Opinion – Dave Hatter: Mayor endorses re-election of all six incumbent Fort Wright city council members


I’ve had the privilege and the pleasure of serving as Mayor of my hometown, Fort Wright, for the past 10 years, and prior to that, 16 years on City Council. As we close in on Election Day, November 5th, I am humbly asking you to re-elect all six incumbent Fort Wright City Council members: Jay Weber, Margie Witt, Dave Abeln, Bernie Wessels, Scott Wall, and Jason Collins.

Like me, several of them grew up here, and all of them chose to raise their families here. Like me, they have a vested interest in the success of our community due to decades long family and community roots. The current members of the City Council are servant leaders deeply committed to our community, and it’s demonstrated in their voting records. They will stay the course that has made Fort Wright a great place to live, work, play, and visit for everyone for decades.

Additionally, the incumbent Council members are endorsed by former Fort Wright Mayors Joe Nienaber, Jr., Joe Nienaber, Sr., and Tom Litzler as well as Kenton County Judge Executive Kris Knochelmann. These distinguished community leaders understand and appreciate the great work being done by this team on behalf of our community.

Mayor Dave Hatter

I’ve had the opportunity to work with the incumbent Council members in a variety of contexts throughout our community over many years. Let me tell you a little bit about each of them:

• Jay Weber: A successful businessperson who raised his family here and has lived in the city for more than 50 years. He’s served on Council for five years.

• Dave Abeln: Like me, Dave grew up in Fort Wright. He’s an engineer and president of a local manufacturing company. Dave raised his family here, has lived here for more than 50 years, and has served on Council for 12 years.

• Margie Witt: Owns of a landscaping business and has lived here for about 25 years. Her husband Mike is a Fort Wright native, and they raised their family here. She’s served on Council for 7 years.

• Bernie Wessels: A successful business owner whose business is in Fort Wright. Bernie has lived here for over 35 years, and he raised his family here. He’s served on Council for 16 years.

• Jason Collins: Works in insurance for a business located in Fort Wright. He raised his family here and has lived here for more than 20 years. Jason has served on Council for 2 years.

• Scott Wall: Works in sales and grew up in Fort Wright. His father is a former Council member. Scott raised his family here, has lived here for more than 60 years and has served on Council for 17 years.

YOUR Council team brings enormous business and government experience, honesty, integrity and vision to the table. When you include me, we have more than 300 years of Fort Wright residency and nearly 80 years’ collective service on City Council.

This team of servant leaders deeply understand our community and they fully understand and demonstrate our community values. You don’t have to trust their promises, you can review their voting record. They are committed to an honest, transparent, ethical government. Fort Wright is a Kentucky League of Cities Certified City of Ethics; one of less than fifty cities statewide out of roughly four hundred cities. Additionally, you can view every financial transaction on our Financial Transparency Portal.

The City is in the best financial condition ever despite crushing inflation, expansion of services and significant tax rate reductions over time, including a 13% reduction this year which puts us at the lowest property tax rate since 2009!

Fort Wright has some of the lowest property tax rates in Kenton County, and the lowest payroll (income) tax rate in Kenton County. We have aggressively pursued grants producing about 5 million dollars over the last 10 years, implemented a prudent investment plan that protects our initial investment while generating significant additional revenue to offset taxes and we’ve added franchise fees to level the playing field for organizations using our rights-of-way while generating significant new revenue.

We continue to come in under budget year after year, and despite that, we’ve built sufficient reserves to run the City for a year with no income. We continue to be debt free, and we have a Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). Thanks to the CIP, we pay cash for large capital items like the street program, the new pumper truck, the new ambulance, two new police cruisers each year, the new dump truck, and the new backhoe. Our financial audits are spotless, and you can review our entire budget on our website. I strongly encourage you to check out the budgets, the audits and the Financial Transparency Portal. It’s your money after all.

Despite low taxes and a focus on allowing residents to keep as much of their own money as possible, Council continues to make significant investments in infrastructure and equipment that improves safety, increases property values and improves the community. Examples include upgrades to the South Hills Civic Club, a rolling five-year Street program that has seen more than $12,000,000 in street and sidewalk improvements over the last 20 years (about $650,000 per year on average), upgrades to Volunteer Park, and other upgrades planned including sidewalk improvements to make the city more walkable. This also includes significant investments in Staff; we’ve added positions in the Police Department and the Fire Department and continue to adjust pay and benefits in alignment with our neighboring cities to ensure that we can attract and retain the best employees to serve you. You can view a comprehensive list of recent accomplishments and enhancements here.

But don’t take my word for it, Smart Asset recently ranked us as the number six suburb in a large U.S. metropolitan area based on affordability, jobs, and livability which further validates Council’s work.

Your Council team is smart, responsive, cohesive, and dedicated to the long-term success of our community. We work very well together, and we will continue to ensure that Fort Wright is the best place to live, work, play and visit for everyone. They have done an amazing job for you, and they deserve to be re-elected.

I’m proud to serve with this team and to call these folks my friends. I humbly ask you to vote to re-elect all six incumbents: Jay Weber, Dave Abeln, Margie Witt, Scott Wall, Bernie Wessels, and Jason Collins to continue the good work on behalf of the awesome residents and businesses of Fort Wright.

Finally, thank you to my friends and neighbors for the privilege to serve as Mayor. God bless you and your family and be sure to vote on November 5th, 2024! To learn more about Fort Wright, watch our short video.

Dave Hatter is the 3rd-term Mayor of the City of Fort Wright, his hometown. He is also a Cybersecurity Consultant at Intrust IT.


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