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Kathy Alaimo makes her last sandwich at Circles on the Square

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Synagogue rampage suspect indicted on 2nd day of funerals

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski does favor eliminating school property taxes, but not as outlined in legislation currently before the legislature.</p><p>Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, is running for a seventh two-year term in the state House of Representatives. He is opposed by Republican Sue Henry of Hanover Township, a former radio talk show host and a communications professor at King&#8217;s College.</p><p>Pashinski, 73, met with the Times Leader Editorial Board on Wednesday to discuss issues and the hottest topic &#8212; school property tax elimination &#8212; was first on the agenda.</p><p>The legislation that Henry favors is House Bill/Senate Bill 76. Pashinski said the legislation, brought forth by Republican House members, has been on the books for some 15 years. Pashinski said the bill&#8217;s author, Republican Jim Cox, has said the bill &#8220;is a starting point&#8221; and &#8220;needs amendments.&#8221; Pashinski was also quick to point out that the House and Senate are controlled by Republican majority, yet the bill remains unpassed.</p><p>&#8220;Property tax reduction is possible,&#8221; Pashinski said. &#8220;Elimination requires shifting $14 billion to other taxes causing a tremendous imbalance and severe consequences to our economy.&#8221;</p><p>Pashinski said he voted for House Bill 504, which he said would&#8217;ve considerably reduced property taxes for all Luzerne County homeowners up to $950. He also co-sponsored Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s plan to give each property owner up to $1,000 off their taxes and eliminate the tax for nearly one-third of Pennsylvania seniors.</p><p>&#8220;But the Republican majority party blocked those bills,&#8221; Pashinski said. &#8220;The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and the Independent Fiscal Office have identified multiple problems with House Bill 76, which has caused no movement toward passing the bill.&#8221;</p><p>Pashinski contends one major objection is the estimate that HB 76 would under-fund schools by between $1 billion and $2 billion. He said Cox, the sponsor of HB 76, stated &#8220;It&#8217;s a flawed bill.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I will continue fighting for property tax relief and would gladly vote for an elimination plan that works, but House Bill 76 simply doesn&#8217;t work,&#8221; Pashinski said.</p><p>Pashinski noted that HB 76 would not eliminate property taxes in school districts that have debt.</p><p>&#8220;So in the 121st Legislative District, taxpayers would still have to pay school property taxes until that debt was retired, which could take years,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Pashinski said there are many important issues facing the state and his district. One is creating family-sustaining jobs &#8212; he called them &#8220;living wage jobs.&#8221;</p><p>Pashinski said people want to work, but often are lacking the necessary skills for many of today&#8217;s high-tech jobs. He said he has been working with area colleges and universities to redefine their curriculum to prepare students for the current job market and to incentivize the colleges to provide the appropriate programs.</p><p>&#8220;Education is the key to the power of Pennsylvania and America,&#8221; Pashinski, a retired school teacher, said.</p><p>Enacting a severance tax on natural gas drilling is also on Pashinski&#8217;s priority list. He said because Pennsylvania remains the only gas-drilled state without a severance tax, the state loses $200 million to $400 million in revenue every year. He favors enacting a 5 percent severance tax to be levied that would include the impact fee that is already in place.</p><p>&#8220;We need a balance,&#8221; Pashinski said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to chase anyone away, but nobody is going anywhere. We have one of the richest deposits of natural gas in the world here. The wells have been drilled and capped. The pipelines will be built and the distribution will follow. We have lost a lot of revenue by not having a severance tax. This is the people&#8217;s resource and they deserve a piece of the action.&#8221;</p><p>Pashinski said he wants to assure that affordable health care is available. He said while most salaries of workers have remained stagnant or grown slightly, the cost of health care continues to rise dramatically.</p><p>&#8220;This is a life or death moral issue,&#8221; he said. If we don&#8217;t fix it, people are going to die. Health care must be affordable.&#8221;</p><p>Pashinski said too many health care corporations are making billions of dollars.</p><p>The opioid crisis is also an issue Pashinski wants resolved. He said the state has done a lot in recent years to combat the epidemic &#8212; 45 Centers of Excellence across the state, a 24-hour hotline for help and guidance, increased outreach to the medical community and a prescription drug monitoring system has been established.</p><p>&#8220;We have to have a system that addresses prevention, educates and treats,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is a scourge on our community.&#8221;</p><p>Regarding term limits, Pashinski smiled and said he faces that every two years when he runs for re-election.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m evaluated when voters go to then polls,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s when they decide if I deserve to be their representative. I take my job very seriously. I want to help people every way I can.&#8221;</p><p>Pashinski said he was proud of the recent passage of two pieces of legislation he sponsored and co-sponsored regarding grandparents raising grandchildren. He said it&#8217;s an issue he will continue to work tirelessly on for the benefit of the families.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, meets with the Times Leader Editorial Board on Wednesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Rep.-Eddie-Day-Pashisnki.jpg</photo0><caption0>Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, meets with the Times Leader Editorial Board on Wednesday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></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 @.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Pashinski talks issues, including property tax elimination