NOVEMBER 14 - NOVEMBER 20, 1998
NOVEMBER 20, 1998
Johnny! Say it ain't so
This is November? It is 41.9 degrees at 5:25 AM in Marshburg, PA. Usually by
this time we have had at least one snowfall measuring six inches or more. All we have had
is a slight dusting and a few flurries. Who's complaining?
More people than really care to admit it read this web site for the daily
editorial. They do because I always say what is on my mind. Within thirty days, the
editorial will be in a printed version and available for the rest of the public, who, are
either not so fortunate, or perhaps much smarter than we who are tied to these modern
marvels called computers.
Jim Buck of The Bradford Era was calling around two evenings ago looking for
an explanation as to how McKean County's projected tax revenue dropped from $3.75 million
to $3.4 million. Jim asked Mr. Weaver and Mr. Stratton, but didn't ask me. I had the
answer because I have been working on the 1999 budget since early September. My reference
to it sparked Jim's imagination. That's good and I am not being sarcastic either, Jim. It
is good! Here's the scoop.
We just completed another round of tax hearings. We heard eight hundred and
twenty-seven appeals. I kept tabs on the results. In 124 cases we left the fair market
value as it was. In the remaining 703 cases, we lowered the fair market value of the
property that was appealed.
We lowered taxes!
Actually, in doing the reassessment, we lowered taxes for 19,768 property owners; left
taxes the same for approximately 9,900 property owners, and raised taxes on 4,900 property
owners. Keep in mind that when I use the word taxes, I use it in the
sense of taxes being equal to what they were paying before the reassessment and do not
take into consideration increases passed on by the School Districts.
Using 12.6 mills of taxation, Jim, and multiplying it out against the assessed
valuation we approved on November 13, we arrive at an estimated tax income in the area of
$3.4 million. That is good news for the tax payers and it is bad news for the keepers of
bureaucratic empires. I refer specifically to Judge John M. Cleland.
Possibly (and probably) in response to my editorial of November 18th, Fiscal
Responsibility, the judge fired off a letter to Commissioner Larry Stratton. He
begins by saying:
"Although the Court budget has been submitted, I want to bring to you
attention a couple of factors which may come to bear on that budget as it is implemented
next year. There are several contingencies which have come to light since the budget was
submitted. While I cannot be certain what will occur next year, if any of these do occur
there could be financial consequences which I am not able to define at this point."
What does that sound like to you?
It sounds like shadows of things to come - The ghosts of Christmas past, present
and future all rolled into one. It sounds to me like John is saying that no matter
what we adopt, it isn't going to be enough.
Imagine that! In an election year, too.
Still smarting over the comment that he can't buy a pencil without a purchase
order, he takes a recent conversation with Fran Kuhn, Director of Children and
Youth Services, and begins rattling the chains with dire forecasts of gloom, doom, and
financial despair for the County budgetary process. He points to juvenile petitions - you
know, when kids set off fire crackers and the District Attorney calls them terrorists
because she needs to win a case every now and then.
"In 1997, 158 such petitions were filed. That was a considerable increase over
preceding years. In 1998, to date, 167 petitions have been filed - and the final number
could approach 200. If this trend continues through 1999 it will require additional time
from the Juvenile Master, again an expense which has not been factored into the
budget."
Last year after the budget was placed on view and formally adopted, the judge came in
pitching for more money for Debbie Babcox, the Family Master. It appears that we are in
for more of the same with Steve Minor - who does do a good job even if we don't have the
money to pay him what he is probably really worth. I would suggest that before the budget
is adopted, take $12,000 from Debbie Babcox and give it to Steve Minor. We were supposed
to get more work out of Mrs. Babcox for the extra money. That has yet to materialize since
she has become a culinary entrepreneur.
As for the increase in Juvenile Petitions, we can look directly at the third person
carbon copied on the bottom of the letter to Larry Stratton - the District Attorney,
Michele D. Alfieri. We can blame her for carrying minor and seemingly insignificant
offenses into the realm of Juvenile Court. We can blame her for the increases in costs and
the trend that John Cleland speaks of. I know - If I only had a second Judge
we would not be in this situation! Yeah. If we had double the population, an
automobile factory, and twice the tax base, we could afford the second judge. We don't,
and if elephants had wings they just might be able to fly, too.
These people are fiscal nightmares and financially irresponsible with tax payer
dollars!
Waiting for Michele Alfieri to respond to my letter asking for a full financial
accounting of the Matis case, a piece of information came to my attention. Matis' lawyer,
Joe Morasco, was prepared to admit that his client was intoxicated at the time of the
accident. Once he did that, under law, a blood alcohol level had to be assigned. Morasco
was prepared to stipulate that Matis has a blood alcohol level of .263, more than two and
a half times the legal limit.
That wasn't good enough for the District Attorney.
She spent over $6,000 to bring in an expert from Minnesota to testify as to the blood
alcohol level Matis had at the time of the accident. What did he say?
Using scientific evidence and accepted principles he took the blood alcohol level in
Matis when he reached the hospital and carefully calculated back three hours to the time
of the accident. Using his years of experience and expertise he decided that the blood
alcohol level at the time of the accident had to undoubtedly be between .263 and .319, but
could not be any more accurate than that. Didn't Morasco agree to accept a finding of
.263? Why then did we have to spend $6,000 to have an expert determine what the defense
attorney already said he would accept?
That is financially irresponsible just like her trip to the four star hotel!
The judge is just as guilty of over spending as the DA.
In the final paragraph, he says:
"I want to bring all of this to your attention before the budget is finally
adopted so you will be aware of these contingencies."
Once a budget is adopted, there are no contingencies! Once a budget is adopted,
it is carved in stone and in fairness to the people who pay for the mess that has
developed in the Judge's Chambers and the Office of the District Attorney, we need to hold
the line on spending. We cannot give these people a blank check and turn around to the
taxpayers and tell them we have to raise their taxes.
Cleland and Alfieri don't care where or how we get the money for them to spend.
They don't care if we raise your taxes. I do care and at this time I have something
to say about it.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
NOVEMBER 19, 1998
Being a genius
Good morning. It is 35.4 degrees at 5:48 in the morning.
While nursing a sprained back, my stock broker called. That scares the hell
out of me! This time, it was good news.
"Bud," he said. "Netscape is back up in the mid thirties." It
closed yesterday at 39 5/8. "It looks like you were right all along."
Sean told me that America On Line and Netscape were negotiating a deal for AOL to use
the Netscape Browser beginning January 1, 1999. With the Federal Government going after
Bill Gates and Microsoft, the door is open and Netscape can compete on an equal basis.
I have always used the Netscape Browser at home. My computer at work has the Microsoft
Explorer. I prefer Netscape. Unfortunately, most of the people have not had the same
opportunity that I have had to compare the two products. Most just simply assume that
Microsoft has the best product and everyone else pales in the comparison. I have found
that not to be true and I am saying here that you should make the comparison yourself.
For those of you who are reading me today, 86% of you are using a Microsoft browser to
access this site. Most of the local internet service providers use a basic Netscape
browser to help set you up if you are starting from scratch without any browser being
available. You can get the latest 4.1 version of Netscape at no cost to you just by
accessing them using the key word, Netscape, or just accessing www.netscape.com. .
There is little doubt that Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, is a
genius. The competition between Microsoft and Netscape is good for us. It makes a product
develop faster and forces the manufacturer to assure quality. That is what makes the
Netscape product a better one in my mind. They are in second place and maybe, just maybe, they
try harder.
This column is being written using Microsoft Front Page 98. It is the best product on
the market for web site construction. It is easy and makes the conversion between HTML and
English automatically. It is simple, but very effective!
City Corp, now City Group, entered into an agreement with Netscape to develop their on
line banking programs. It is estimated that by the year 2012 eighty million of us will be
using that program to do our banking on line. (That was why I bought the stock.)
I was always a skeptic when it came to notions that everyone would be on line buying
items when they told us that ten years ago. I am now a regular user of www.amazon.com and other services. I pay bills on
line and I purchase my long distance service on line. I never imagined that I would do any
of that, but I do and it is convenient. Just like reading newspapers and on line magazines
like this one, it is convenient, informative, and interesting.
So, besides Bill Gates, who is a genius? In my own little way, I feel like one by
buying into Netscape when I did. Then, of course, there are other deals that I'd like to
forget. But really, even a blind rat finds an acorn now and then, and today, I may just be
that blind rat. For my moment and for my little amount, I am a genius. After all, I don't
have the Justice Department of the United States of America and Janet Reno on my case. I
only have the Attorney General of Pennsylvania and Elmer Fudd.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
Have a nice day!
NOVEMBER 18, 1998
Fiscal responsibility
Good morning. It is 29.5 degrees at 5:58 AM in Marshburg.
It has been a long morning so far. I have been working on the finishing touches of the
budget since a little after two. The e-mail I have been receiving from people outside
McKean County has been pretty constant in one respect. While they are interested in many
of the things I say and write about, they are looking for the universality of the
subjects. Yesterday, in particular, many of them claimed to be at a loss as to what I was
talking about, and looked for some larger meaning. Keeping that in mind, here is something
that directly affects us all.
Spending and taxes.
Last year our county budget was $21.8 million dollars. Our projected spending was
approximately $235,000 less than our projected income. What we didn't take into
consideration was the fact that this was a state election year. While projected revenues
will in all probability arrive, some day, they have not matched the projected spending
which became actual spending and in record amounts and quantities.
We installed a check valve. Her name is Margaret. She is the director of purchasing and
as I recently pointed out to a disgruntled supplier who was used to dealing directly with
certain departments, in this case the Courts; "Judge Cleland can't legally buy a
pencil without a purchase order from Margaret, and the Commissioners must approve that,
first."
Even with our check valve and our purchase order system, there are die hards, like
Judge Cleland, who insist on doing things their way regardless of the immediate impact on
the budget, and the ultimate impact on the taxpayers. This is evidenced by his recent
decision to double the payment made to lawyers on court appointed cases with absolutely no
regard to what it will do to the County General Fund. Ignoring the impact to the
taxpayers, he put more tax dollars into the pockets of the lawyers who are his friends.
While he was doubling the fees to the lawyers, two of his department heads came down
asking for interim raises for many of their people. Along with that, Juvenile Probation
wants to put a full time Juvenile Probation Officer in the Bradford Area School District
and use the existing School Based Probation Officer in the other districts. The total cost
to the taxpayers would go from $26,000 to the area of $87,000 when you include benefits,
travel, materials, etc.
Of course the idea comes with the full support of Cheri O'Mara. Why wouldn't it? She
would have the county spending its dollars, that by the way are not reimbursed by the
state, to have its personnel present to do the job that the school district is charged
with doing. What's next? Will we be sending Sheriff's Deputies over to be hall monitors?
Will we be asked to have the Treasurer collect lunch money? Maybe we should start teaching
the classes for them so our graduates can finally learn to read on the same level as
graduates from the rest of the state.
My father had a nice saying about people like that. He called it "...a
champagne appetite with a beer pocketbook."
We need a reality check. We cannot afford everything we want. We cannot afford
to give Judge Cleland and his department heads everything they want. And, for those of you
living outside our county, insert the name of your Judge and I am sure your commissioners
will tell you exactly the same thing. That is universal and that is a major problem that
fiscal administrators encounter whenever they have people like our Judge who just don't
care about the ultimate impact on the taxpayers.
There is no excuse for the demands that the Judge places on the taxpayers. As I have
found in preparing the 1999 budget, out of the projected $3.4 million in taxes we will
collect, close to $2.9 million will be spend on the courts and related departments. That
is a whole lot of money for a county of 48,000 people. That is a waste of money when you
look at how it is spent.
In preparing a new budget, it is just about impossible to take something away, even if
it has outlived its usefulness, or has never been useful in the first place. The Planning
Department imagines it needs its own secretary and receptionist. Wonderful! From where is
the money supposed to appear? Adult and Juvenile Probation want to raise starting salaries
so they can compete with Civil Service and the State in the job market.
Reality check! They will never be able to compete dollar for dollar.
These are entry level positions and the taxpayers of this county do not have the financial
resources to elevate salaries to keep people in their jobs for life. Losing people goes
with hiring people. That is why the two department heads receive in excess of $50,000 each
for their salaries and bring in another $10,000 or more from other little items thrown
their way. They are expected to maintain the stability and give leadership to an
inexperienced force of people.
With projected taxes shrinking from $3.75 million to $3.4 million, there is no room for
making government larger unless we raise taxes. I oppose raising taxes. I oppose giving
the Courts and the related departments once penny more than what they have had in the
past. If our county is to remain fiscally sound after years of financial mismanagement,
then we need to tighten our belts and not create a new problem that we cannot afford.
On one hand, John Cleland takes away revenues by giving his rich timber friends a
ruling against the good of the taxpayers; and then on the other, he expects the same
taxpayers to pay up and give him and his people more and more and more.
Well, we are not the school board. He is not Cheri O'Mara. I will not support the
expansion of government at the expense of raising taxes one single penny. Regardless of
what they say, it all boils down to more money and more taxes. That is not fiscal
responsibility.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
NOVEMBER 17, 1998
Defining the word "Crook"
Good morning on this wonderful day which is about to begin! It is 43.9 degrees
at 5:29 in the morning.
It was on this date that Richard Nixon said:
"The people deserve to know if their president is a crook. Well, I am not a
crook."
Think about that statement and carry it into present day and look at some of the
possibilities.
Bill Clinton-"The people deserve to know if their president is a perjurer.
Well, I am not a perjurer - I had my fingers crossed."
or; -"The people deserve to know if Monica was any good. Well, I am not a
blabber mouth - and a gentleman never tells."
Bill Slocum-"The people deserve to know if their State Senator is an
environmental criminal. Well, I am not a criminal. It was only an exceedence - and what's
a little crap among friends and neighbors?"
Michele Alfieri-"The people deserve to know if their District Attorney knows
how to add and subtract. Well, I know that one plus one equals six."
Charlie (The Tuna) Jeff Duke-"The people think they deserve to know if I lied
under oath about the existence of the Pyle Report. Well, define the word existence for
me."
John Cleland-"The people deserve to know if I am trying to break the budget
and embarrass the commissioners. Well, define embarrass and break. At the same time,
explain to me exactly how a budget is supposed to work."
or; "The people deserve to know that if in throwing the tax assessment case
out of court and ruling in favor of the timber people, I have given favors to my rich
friends who own thousands and thousands of acres of timber, all valuable cherry worth
millions. Well, you're going to have to define friends and favors."
Ray McMahon-"The people deserve to know if I have a lifetime contract. Well, I
do not! The contract only says that I cannot be fired and I am the only party who can
decide when my employment is terminated. And besides, define lifetime."
or; "The people deserve to know when the McKean Theater will be torn down.
Well, I have good news and bad news. It will be sold and torn down within two weeks.
First, we have to define two weeks."
Connie Cavallaro-"People have accused me of being senile and needing Peggy
Comilla to speak for me. Well, I would like for you to define - ah, what was that word?
Peggy?"
Harold T. Beck-"The people deserve to know what my sister-in-law and I did
with those campaign contributions of $370. Well, I am not a blabber mouth, define
campaign contributions, and read the campaign financial report that I signed."
Anonymous-"When I was elected, I did not promise not to be a crook. I only
promised that I would not forget my friends."
Mike Fisher-"When I was elected I promised not to forget my friends. Well,
define friend for me. Is that someone Elsie Hillman tells me to like?"
or; "The people deserve to know if I am really like Elmer Fudd like Beck says.
Well, I am not and Beck is becoming just like that pesky wrabbit."
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
Please define comment?
NOVEMBER 16, 1998
Junk, trash, and meaningless items
Good morning. It is 34.2 degrees in Marshburg today at 5:29.
I was looking for the cloth to clean my reading glasses on my desk and had to
dig through two months worth of mail, receipts, and various paper that I wonder when I had
the time to accumulate. It irritates my wife when I dispose of these things. I throw them
on the floor to my right in a very large pile. The AARP news letters, three of them, go in
along with the Moose Magazine and the American Legion Magazine. Those items have
interesting information, if I only had the time to read them. I don't!
Underneath the paper, there are pens, nine of them that I can never find when I want to
write something down. There is probably ten dollars in change - quarters, dimes, nickels,
and pennies. There are also seven 16 penny galvanized nails, four boxes of the smaller
variety of stick matches from Poor Richard's, a cigar store at Station Square in
Pittsburgh, and an Ashton Prime Minister cigar. That is the size slightly smaller
than a Churchill but not slightly less expensive. There are rubber bands, wire nuts, tooth
picks, a church key (bottle opener) shaped like a baseball with a chain on the end from
DTN Sports Infolink, where the devil did that come from? Also, there is one
Alkaline Enercell AAA battery from Radio Shack, probably left over from when I bought the
digital temperature devise.
Where did I get all of this?
It is a sign of our society, the trash we accumulate. Then there are other items, too.
The SEATING LIST for the Ninety-ninth Annual Dinner of The Pennsylvania
Society from December 13, 1997. That was interesting. Also was the dinner menu.
They had Wild mushroom and asparagus tart, mesclun salad, sliced file to beef and
various other items like fricassee of root vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes.
Henry and Elsie Hillman received Gold Medals for distinguished achievements in the
Republican Party.
Oh, did I mention. The Pennsylvania Society is the high muckity mucks of the
Republican Party and Tom Ridge spoke last year at the dinner given at the Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel in New York. I was invited to the rebel cocktail party given by Attorney
Charles Volpe and Excalibur/H.A.R.I.E., whoever they are, in the lavish Louis XVI Suite
(not associated or affiliated with The Pennsylvania Society) - black tie, of
course, and didn't know a single person. Still, I wouldn't have missed it for the world!
I have a copy of Hazardous Duty, the life story of Major General John K.
Singlaub, AN AMERICAN SOLDIER IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. I Laos still haven't put THE
RED NAPOLEON away, and PIONEER LIFE, or Thirty Years a Hunter, is on my
desk, too.
There is a gold pen and pencil set from the days when I was selling business insurance
for Liberty Mutual, a glass with a bunch of grouse feathers, a few cassette tapes, and
four compact discs. There is one video tape from the Citizens for a Sound Economy
Foundation called OUR FUTURE IN THE BALANCE, two invitations to a private
reception for Jim Lynch, and eight pictures of the Kasson Bridge. All, very necessary and
most memorable items. Yes.
Oh well. At least as I wrote today, I did accomplish something. I did create a pile of
papers that have to be burned and I did irritate my wife at the same time. It looks to me
like this is starting out to be a productive day. Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
NOVEMBER 14 -15, 1998
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