The economy is fairing poorly, family budgets are hurting and, yet again, government and special interests can only think of forcing you to pay for their pet projects. To wit, here are two articles to warn North Salt Lake residents about some more legal plundering of your family budget:
North S.L. residents to vote on recreation tax
North S.L. to hold public hearings on recycling
In December, I warned NSL residents and provided some background on why mandatory, as well as government run voluntary curbside recycling programs should be opposed.
What to do now?
In terms of the tax, you will have to go to the polls in November and vote against it to stop it. It would also be wise to start organizing now to oppose the tax. Be prepared to be demonized by the opposition as a miser etc. – don’t take it personally and grow a thick skin. Be sure to read Milton Friedman’s thoughts as to why special interests prevail (and think of how many other “insignificant” fees/taxes these proposals are in addition to).
For recycling, contact your council members now (don’t wait until public hearings, by then the decision is, frequently, already made). Be sure, however, to also attend the following hearings:
The first public hearing will be held July 21 during the 7 p.m. council meeting in North Salt Lake City Hall, 20 S. U.S. Highway 89.
The second public hearing will be Aug. 18.
Finally, feel free to look at previous posts on Recycling and the RAP tax.
It has been a long time since I read a letter to the editor in the Clipper. I took a look on Thursday and found one of the most disingenuous letters by local officials attacking a government watchdog/citizen. The letter was penned by Bountiful City Council members Marc Knight and Beth Holbrook.
The letter begins by stating that Mr. Novak (their target) is ignorant and intimate that Novak stated they conducted meetings “behind closed doors” in response to this recent article. Read the article and you will find Mr. Novak was referring to himself and making a pledge regarding an ethics committee. The authors simply seem to be attempting to twist Mr. Novak’s pledge to smear him. However, if Novak had made such statement, he would have had precedent – just take a look at how the recycling and El Matador liquor license issues were handled.
Next, they use the specious argument that Novak hasn’t attended enough city council meetings and other community activities. This, I think, was the most disingenuous portion of their rant. From what I have seen/read, Novak has attended council meetings and, as I recall, was key in getting the council to pass the break for deployed families on their utility bill. Furthermore, when did the authors start taking attendance at the meetings and how many did they attend before they, themselves, ran for office?
The standard they attempt to use is simply fallacious. For someone who has attended various council, legislative, and other public meetings, I know that they are time consuming and most people can not attend the vast majority of meetings but must prioritize and pick which meetings are worth their time away from family and other activities. I’ve seen this argument from other government officials and it always falls flat on its face since it presents a false standard they didn’t adhere to either. It implies that citizens must attend a requisite number of ‘recognized’ events to have their opinion heard and that is wrong.
Additionally, those they attend tend to be a total waste of time. City council meetings frequently have no public comment (there are exceptions, some cities provide public comment time in each meeting; Bountiful is not one of those). Additionally, decisions are, typically, already made before the meeting – that applies to all levels of government, not just city councils. If you want to make your voice heard and have an impact on the decision, you need to start before the public hearing.
Next, the authors, inexplicably denigrate the local American Legion Post (Novak is a member) by implying that it doesn’t do anything in the community. It is a petty swipe that also shows their lack on knowledge about the American Legion which includes “Boys State” and placing crosses on every veteran’s grave on Memorial Day at the Bountiful Cemetery. Is it because the American Legion doesn’t coordinate/confer with government or hasn’t pumped money into government pet projects that they are ignored by the authors?
The authors then tout the City’s web page and utility newsletter for use regarding events and activities. The newsletter and web page are good for “activities” but quite lacking on executive/council transparency. Just go to the city website and look at how outdated the city council meeting minutes are before they are posted (the newest is from April, when I checked).
The letter then states Novak’s suggestion that the city council should have “more open communication with citizens” is “absurd”. Interestingly, it appears Novak was proposing setting aside public comment time in each council meeting as some cities already do (I mentioned it above). Is that really “absurd”?
Finally, the authors seem angry that Novak’s group endorsed him. Usually if you are a member of a group and agree with its principles, you get the endorsement. Are they saying that you shouldn’t be endorsed by a group you are a part of? I didn’t see anything saying that the current Mayor and City Council were excluded from seeking the group’s endorsement. Why get your ‘tidy-whities’ in a wad over that?
I find it unfathomable how many of Novak’s statements directed toward himself, the letter’s authors attempt to spin into personal attacks. It looks to me like they are attempting manufacture personal attacks which are simply nonexistent and do so by actually using personal attacks and labels themselves.
Many months ago, I posted that we had taken the leap and would be homeschooling our child. At that time a commenter suggested I provide my thoughts once the school year was over. Since we’ve done this, I suppose I can no longer be counted as a rookie but now be a young veteran here are some thoughts on the experience:
Like everything else, changes require the ability to adapt. We stuck to our general plan of education and tweaked parts as we began teaching and finding what worked and what did not for our child. We will also be making a few changes for next year, as well.
The first adjustment we made was to put a list of all the day’s learning tasks, which our child would pick from and scratch out as they were satisfactorily completed. That gave them a sense of greater control and allowed them to learn to get the least preferred subjects out of the way first and move on to the favorites (save the best for last).
One of the first benefits of homeschooling was immediately apparent: teaching time management. Our child was most ready to learn in the morning so that is when we did the bulk of instruction. However, kids can be stubborn and decide to test their limits, so, of course, we got the “I’m not doing school today”. When this occurred, we just shrugged and said, “you can choose to do the work now or later, let us know when you are ready to complete you assignments”. There were a couple of occasions where work was not completed until night time but that quickly subsided as they learned that it sucks blow a whole day when you could have had fun and working at night really stinks after a boring day. Once it was realized that they had full time control, school was frequently completed before lunch.
Two rules also help bolster the above: 1. Unfinished work would be added to the following day and 2. No special fun/treats would be had until school was complete (work before fun).
Another benefit was the ability to focus on your child and tailor teaching methods and materials to fit your child. However, the greatest benefit was the ability to teach your child and actively watch them grow in capacity.
Of course, there are drawbacks and challenges to homeschooling. First, is that you and your spouse need to be available for the schooling and ready to make the commitment to take the time to teach you child. Plus, kids always ‘lip off’ (and test limits) more to parents than teachers – be sure to have clearly stated rules and expectations to mitigate the inevitable. Additionally, high performance expectations are great IF they are reasonable – your child will impress you with their ability and desire to reach those goals.
You will also find that the wealth or resources can be a challenge. Ultimately, we overbought a bit, but I prefer to have more than I need than not enough.
Another draw back can be socialization. This can be overcome but, as noted above, requires a time commitment. We had a good homeschool association that planned activities throughout the year which we participated in. Additionally, siblings are helpful as are play dates with their friends and team sports. It is also worth considering that not that long ago kids didn’t have much socialization outside siblings and previous generations didn’t crank out drooling, knuckle draggers. Speaking of siblings, they also benefited from homeschool as they also wanted to be involved.
Making a list of subjects we would cover and making sure those subjects were covered each week, helped quite a bit. For us, that included the basics (English, Math etc) but also included science and US history. Various field trips were also thrown in the mix. As an aside, I really enjoyed teaching history. I was surprised at how well they took to it (I hated history as a kid but, eventually, grew to like it). We had a lot of fun with the science and history stuff.
Finally, we also incorporated testing into the schooling. It was important in order to check progress but also to introduce a semi-stressful situation and allow them to learn how to manage it, including a bad grade. If a poor performance occurred, we were sure to reinforce the fact that mistakes are 100% fine and serve as an opportunity to learn from and improve. We also emphasized that tests were an opportunity to find our strengths and weaknesses. We also used some standardized tests from the schools and our child scored at or above grade level in each test. They may have received better scores if we had “taught to the test” (some question formats threw them a bit) but it was still a good look at where they were at and their ability to decipher unfamiliar question formats.
One of the highlights of the year came when we were told, “this is harder than school, how about I go back”. Both of us laughed. Our child didn’t find the humor in the situation. We knew the complaint would come up and just restated that the program we created would be tougher than school.
Overall, we had a great experience and look forward to next year. The best payoff, however, was when we asked our child about returning to public school. Unhesitatingly, they said, “I want to do homeschool”. As I said about a year ago: This is going to be a blast!
Final caveats: Keep things positive and keep in mind that all children are not the same. For example, our child was a morning learner, yours may not be. You have the ability to tailor your program to your child. Use it!
The headline says it all :
Corroon vetoes Salt Lake County property tax hike
I wish more South Davis County/City officials could follow his example instead of touting their pet projects on the taxpayers’ back.
I don’t have much time so the post’s title pretty much says it all. There are stories coming out of a possible massacre and I suspect everyone has heard about Neda.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot most of us can do other than to keep the people of Iran in our thoughts and prayers and that the regime’s hearts will be softened to allow a free election to stand and freedom, in general, to blossom in Iran.
For those interested. HotAir has done an exceptional job in keeping up with the situation there and includes audio and video (some of which is distubing).
I think Reagan put it best when he reacted to the situation in Poland. The statement, generally, applies to the situation in Iran (hat tip to HotAir):
All the information that we have confirms that the imposition of martial law in Poland has led to the arrest and confinement, in prisons and detention camps, of thousands of Polish trade union leaders and intellectuals. Factories are being seized by security forces and workers beaten.
These acts make plain there’s been a sharp reversal of the movement toward a freer society that has been underway in Poland for the past year and a half. Coercion and violation of human rights on a massive scale have taken the place of negotiation and compromise. All of this is in gross violation of the Helsinki Pact, to which Poland is a signatory.
It would be naive to think this could happen without the full knowledge and the support of the Soviet Union. We’re not naive. We view the current situation in Poland in the gravest of terms, particularly the increasing use of force against an unarmed population and violations of the basic civil rights of the Polish people.
Violence invites violence and threatens to plunge Poland into chaos. We call upon all free people to join in urging the Government of Poland to reestablish conditions that will make constructive negotiations and compromise possible.
Certainly, it will be impossible for us to continue trying to help Poland solve its economic problems while martial law is imposed on the people of Poland, thousands are imprisoned, and the legal rights of free trade unions — previously granted by the government — are now denied. We’ve always been ready to do our share to assist Poland in overcoming its economic difficulties, but only if the Polish people are permitted to resolve their own problems free of internal coercion and outside intervention.
Our nation was born in resistance to arbitrary power and has been repeatedly enriched by immigrants from Poland and other great nations of Europe. So we feel a special kinship with the Polish people in their struggle against Soviet opposition to their reforms.
The Polish nation, speaking through Solidarity, has provided one of the brightest, bravest moments of modern history. The people of Poland are giving us an imperishable example of courage and devotion to the values of freedom in the face of relentless opposition. Left to themselves, the Polish people would enjoy a new birth of freedom. But there are those who oppose the idea of freedom, who are intolerant of national independence, and hostile to the European values of democracy and the rule of law.
Two Decembers ago, freedom was lost in Afghanistan; this Christmas, it’s at stake in Poland. But the torch of liberty is hot. It warms those who hold it high. It burns those who try to extinguish it.
Keep them in your prayers.
Obama Admin Stalls E-Verify Requirement (Federal Contractors Can Continue To Hire Illegal Workers)
About a year ago, President Bush signed an executive order requiring all Federal Contractors (with $100,000 and above contracts) and subcontractors ($3,000 and above) to use E-Verify. E-Verify is a free program that allows employers to verify they are hiring legal workers. It is an effective tool at preventing illegal workers (such as fugitives and illegal immigrants) from obtaining employment by verifying their identity (click here for ICE’s E-Verify page).
The rule was to be implemented in January 2009 (this year). Thus far, the Obama administration has delayed that implementation four times. This time, the rule has been delayed until September:
The Obama administration has delayed that requirement four times, and the date for implementing it is now set for Sept. 8. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed a lawsuit challenging the requirement, and the case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
The administration continues to use the excuse the it is still “reviewing the rule”. Some Congressmen have spoken out about the delay as well, but don’t expect much to happen.
This article shows the likely motivation for the delay by the administration (and, certainly for the US Chamber of Commerce):
Employment lawyers, meanwhile, say the longer the government puts off implementing the rule, the better the chances are that it will get wiped out altogether, or emerge in a lighter, more employer-friendly form.
In the meantime, illegal workers can continue to freely compete with legal US workers and job seekers for employment funded with your tax money. That also includes jobs funded by the multi-billion dollar stimulus bill.
More posts on e-verify and identity theft can be found at the links.
Last week was the groundbreaking for the pet project du jour, the Davis Cultural Arts Center. From the report, some thanks were given:
Both Russell and Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson, who also spoke, thanked the efforts of all of the volunteers who had supported community theater in the county.
In the above quote they were thanking past performers and those who had pushed for the community to be taxed for a special interest’s benefit.
The funny thing is, they did not thank the largest contributor to the project and who is being forced to do so:
Taxpayers.
Thus far, I can’t find a single report stating that they thanked the taxpayers. Too bad, especially when one mayor clearly prefers taxation for such projects when he stated that he would “…hate to think we’re going to build something based on donations…”
Bountiful is now interested in getting in at the government pork trough:
He said when the economy “sneezed,” it slowed the fund raising effort, but Tolman said he had contacted Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett to see if some of the stimulus money could be filtered toward the museum. “We just want a little slice, we won’t ask for much,” he said, explaining that “There’s a rich history in Bountiful that needs to be told.”
People in Tennessee, New Hampshire, or Salt Lake City and St. George, for that matter, have no reason to be forced to fund a local museum. Here’s hoping Hatch and Bennett say no.
More on the museum can be found here.
Citizens For Tax Fairness put up a pretty easy to read, and humorous, description of incremental budgeting. The State of Utah uses this process (as does the Federal Government). I have pasted the majority of the document here but the full document can be found on the website in MS Word format:
Public Budgeting – The Parable of the Skunks
Ronald Mortensen, Ph.D.Incremental budget: A budget prepared using a previous year’s budget with incremental amounts added for the new budget period.
Introduction
State and local governments face serious revenue shortfalls this year. Increasing taxes at a time when citizens have seen their net worth fall like a rock and cut their family budgets to the bare bone doesn’t make a lot of sense. Bonding will only transfer current problems to future generations.
Therefore, this should be the perfect time for governments at all levels to get rid of out-dated, redundant and/or nice-to-have programs that have worked their ways into the budget over the years. This would minimize the impact on the core or legitimate functions of government such as public safety (law enforcement, jails, courts), public health (water, sanitation, air quality), and public infrastructure (roads, highways, water and sewer systems).
To understand why it is so important for government to clean out the dead wood every now and again, let’s look at how the incremental budgeting process works. We’ll use the example of five skunks.
The Parable of the Skunks
My skunks deserve public funding. They make children happy. Seniors love them because they remind them of their days growing up in the country. People come from all around to watch the skunks playing in my yard. While in the area, they go to restaurants and fill their cars with gas. Thus, it is clearly in the public interest for the taxpayers to open up their “family purses” to support my skunks. After all, they enhance everyone’s quality of life and they are a source of economic development.
“Utahans for Skunks” is organized. They hire a lobbyist, put up yard signs supporting public funding for skunks and they contact their elected officials. The Chamber of Commerce, elected officials, civic groups and major newspapers all support a taxpayer investment in my skunks. After all, it will only cost the average family the equivalent of a couple of pizzas a year in higher taxes and the rewards in terms of quality of life and economic development are immeasurable.
After a great deal of work, $1,000,000 in ongoing funding is approved for each of my five skunks. The hard work is done. No one will ever again ask why these stinkers are in the budget.
A year goes by. Officials are preparing the next budget. They have hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus funds to allocate. The skunks automatically get a 10% increase simply because they are in the budget. The next five years are good and now each skunk is getting well over $1,500,000 dollars.
Finally, the economy turns down and tax receipts drop like a rock. Rather than going after the skunks and getting them out of the budget, officials propose a 7% across the board cut in spending. After all, they don’t have the stomach to deal with the stink that the skunks would make if they tried to kick even one of them out of the budget. So, at the end of the day, just like legitimate, core functions of government, the skunks will each be 7% poorer but they will be in the budget for ever more.
This type of budgeting is used by many governments. Some of the identified disadvantages of this type of budgeting are quite revealing:
2. No incentive for developing new ideas.
3. No incentive to reduce costs.
4. Encourages spending up to the budget so that the budget is maintained next year.
5. The budget may become out-of-date and no longer relate to the level of activity or type of work being carried out.
It’s a perennial event for Bountiful City. Transfer funds from the power company into the City’s general fund. They do this by overcharging power users to the tune of $2 million. Effectively, the city has been able to use the city-owned power company as a cloaked taxing entity through rate manipulation with the added bonus of avoiding truth-in-taxation hearings. Better yet, because of this, the city can (illegitimately) claim that residents have “lowest property tax rates of any of the twenty largest cities in the state”.
Enough background, on to the predictable stuff. This year, the city increased the transfer from Bountiful Power and Light by about $250,000 (from $1.96 million to $2.2 million). Last year, the city more than doubled the “customer charge” of the power bill (from $1.67 to $4) and I warned:
It will be worth watching if the power fund transfer to the city jumps… in the coming year.
While I was off on the exact jump (see the linked post), apparently, I was right with my warning.
