and in Tallahassee we have fallen short.
Where do you think the weak part in communication with other commissioners is when discussing public business in the sunshine? What do you suggest to fix it?
We need a City Manager that recognizes public business is to be done in the sunshine and lets Commissioners know to bring their business to the City Commission and not facilitate backroom deals.
What is your vision for Tallahassee and the future of it?
Tallahassee can be the next great southern city where the needs of the people and our neighborhoods set the priorities for the future. We stop destructive urban sprawl, recruit industry, make housing more affordable, jump start arts and culture and restore trust in the decision making process at City Hall.
Should a vacancy occur in the post of city manager, would you prioritize hiring someone who has experience and insight from within Tallahassee’s government, or do a more prolonged recruitment process to bring in someone who might offer a clean slate?
We need a national search for a professional that can come in and fix our broken system.
What will your mandate be if voters choose you? What do you want voters to see accomplished before the 2028 elections?
A change in city management, increased wages for low wage city employees, childcare in city facilities, 500 municipal housing units, a protected tree canopy and more live music, arts and cultural outings.
Do you plan to expand constituents’ ability to provide feedback to city projects and services? How will you collect this data and what will you use it for?
We need to expand the notice radius for new development and projects and have better ways to take feedback through social media, text message surveys and within utility bills.
Say one good thing about your opponents.
My opponents are all successful individuals in their own right and I look forward to hearing the ideas they add to the conversation.
What is something that your neighbors can’t find about you through a simple Google search but that you would like them to know about you?
In the fourth grade I was the inaugural President of the Students Online Club at Oak Ridge Elementary.
