Act 72

The idea of using slot machine proceeds to fund education is full of holes. They are giving school districts a new taxing authority with promise that the gambling revenue may reduce property taxes a few years from now.

From the Times-Leader:

Northwest Area finance committee Chairman Randy Tomasacci said he has concerns whether the program could generate the expected $1 billion in tax relief, but he voted yes anyway because he thinks there will be at least some form of property tax relief.

However, the district will have to raise the earned income tax by 0.1 percent to opt in to the program once the gambling money is made available.


The law also provides for a voter referendum to raise taxes in the future But:

The law limits how much a school district can raise taxes without voter approval, but there are multiple exceptions that could allow a school district to avoid a referendum. The amount of debt comes into play in the complicated formulas.

And I love this quote:

Wilkes-Barre Area Board member Charles Luce said he agreed with Corcoran, and pointed out the law is "of no benefit to education" because it provides no extra money. He said it would have been better if the state used the money to pay for numerous "unfunded mandates"that are draining school budgets and pushing property taxes up. Still, he said, he voted for it to give tax relief to area residents.

If you don't think it's a good law, why vote for it?

Clueless

What a way to lose a ballgame. Bret Myers is pitching a shutout and actually warms up in the 8th inning. Then Cholly takes him out! Unless he's hurt or something leave him in and go for the shutout. Of course the bullpen then blows the lead with Wagner one out away from ending the game giving up a dinger. On Monday night he sits Thome because Dontrell Willis has struck him out 10 times. But in the 7th he sends in Thome to pinch hit against Willis who of course struck him out. These are only latest of the bonehead moves this guy has made. Maybe Bowa hurt the feelings of all these sensitive millionaires, but he could manage a game.

Democratic Leader

“There's obviously bad blood out there. There’s no mandate for Dotty with the number of votes she got. She and certain other people have been a cancer within the organization,” Mazur said.

What a way for the county chairman to support the party nominee.


Despite his disappointment over Stankovic’s win, Mazur was gleeful over Flood’s loss. “Those 20,000 people didn’t come out because of Joe Mazur or the Democratic Party. A lot of them came out because they were against Steve Flood. If he thinks everything he was doing people agreed with, well they didn’t.”

Boy this is fun. Flood rocked the boat so he had to go. The whole party establishment was behind Petrilla. She spent over $130,000, Flood next to nothing. This is classic example of negative advertising that works. Of course Flood could have spent more. In fact his campaign was almost invisible. Except for a few yard signs I didn't see much of anything. If you want to win an election never take your opponent for granted. And if someone makes a negative accusation and you don't respond, the perception is that it is true.

Around the Neighborhood

Marc has a great post about the great Public Square bicycle debate.

Bill Fitz explains the challenges of opening a business in Wilkes-Barre.

Steve is keeping an eye on Don Sherwood.

Alex, Chris and everybody in the blogosphere is commenting on the Santorum Nazi remark.

Watchdog Goes Down

The powers that be in Luzerne county win again. Steve Flood Lost the Controllers race to the party favorite. The reasons they did not like him are the reasons I did. We need rabble rousers and bomb throwers. I even miss Fred Williams radio show on WILK. I did not agree with him on many things, but I like the way he stirred the pot. Steve was good at asking questions and just saying no. The way this county has been run during my lifetime I found him to be way overdue. When I lived in other areas I described m y hometown as a place that never got over the great depression, the best redevelopment project was the Agnes flood and the political reforms of the 1890's have yet to hit. Sadly, not much has changed.

Steroids

Now Lenny Dykstra has been accused of taking steroids. Am I the only baseball fan who does not care if someone is juiced. Baseball has a long proud history of cheating. Be it emory boards, spitballs, corked bats or pine tar. These are big boys. If they want to take something to enhance performance and ignore the possible long term health consequences, so be it. Athletes are always looking for an edge and will try just about anything.

Balance

The Phils played a well balanced game against the Braves yesterday. The starting pitcher was spent after 3 innings. But they made up for by not catching the ball or scoring any runs. The only inconsistency was the bullpen throwing 4 shutout innings.

Baseball

The Phils got clobbered by the braves last night and Shilling could not hold a 4 run lead for the Red Sox. The only good news was the Rangers thumping the Yankees. I’ve always likes the Red Sox and the Phillies, but they are frustrating. Until last year the Sox broke my heart almost every October but the Phillies usually got it out of the way in April.

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