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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Sue Henry on Tuesday said the race in the 121st Legislative District rests largely on one issue &#8212; the elimination of school property taxes.</p><p>Henry, 53 of Hanover Township, is the Republican candidate trying to deny state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, a seventh term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She met with members of the Times Leader Editorial Board on Tuesday to discuss issues facing her district and the state.</p><p>Henry said in addition to the school property tax issue, she would like to see a comprehensive, thoughtful plan to do address the overwhelming problem of addiction &#8212; which, she said, often leads to incarceration and broken families.</p><p>&#8220;I would work with municipal leaders to improve the quality of life in our region, which will retain young people and improve conditions for those who live here and are concerned about the degradation of neighborhoods,&#8221; Henry said.</p><p>Back to the school property tax issue, Henry said she supports House Bill 76/Senate Bill 76 and the work of the Pennsylvania Taxpayer Cyber Coalition, a grass-roots group that has worked fervently for more than a decade on the issue.</p><p>&#8220;Far and away this is the biggest issue in this campaign,&#8221; Henry said. &#8220;I have knocked on thousands of doors and I have heard what people are going through.&#8221;</p><p>Henry said she has seen reports that show that every three days someone in &#8220;our area&#8221; loses their home because they can&#8217;t pay their school taxes.</p><p>&#8220;I will work with anybody &#8212; Republicans, Democrats, citizens, finance experts &#8212; to solve this issue,&#8221; Henry said.</p><p>Henry said the proposed legislation would call for increases in the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent, and in the wage tax, from 3.07 percent to 4.95 percent. She said there would also be an increase in tax on some services, like concert tickets and haircuts.</p><p>She said any legislation has &#8220;unintended consequences,&#8221; that would not be satisfactory to everyone. But she quickly noted that property owners currently provide most of the funding for schools &#8212; many of them having paid those taxes for decades and long after having any children in school, some never having children at all.</p><p>&#8220;If we all want good schools, then we all should help pay,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I know of some people who have had to borrow money to keep their homes, or they sell their homes and move to more tax-friendly states.&#8221;</p><p>Henry said she is confident the legislation can pass in the legislature.</p><p>Henry said she holds no personal animosity toward her opponent, but she did question his practices. Henry said she would not take the $191 per day travel benefit that Pashinski does. She said Pashinski&#8217;s staff budget of $355,000 per year is too much; she would reduce that.</p><p>Henry said she would not try to take away any pension benefits already earned, but she would look at ways to change the system to make it less burdensome on taxpayers in the future.</p><p>&#8220;We need to live in current times,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The current system just isn&#8217;t financially sustainable.&#8221;</p><p>Henry was not clear on her support or opposition to a severance tax on natural gas. She said she would want to be assured that the money derived from such a tax would be used to benefit the host communities and their residents.</p><p>Henry talked at length about the opioid crisis, saying that she empathizes with families having to seal with addiction.</p><p>&#8220;I hope to work with them to assure them that they are not alone,&#8221; Henry said. &#8220;State government needs a comprehensive, holistic approach, especially with children, to promote awareness and prevention. I want to make sure we do this right.&#8221;</p><p>Henry said that the cost for treatment needs to be affordable and sustaining during recovery to keep patients &#8220;on track.&#8221; She said distribution of addictive drugs needs to be monitored and she favors drug take-back programs.</p><p>As far as the 121st District, Henry know there are more registered Democrats than Republicans, but she believes people will vote candidate and not party.</p><p>&#8220;People need to think carefully about this district and its future,&#8221; she said, noting several municipalities in the district have elected Republicans in office.</p><p>Henry said she has advertised on radio and some TV and has relied on social media to get her message out.</p><p>&#8220;What we&#8217;ve done is we have gone out and talked to people throughout the district,&#8221; Henry said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve approached anybody to urge them to vote. I hope to be the person to represent them in Harrisburg and I will be there for the people.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Sue Henry. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118Sue-Henry1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Sue Henry. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118Sue-Henry2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sue Henry. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118Sue-Henry2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Sue Henry. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Republican seeks to deny state Rep. Pashinski 7th term </subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Henry stresses property tax issue in effort to deny Pashinski seventh term