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MANASSAS PARK, Va. - With three seats up for grabs on the Manassas Park Council, a top priority along all the candidates and even for the incumbent mayor is the city's economy.

During tough economic times, Manassas Park is no stranger to the crisis. 85% of the properties sold there between January and June involved some type of foreclosure. With many residents struggling to make ends meet, city council incumbent Keith Miller believes the city can provide some relief. He says creating new opportunities for businesses could help ease residential property taxes. He points to the new downtown center. "With occupancy expected in November, with that it would help reduce the tax burden on our citizens by increasing the real estate taxes with the commercial businesses," said Miller.

Bill Treuting, another incumbent agrees. He says homeowners are the ones paying the majority of the taxes and the new development should be a focus for incoming council members. "It's a matter of continuing the expansion and the improvements we have done while trying to face the economic reality of the changing time that we're in," said Treuting.

Incumbent Mayor Frank Jones is running unopposed and says addressing the economic downturn is at the top of his agenda. "To continue to hold the meetings that bring the developers in and bring the retail footprint into the city will be the first priority there," said Jones.

Current Vice-Mayor Bryan Polk also wants to encourage development and focus on the economy. He went into his campaign knowing his constituents wanted answers about a potential budget shortfall. "The first thing we need to do in the near year, how to we get out of that trough? How do we plan for next year and bring back some of those staff that we're not going to fill for the remainder of this year," asked Polk.

All the incumbents are running as Independents and hoping to be re-elected together. For the first time in 22 years, Democratic candidates like Peter Farrell are on the ballot and looking forward to change and growth. "I believe that this city can respond quickly and make it much more competitive to the larger jurisdictions and make it attractive to businesses that want to relocate or set up a new office."

Suhas Naddoni is a Democrat running unopposed to fill a vacant seat. "We need to ween away from the dependence of real estate property taxes. We have to promote Manassas Park as a destination for business," said Naddoni.

Republican Brian Leeper is the only Republican running for a seat on the council and wants to see the city's spending under control especially during the tough times. "The rec center - I'm not sure that we need it. It's $33 million. There's a freedom center which Manassas and Prince William County (web | news) are partners in," said Leeper.

"Traditionally, Manassas Park has had some of the lowest voter turnout in the state, but the city hopes to change that this year. For the first time, it moved the local elections to November 4.

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