GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The 2023 spring election is right around the corner.
The two candidates running for Outagamie County executive squared off in a debate Monday morning, just two weeks before voters hit the polls.
Current Outagamie county executive, Tom Nelson, is seeking a fourth consecutive four-year term in office.
He is being challenged by former county board member Kevin Sturn.
Both candidates gathered in Grand Chute for a live forum, which turned into a passionate debate.
The forum held at Fox Cities Stadium gave both candidates, Tom Nelson and Kevin Sturn, a chance to answer questions regarding their plans for the future of Outagamie County.
“I’m really here because I want to give back to this community,” said Sturn.
Both were no strangers to criticism when talking about one another.
“It doesn’t matter to me if Tom wants to seek other political offices, that’s his prerogative,” said Sturn. “But he needs to do his job first and if he wants to seek another office, he should do it on his dime. Not the tax payers.”
“When Kevin talks about the budget and things he disagrees with, he was there for eight years, that’s eight budgets and he voted for every single one of them,” said Nelson. “Four of which he was finance chair, and so not only did he vote for these budgets, but he took the budget I wrote and kept about 99.5% in-tact so thank you.”
Nelson believes one of the biggest success stories Outagamie County has is Appleton’s airport.
“When I started, it was a sleepy, county, regional airport,” said Nelson. “It was doing well in terms of economic development, but in that time in the last 12 years, we’ve been able to double the economic activity.”
But Sturn criticized Nelson saying the airport didn’t get some federal funding, and that it was going to be a problem.
“And we didn’t hear Thomas talk anything about how we’re going to solve that problem, and that’s what I think you need to do, you need to be honest with people, you need to tell people what’s going on so they can make their own decisions,” said Sturn.
The candidates also debated on how keeping property taxes comparably low while developing budgets.
“I’m going to go right back to the plan that I initiated, that the board passed and the board overrode Thomas’s veto that’s been proven successful for three years,” said Sturn. “This plan allows us to reduce property taxes, reduce debt.”
“We’ve had a declining tax rate for over eight years, I believe when it comes to priorities and picking and choosing,” said Nelson. “The state of the finances of the state of Wisconsin are strong enough and has enough funding left over without raising taxes to be able to cover these needs in Outagamie County.”
Sturn and Nelson advanced to the general election from February’s three-way primary.
Nelson got 50% of the vote.
Sturn received 30%.
The spring election will be held Tuesday, April 4.
