Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson recently announced he is running for re-election in the 2017 Butler mayoral election.

“I feel we’ve done a great job, made a lot of progress in the first three of the four years,” he said. “I’m looking forward to serving the public for another four years.”

Donaldson, who will run in the Republican primary, commented on what he would focus on during his campaign for re-election. He said he wants to monetize the city’s parking assets to help improve its finances.

“I think it will be a way to have a substantial influx of cash to put in a trust fund, so we can keep the city’s finances on an even keel in the long term,” he said.

In turn, he hopes for this to help taxpayers.

“I want to find a way to monetize (parking) because I want to lower property taxes,” he said.

He also spoke of working with Butler-based nonprofits for the benefit of the city’s finances.

“(I’ll) just continue to try to make inroads with the nonprofits,” he said. “They’re here to stay. Hopefully we can get payment in lieu of taxes.”

Paving was another issue on which Donaldson touched.

“This year council refused to put any more in for paving,” he said. “I don’t believe that was good. When you skip a year, now you’re a year behind.”

He also mentioned negotiating union contracts, a topic on which he’s been vocal.

“We have to balance an attractive contract to draw top-quality employees versus the financial situation the city and the taxpayers represent (are in),” he said.

He spoke of the things of which he was most proud from his first term in office. He noted shining a light on the city’s veterans and the Centre City project as major accomplishments.

“Up until I got there it had been a lot of talk and it really wasn’t going there,” he said. “Myself and the previous council, we worked hard to make that come to fruition, and it did happen, and you can stand there and look at the parking garage.”

The Centre City Parking Garage, located on McKean and Jefferson streets, was opened for permit parkers in December and is expected to begin its kiosk payment by the middle of February.

It is part of the $13.2 million Centre City project, along with the Marriott Springhill Suites, which is being built next to it and is set to open this spring.

Donaldson’s 2013 victory was against former Mayor Maggie Stock, who was Butler’s mayor from 2006 to 2013.

He commented on potential opposition.

“I don’t know what other people do,” he said. “You hear stuff all along. It’s one thing to say you’re going to run for office. It’s a lot of work if you actually do it, so I don’t know if anybody’s running yet or not, but I guess we’ll all know here soon.”

He also spoke of challenges of running for office for the first time.

“When you’re running for office, it’s never what you thought it was when you first wanted to do it,” he said.

Donaldson’s announcement comes one week before the first day for candidates to circulate and file nomination petitions, next Tuesday.

The last day to register to vote in the primary election is April 17, and the primary election will be held May 16.