In January, Greg Graves will no longer hold his seat on the Utah County Commission and it will go to either Tanner Ainge or Teri McCabe.

The Daily Herald Editorial Board had the opportunity to talk with both candidates about their stances, their motivations for running for office and their plans should they be elected.

Both have many united visions while they also differ on several issues. We urge you to read Katie England’s preview of the race online for more information.

After meeting with Ainge and McCabe, we believe that Tanner Ainge will best represent and best support Utah County as the next Utah County commissioner and endorse him in this race.

This was, as is the case in many elections, not an easy decision to make, as both candidates were well-prepared in speaking with us and very clearly knew the issues of the county.

Both understood well that growth is the hottest issue in Utah County and managing that comes with many intricacies and complexities that will need to be sorted out before long.

“There’s no question that west of Utah Lake, we need to start planning right away,” Ainge said in an editorial board meeting. “You look where all of the land available for development is, it’s out there.”

McCabe agreed, saying that the future needs to be focused on preparing for growth and adjusting infrastructure to support it.

One of the most striking differences between the two candidates was their expertise and understanding of the financial world.

The Utah County commissioners largely oversee the budget for county resources, which include the Sheriff’s Office and many other county services. We saw in August what happened when the budget was not balanced and needs were not met. Sheriff Jim Tracy resigned over a $1 million spending deficit the Sheriff’s Office incurred in medical bills. Tracy alleged that the commissioners were giving him the cold shoulder, though the $1 million was eventually granted to the Sheriff’s Office fund by transferring and allocating funds from other accounts.

Making that large of a transfer is not easy. We assume it’s not like digging the coins out of your couch cushions until you find enough to buy a candy bar. We assume a great deal of negotiating and fiscal awareness go into such large sum transfers.

Ainge has a background in venture capital and private equity. It was his job to dissect companies and budgets to help companies plan for the future. He also recently renewed his license to practice law with the Utah State Bar Association.

McCabe is a certified athletic trainer and said she’s excellent at managing people.

Ainge’s background and credentials instill greater trust in his financial savviness than does McCabe’s. We don’t doubt McCabe would be an empathetic and understanding commissioner who could instill commitment in county workers, and we hope to not imply anything demeaning or negative about McCabe’s chosen profession. Simply put, we haven’t seen a demonstrated understanding of budgets and audits from McCabe in the same way Ainge has.

Ainge also represents a subset of Utah County that has long been underrepresented in the County Commission. Ainge is from Alpine, and being in his mid-30s, can bring new perspective which he said will emphasize bolstered priorities for the county in terms of the growing tech industry of northern Utah County.

Ainge understands the necessity of public transportation to accommodate the rapid growth Utah County is expected to shoulder. He said he’s frequently ridden the Utah Valley Express and hopes that public transit can be better integrated across the valley to reduce the strain on existing infrastructure and provide multiple avenues for transportation.

Ainge supports the quarter-cent sales tax, which may appear on the 2019 ballot, to provide funding for the various road issues across the county.

“There’s millions of dollars that are lost every month because this isn’t implemented,” Ainge said. “If you look at all of the transportation projects that each of the mayors is putting forward at MAG (Mountainland Association of Governments) that are getting approved now, they’re getting approved for many years down the road, even though in almost every case, those are desperate road needs at the moment.”

We are grateful for McCabe in engaging in what we can only imagine is a grueling process of running a campaign. It is heartening to see citizens take up the torch and try to affect change in their communities and McCabe has certainly done so by serving as the neighborhood chair of the Franklin neighborhood in Provo, all while running a campaign with the backing of the new third party, the United Utah Party. As we said, the two candidates share a great deal of common ground. Should McCabe be elected to the commission, we hope she serves the hundreds of thousands of Utah residents well and prioritizes the incalculable needs with great perception.

That being said, we echo our former remarks — we believe Ainge should be elected to the Utah County Commission. He has proven his acumen in the private sector and we trust that will transfer to this elected office.