Denton city leaders should rein in spending and focus more on basic services, several candidates for City Council said Wednesday during their first forum of the 2009 election season.

“The city government continues to spend money without any concern for what’s going on in the country,” said District 2 candidate Michael Roby, 36, an information technology manager, one of several candidates to strike a conservative tone on spending.

“There is a dire need to get back to controlling our spending,” agreed District 3 hopeful Hatice I. Salih, 51, a Denton business owner. “The taxpayers can no longer afford to be burdened with all types of expenditures.”

Ten candidates answered questions over lunch at El Guapo’s in a forum sponsored by the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas. Voters will decide all four district seats on the seven-member council May 9.

Moderator Kathy Carlton, the association’s government affairs director, questioned the candidates on property maintenance codes, trash pickup and economic development, but fiscal responsibility emerged as a common theme in many responses.

The city budget — $461.5 million this fiscal year — has increased by nearly 20 percent since fiscal 2007. The general fund, which excludes utilities, is expected to account for more than $89 million in spending this year, up about 17 percent from the budgeted amount two years ago.

Assistant City Manager Jon Fortune said various factors played a role in the spending increase, including the increased cost of purchasing electric power, increased debt payments related to the 2005 bond program and other drainage projects, and new jobs created to serve a rapidly growing population.

“There’s no one reason for it,” Fortune said in an interview. “It’s a culmination of everything.”

But some, including District 2 candidate Roger Strahan, said they believe residents and business owners are bearing too heavy a load. Strahan, 60, a real estate appraiser, is one of three candidates for the seat Rudy Moreno is vacating.

District 1 candidate Bob Clifton, 68, a self-employed businessman, agreed, calling for an end to “needless” spending, “senseless” taxation and “oppressive” fees.

The recession already has forced city officials to alter some plans, including shelving a downtown tax district proposal and pushing a bond sale and bond election from 2009 to 2010. They could be forced to tighten the belt more in the next budget year, depending on property values. The Central Appraisal District releases preliminary appraised values in May.

Property values rose much less than expected last year, causing city budget planners to slash their growth projections for 2009 and 2010. The city planned to use roughly $4 million from reserves this budget year to help make up for slow growth in property and sales tax revenue and to support new spending.

Also during the forum, several candidates said they would not support a rental registration and inspection program as part of the city’s ongoing overhaul of its property maintenance rules. City staff members have said a registration and inspection program could be a helpful tool in protecting tenants from run-down housing, but they have not yet made a formal proposal.

Many property managers strongly oppose such a program and the related fees, arguing that Denton — a college town — has too many rental properties and too few inspectors to make it work. Salih, Clifton and Strahan said outright that they would not support the program for those reasons.

Others raised doubts about the program but said they wanted more information. Falling into this category were District 2 candidates Roby and Dalton Gregory, 57, a retired school principal, and District 3 candidates Jim Engelbrecht, 61, a marketing specialist, and Sam Casey, 21, a college student.

Three candidates did not explicitly state an opinion: Amy Manuel, 44, a computer analyst running in District 3; District 1 incumbent Charlye Heggins, 75, a retired nutrition coordinator; and District 4 incumbent Chris Watts, 47, a lawyer and real estate investor.

Watts, the chairman of the council’s property maintenance committee, and Heggins both seemed to downplay the odds of the program becoming reality.

“It has not been a law that we’re going to do that,” Heggins said.

“Well, we want to talk about it before it becomes a law,” responded Carlton, of the apartment association.

Most of the candidates expressed a willingness to explore opening the city’s commercial trash collection to competition, reflecting frustration from apartment owners who believe city service is poor or expensive.

Not present for the forum were District 1 candidate Eliborio “Eli Gemini” Beltran, 42, a freelance journalist; District 3 candidate Andrew “Teets” Teeter, 21, a college student and substitute teacher; and District 4 write-in candidate Phil Kregel, 24, a substitute teacher.

Carlton said the association would announce endorsements and contributions in the coming weeks.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .