Posted on 06/27/2010 10:08:46 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner
Dan, of Harrisburg, wants to eliminate tax loopholes for corporations doing business in Pennsylvania. Lewis, of Elizabethtown, wants to put state lottery money toward education instead of senior programs. Larry, of Meadville, thinks there should be containers at state parks where visitors can make donations.
Those are among the 855 ideas for balancing the state budget submitted to www.yourpabudget.com since the site was activated about two weeks ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at eveningsun.com ...
Cut taxes, gut regulations and make Pennsylvania a place where corporations want to come and set up businesses.
Stop the runaway spending, cut useless programs and furlough unnecessary employees.
Pennsylvania is one expensive state to live in...especially if you are in a big school district.
They need to find a way to lower school taxes. Where I live, they are jacking it up another 3.5%, and we already pay out the wazoo. They need to do away with some of these “district administrators” and learn how to run things more efficiently.
They could combine certain smaller districts. They could also tax those with piles of kids who do not pay property taxes. And do away with all those meal programs.
If I really need the “sarcasm” tag, you're on the wrong web site.
How about set the standard for municipalities going into bankruptcy and modifying pension obligations and current union contracts?
One thing that always irked me when I lived in Penna. was the superfluous number of municipal governments (fiefdoms) with all of their duplicated services. It was ridiculous. Perhaps the state would be better served if many of these fiefdoms were disbanded and local government affairs were instead handled at the county level.
Needless to say, the entrenched township "lords" fight consolidation proposals with every administrative tool at their disposal, and the result is never ending stalemate.
The problem is not most of the local munis it is at the state level. Anyway in my area the large local muni could not afford its big projects. They formed a county wide authority, received 50 million from the state, added a local hotel tax, siphoned off gambling funds meant for property tax relief, and still receive 1.3 million a year of other state subsidies to cover the 100 million of financing through bonding(borrowing). pnh102 these progressive ideas we could all do without.
Heh. They're in for a couple of unpleasant surprises when they get here...
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“They need to find a way to lower school taxes. Where I live, they are jacking it up another 3.5%, and we already pay out the wazoo. They need to do away with some of these “district administrators” and learn how to run things more efficiently.”
I’ve got ‘hardworking’ teachers living on both sides of me. They’re off for the summer and the teachers union is agitating for a raise. I’d be happy if they were out working on roads or cleaning schools for the summer.
So typical of most government... the idea of "doing without" simply isn't considered.
Maybe we should bring some teachers in from India to low ball the pay. Just like Congress has done to my profession an Internet programmer! I have receieved a 3.5% pay raise TOTAL for the last 5 years.
Yeah . . . our school taxes are going up about 12% - new high school construction. A massive new "Taj Mahal" was approved before the economy took its swan dive. The voters were set up to choose between two unreasonable options - over-priced overhaul of old building (~$115 million) vs over-priced new construction (~$120 million). Of course we're going with new construction, and fortunately it's on schedule and on budget. We could have done with much less, but of course the voters weren't given that option once the teachers, administration, school board, and their consultants finished with their recommendations and put it up for a vote.
The idea of professional legislators getting large salaries, pensions, benefits really doesn’t bode well for small government ideas.
Instead of dealing with legislation in short, down-to-business, sessions (and then going back to their livelyhoods back home)— legislators receiving 6 figure salaries feel obliged to “earn” their living by even costing the taxpayers more money in new programs they dream up to prove they are worth the money they are being paid.
The idea of professional legislators getting large salaries, pensions, benefits really doesn’t bode well for small government ideas.
Instead of dealing with legislation in short, down-to-business, sessions (and then going back to their livelyhoods back home)— legislators receiving 6 figure salaries feel obliged to “earn” their living by even costing the taxpayers more money in new programs they dream up to prove they are worth the money they are being paid.
That's a might big perhaps. Here in NJ, it's been shown that the smaller school districts on average are cheaper and better than the bigger districts. Some go as far as having volunteer school boards - you can't get cheaper than that.
There are valid reasons for local control, and small span of government. My little town was part of a bigger township, until about 1958 when it broke away, primarily because the folks on the north side of the highway weren't too keen on spending money for services for the folks on the south side of the highway. There were several such little towns carved out of the larger township, and they compare very well in cost-effectivemess to the large NJ towns (even ignoring the money pits of Camden, Trenton and Newark).
The idea that snow plowing or patrolling Oak Street is a duplicate service for snow plowing or patrolling Maple Street one block over but in the next town is silly. Tie two cities together, and generally you get one more layer of management. Two separate schools need two principals. Two schools in the new, larger combined district need two principals, and a fully staffed superintendents office.
“Dan, of Harrisburg, wants to eliminate tax loopholes for corporations doing business in Pennsylvania.”
South Carolina beckons...
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