To All My Neighbors and Friends,

Tomorrow, November 8th, marks the end of the current campaign and voters will go to the polls to decide who is best qualified to lead our City as the next Mayor of Alpharetta.

Leadership skills and the ability to build consensus amongst different points of view are important qualities that any leader must possess to be successful. I have demonstrated a cooperative spirit in reaching common goals as your City Councilman these past 10 years.

Further, it is important that our next Mayor possesses the necessary financial management skills to lead our City. Having the ability to manage our finances as a City is one of the most important skill sets our Mayor should have.

I am a Managing Partner, responsible for the Atlanta Office for Ryan LLC, an international corporate tax consulting firm. I have a degree in Accounting and I am a nationally certified tax professional. I deal with international, federal, state and local tax matters every day in my career.

As your Mayor, I am committed to managing our finances intently and I will insure we meet our obligations without raising taxes.

The next Mayor will have to manage our public employee pension fund and not let our commitment made to those professionals who serve us daily be diminished.

The next Mayor will need to manage our finances to meet the obligations in the near future to fund waste water infrastructure improvements and improvements to roadways/sidewalks due to our aging infrastructure.

I also believe the next Mayor should set a goal of paying down our debt service as a City and lead on making the pay down of our debt load a key focus in our annual budget process.

All of this should be done at no additional cost to the taxpayers; while maintaining the quality and level of services we provide as a City with your hard earned tax dollars.

Financial management experience is critical in order to manage the financial health of our City and to lead on managing every tax dollar in the most cost-effective way. I have the experience that will help maintain our Triple AAA bond rating as a City and our tax dollars will be managed effectively.

The next Mayor will have an awesome responsibility to keep our taxes low, will need to lead our City through one of the worst economic downturns in my lifetime and will need to keep our commitment to meeting our obligations and providing the level of services our citizens deserve.

I ask for your vote tomorrow and thank you for following my campaign.

Regards,

Douglas J. DeRito