Luzerne County’s inventory of back-tax leftover properties continues to grow

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Headstart students receive gift of warmth

<p>Would it be asking too much for our esteemed state lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf to live within their means, not raise taxes AND reform the state&#8217;s out-of-control pension costs?</p><p>Apparently it would, since the state&#8217;s fiscal year is half over, and there&#8217;s still no state budget. A budget deal currently sits on Wolf&#8217;s desk, but his office has said he does not expect to make a decision on whether or not to sign it before Monday.</p><p>Still it&#8217;s clear many of our state representatives are more than willing to take the easy way out and raise taxes to seal a deal, but when the budget is tied to pension reform, all bets are off. That&#8217;s what killed negotiations earlier this month.</p><p>Meanwhile, those who continue to pay the price are the constituents politicians were elected to serve. School districts, counties and social service agencies that take care of the elderly, abused women and indigent children need state subsidies to provide services, so Luzerne County was forced to borrow $20 million. As a result, county residents will be saddled with an undetermined amount of interest and fees through no fault of their own.</p><p>First things first. Protect pensions at all costs.</p><p>Just when you thought you heard it all, a Pennsylvania lawmaker put things in perspective.</p><p>&#8220;By underfunding our pensions, we steal from children and from children not yet born. How is that honorable?&#8217; Rep John McGinnis, R-Blair, said.</p><p>WAAAAAH!</p><p>Please don&#8217;t steal from us. It&#8217;s not worth it. Keep those cushy pensions intact, and let teachers and state workers continue to retire in their 50s. We&#8217;ll even agree to continue paying for their health care. So what if the saps in the private sector have to wait until they&#8217;re in their mid-60s and beyond to enjoy their golden years. That&#8217;s their tough luck they don&#8217;t have elected officials beholden to public sector unions. Lawmakers, it&#8217;s your job to take care of us and of our future baby brothers and sisters.</p><p>Speaking of the state legislature, McGinnis said, &#8220;We like to think this is an honorable institution.&#8221; I have news for Mr. McGinnis &#8212; it&#8217;s anything but honorable. It&#8217;s a bloated, self-serving group of public &#8220;servants&#8221; wreaking havoc on school districts, social service agencies and counties because of their dismal failure to pass a budget.</p><p>If they want to slash the state&#8217;s debt, let them start at the Harrisburg headquarters and begin the process of reducing the number of state representatives and senators. Then there will be more money for school districts, the children and their yet-to-be born siblings.</p><p>A budget was due six months ago. Pennsylvania has the distinct honor, along with Illinois, of still fighting over one. The last time this happened was 2003 when another first-year tax-and-spend Democratic governor, Ed Rendell, took an abnormally long time reaching an agreement with a Republican-controlled legislature, the Associated Press reported.</p><p>This year, some lawmakers refused to agree to a spending plan not because of the tax increases in it, but because it was tied to pension reform. Some who are actually for pension reform voted against the budget because it contained tax hikes.</p><p>That&#8217;s what recently killed the budget deal after every single Democrat and a majority of the Republicans refused to switch from risk-free defined pension plans to 401k-style plans which most workers with a pension have. This switch reportedly would only apply to new hires.</p><p>That&#8217;s what you think, bub, cried the unions and the lawmakers who do their bidding. Think about it &#8212; our self-serving representatives are also the beneficiaries of outlandish retirement deals and other benefits. So is it really a surprise that they shun any kind of pension reform, despite its catastrophic impact on the financial health of the state?</p><p>Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Schuykill, said the bill to restructure pension benefits would have shifted half the investment risk to new hires and off the backs of taxpayers.</p><p>&#8220;This bill does not kick the can down the road. In fact, it forces our pension systems to get a sharper pencil and save money on investment fees,&#8221; he said in an AP article.</p><p>Why would our representatives in Harrisburg want to do that? Certainly not because of the unions which keep them in office.</p><p>Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, said, without pension reforms, schools and state government will have to keep raising taxes.</p><p>The AP also reported the defeat of the pension reform bill was &#8220;a win for unions that represent teachers and government workers, as well as for those who fought the tax increase. &#8220;</p><p>In June, conservatives backed a previous Senate bill to restructure pension benefits, but Wolf vetoed it. Of course he did. He won in large margin because of support from organized labor. He owes them.</p><p>As they say, the more things change (new &#8220;leaders&#8221;), the more they stay the same. Elected officials from both parties take care of themselves and the self-interest groups who keep them in power.</p><p>For everyone else, there are tax increases.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Betty Roccograndi </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Roccograndi-4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Betty Roccograndi </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>

Zeroing In: Oh, heavens, don’t touch the pensions of our elected officials