Wows & Scowls
Wow: Uniontown City Council passed a 2007 budget that doesn’t require a tax increase, holding the rate steady at 8.75 mills, even though the spending plan includes 4 percent pay raises for city employees, an 8 percent increase in health insurance premiums and a 2 percent increase in liability insurance. It goes to show that sound fiscal management can avert periodic draconian spending and crisis management situations. Wow-Wow-Wow: For the second year in a row, the Fayette County commissioners have approved a budget that includes a one-quarter-mill tax decrease. Granted, those years came on the heels of a 2005 budget where they increased taxes a whopping 60 percent, which was needed to end a decades-old practice of making inter-department loans late in the year in order to keep the general fund solvent. But we agree with the philosophy of Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink, which is that since a huge deficit she inherited has been erased, any extra money should be returned to taxpayers. That’s a refreshing attitude that other layers of government should follow.
Scowl: It’s pretty clear that Fayette County Commission Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink could stand on her head and play the kazoo while trying to solve a problem for the county’s tax collectors, but they still wouldn’t be satisfied. After all, it was Zimmerlink who spearheaded the effort to change the county’s tax collector compensation from an appalling 3 percent of what was collected to a more reasonable (and fair to taxpayers) $1.50 per bill. So when Dunbar Township tax collector Mary Grace Butela, president of the county’s Tax Collector Association, isn’t satisfied with the county’s offer to provide bulk postage and envelopes to satisfy a tax collector complaint, take it with a grain of salt. And when Butela starts accusing Zimmerlink of not returning phone calls, keep this in mind: The commissioners are up for re-election next year. Do you think Zimmerlink’s in line for Butela’s endorsement?
Wow: The Fayette County Prison population is 17 percent lower than this time last year, which is welcomed news not only for the county’s commissioners and prison board, but for real estate taxpayers. Warden Larry Medlock credits the turnaround to swift sentencing and transportation of prisoners. But the better year-end news is that the county spent only $50,000 of the $300,000 budgeted for housing inmates out of the county. That’s appeared to be an ever-escalating cost. But the recent trend alleviates the need for building a new prison in the $20 million range. We – and our wallets – will breathe easier should the downward inmate population trend continue.
Scowl: Connellsville City has joined Brownsville Borough as a Fayette County municipality that doesn’t have its fiscal house in enough order to go through the end of the year without taking drastic measures. In Brownsville’s case, it was the mass layoff of employees; in Connellsville’s, it ita freeze on all unnecessary spending until council initiates a short-term spending plan. Councilman Terry Bodes, director of accounts and finance, announced the freeze after he failed to get council support to seek a $350,000 tax anticipation loan that would let the city operate through March. At all levels of government, wouldn’t it be better to adopt a more realistic budget at a more realistic millage rate than to rely on borrowing money (and paying the resultant bank interest) as a stop-gap measure?
Wow: State Rep.-elect Timothy S. Mahoney is showing his political mettle by seeking mass cosponsors for the open records bill he intends to introduce in early January, on the second day the state legislature is in session. Among those potential cosponsors, Mahoney wants presumptive House Speaker H. William DeWeese to put his John Hancock to the document. What the 30-year Harrisburg insider does will offer a pretty strong clue as to where DeWeese really stands on critically needed state government reforms. He can skillfully bury the measure, he can offer lukewarm support but stand on the sidelines or he can put his considerable political shoulder to Mahoney’s wheel. We know the difference between those three options, and we’ll be watching and paying close attention. You should, too.
Scowl: U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Hollidaysburg) deserves credit for the strength of his convictions, but when it comes to the war in Iraq we respectfully disagree with his continued assessment of an increasingly troublesome situation. While acknowledging that the American people are losing patience with the war, Shuster maintains that pulling out would be a “prescription for terrorist to get a foothold,” and he predicts that, “We’re going to have a military presence there for a long time.” Only history will tell if that’s correct. In the interim, it seems that Shuster is clinging to old notions rather than embracing a new philosophy.