Mayoral candidate Christian Price said he was asked: “Why do you want to run for mayor when everybody wants to leave this town?”

His opponent and City Councilman Carl Diedrich said he learned so much that “I didn’t know about myself by reading the Internet.”

Negative perception – something they both said they’re prepared to deal with if elected mayor.

The two candidates spoke to that issue and answered other questions from the public Saturday during the 2012 Candidate Debate hosted by InMaricopa, the Maricopa Monitor, and the Maricopa Women in Business.

More than 100 people attended the event, which included a city council candidate debate prior to the mayoral forum, in the governing board room of the Maricopa Unified School District.

Diedrich, who was elected to the city council in 2008, said he doesn’t have neighbors who hate Maricopa, and doesn’t understand the attacks on him or his family.

“The perception is caused by a small group of people who have nothing better to do than attack the place where they live,” he said. “We will fight that perception.”

Price, who is a financial planner and business owner, said that for others to invest in Maricopa, “We have to invest in ourselves.”

Questions put to the candidates during the debate ranged from how to help the small-business community to how to make city hall more business friendly, and from giving city employees merit pay raises to how influential is the mayor.

When asked what he would do to stimulate small-business growth, Diedrich said he wants to incentivize small businesses generating revenue for the city through the 2 percent sales tax. He said for businesses who want to expand and create jobs, the sales tax could be offset.

Price said the city needs to streamline internal processes to make it easier for businesses. “There is the perception in the development world we are not easy to do business with,” he said.

When asked what city leaders can do to make Maricopa an attractive place to live for people commuting to the Valley and facing $4 a gallon for gas, Price pointed out that his own car burns natural gas instead of gasoline and he would like to see the city fleet converted to natural gas, which costs $1.10 a gallon.

Diedrich said people need to realize that the process of making Maricopa attractive started a long time ago and has continued since the city incorporated.

“Everything takes time,” he said. “We are not going to have a 500-job factory in our lap. This is an affordable city and it’s a great place to live.”

When asked what the city can do to create a more business-friendly atmosphere, Diedrich said it needs to be less about bringing 12 people from the city around a table talking to a business prospect about what impediments the person faces.

“We need a ‘Yes’ approach to get business open,” he said.

Price answered that the business side of running the city is the most interesting.

"One of the things I bring to the table is my ability to network,” he said. He said he would make sure he met with such people as developers.

A priority in getting the city moving forward, Diedrich said, is to make sure the community is connected to the projects.

“When I talk to the community, they are not aware of everything that is going on,” he said, referring to projects that have broken ground like the Central Arizona College campus and the Banner Health Center. “Things are moving and we are in financial position to make sure it happens.”

Price said such projects as the planned multigenerational recreation and aquatic center are too “nebulous” to the public. “We need to focus on given projects step by step,” he said.

The city recently approved immediate 2.5 percent pay raises for the city’s police officers, and Price and Diedrich were asked to discuss raises for other city staffers.

Price said he was exceptionally pleased with the police department since Chief Steven Stahl took over. “I think we absolutely should.”

Diedrich said, “I absolutely agree with the decision that we made, and wish we could have given more.”

However, he said, the city can’t arbitrarily give raises and they should be compared with salaries of other municipalities in the state.

When it comes to the mayor’s leadership role, Diedrich said when he goes to a council meeting, he attends with the mindset that his mind can be changed or someone else’s mind can be changed.

As mayor, he said, he would have more of a voice, but still represent all the people.

Price said besides serving with the council, the mayor also is CEO and has a role to play.

“More than anything they should give 200 percent and have no more sway than another council members,” he said.

Diedrich told the audience that the city’s strategic plan includes strategies for the next three years, and asked his opponent to name two or three strategies he disagreed with and how he would change them.

“That document is constantly changing and I want to find those things we have done that are too nebulous and bring them down,” Price said.

He pointed out that the city’s new finance director said Maricopa will be broke in less than six years if it doesn’t change course.

Diedrich said he sees it not as a cutting situation, but as a revenue-generation problem.

“We need to allow businesses to grow to increase the tax base,” he said. “The larger the tax base, the less to worry about revenues.”

Price said the city needs to go to a zero-based budget. “When you start at the beginning of every single year, every single dollar and cost has to be justified instead of coming this year with exactly what you had last year.”

During his closing remarks, Diedrich refuted Price, and said the last budget the city did was a zero-based budget.

“It is essential that we start this way and do it again,” he said “For the first time we went line by line as a council as a group.”

He said they cut $23,000 in office expenses that weren’t necessary. He said the city has half the money in its budget it did four years ago, but all the street lights work, there are no pot holes and residents have recreation programs.

Price asked Diedrich why he did not attend regional economic summit meetings.

Diedrich said he went to other meetings and was not needed in economic summit meetings. He said he was active with local community members, the food bank and businesses coming into city.

In his closing remarks, Price thanked Diedrich for his service to the city, but said he hoped during the forum they had drawn some distinctions between themselves.

Price said the city has to look at cost versus value: “We have to prioritize, and that’s where I excel.”

In closing, Diedrich said when he moved to Maricopa in 2004, he had never imagined living in a brand new house, or living in a community with so much happening.

“To say we are not doing things and not moving forward is not true,” he said.