Month: November 2015
Thanksgiving How-To
Thanksgiving How-to Courtesy of the Delaware County Patriots
HOW TO OBSERVE THANKSGIVING
~~ Author Unknown ~~
Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself.
Thanksgiving How-To
SB76 End Run Failure Explained
By Sen Scott Wagner 
After much debate and discussion on Monday in the Senate caucus, Senator Dave Argall later on the Senate floor offered an amendment to House Bill 683 that contained language that was similar to the language in Senate Bill 76.
The amendment was voted on by the full Senate – the vote was 24 – yes votes ( 18 Republicans – 6 Democrats ) and 24 – no votes ( 12 Republicans – 12 Democrats) – Lt. Governor Stack cast the tie breaking vote of no – so the amendment failed.
While the no vote might be viewed as a defeat – I see progress – # 1 – the issue of school tax elimination made its way to the Senate floor for a vote – I personally, along with other Republican Senators, had many unanswered questions but I voted yes to get the ball on the field – I give our Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman credit for allowing the amendment to the Senate floor for a vote – # 2 – I am reaching out to many of the Republican Senators who voted no to ask what their concerns and reasons for voting no were.
The reasons for the no votes by some of my Republican colleagues are understandable and deserve a chance to be addressed.
Some of the reasons I heard from my colleagues who voted no on the bill were as follows:
– No cost containment is taking place in the schools – increasing wages and benefits, not tied to CPI Index
– Cannot support raising the sales tax to 7% when their Senate district borders Delaware where there is zero sales tax
– Issues with how the funds controlled by the state would flow to their school districts
Another large issue is the current “Hold Harmless” agreements– this means no school district would receive less funding next year than they received the previous year – some school districts are receiving $8-10,000 per student and some districts receive $20-25,000 per student – we need to completely rework the funding formula.
I am fully aware of the school property tax burden on many working families – I am also a private sector business owner.
When I received the tax rates proposed in the amendment on Monday I did a back of the napkin calculation of what the increased personal income tax and sales tax would cost my company and me – the result would be a minimum of $200,000 per year (personal income tax and sales tax) – I am watchful of how the new taxes that are intended to eliminate school taxes on real estate would also impact businesses.
My calculation for the increased taxes my company and I would pay are the gross taxes that would apply – we would see eliminated school taxes of approximately $60,000 on our various properties, which I would deduct from the additional taxes, but at the end of the day the increased tax impact would be in the $140,000 per year range – I am also aware that any additional sales tax that my business would pay would be deducted as a business expense and would reduce our federal tax liability.
For readers who understand different tax categories, my company is a Sub-S Corporation so pass through income would be taxed at the higher rate.
I can assure you of this point – the “Property Tax Ball” is out on the field and is not going away – until it gets resolved.
This past April I circulated a memo proposing a piece of legislation called the “Taxpayer Fairness in Compensation Act” asking for co-sponsors.
Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.
SB76 End Run Failure Explained
Damian Romay Manifesto
Damian Romay sent us this missive — in English and Spanish — on Nov. 4, about how evil corporate forces at a company called Caribevision stole America Teve and his family’s legacy. Things are kind of slow right now on the local scene, this is not the Turko-Russian border, after all, so here it is.
By Damian Romay
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” – Elie Wiesel
Sixty million dollars. I kept doing the math in my head thinking there must be something wrong. According to seven ordinary citizens who are sitting right in front of me with blank expressions on their faces as if waiting in line at the supermarket, my dad has to pay his business associates sixty million dollars. How is this possible?
This Kafkaesque situation originated several years ago when my grandfather, a man who came from nothing and became a television pioneer in Argentina, purchased an interest in a small local TV station in Miami. Eighteen years ago, my father, who grew up in the TV industry, took over this tiny station and began catering to the Cuban American population of South Florida that was mostly being ignored by the big Spanish Language Networks whose focus was on the west coast audience.
The station known as America Teve, canal 41, became a huge success, growing to over three hundred employees, and producing over forty hours a week of journalistic and entertainment programming that at times challenged Univision and Telemundo for the top rating spots. We also served the Community by uniting families, creating job fairs, helping new immigrants that came here with nothing, and handing out food, school supplies, and other goods in times of need.
Many other local stations popped up trying to copy America Teve’s model, stealing our homegrown talent and fighting for the same advertising dollars, but none were able to defeat us. One such station formed by powerful Spanish and Mexican investors called Caribevision was such a colossal failure that it had lost almost one hundred million dollars in just a few years. In 2009, the owners of Caribevision came to see my dad to sell him their stations for fifteen million dollars. My father didn’t have the money, but he was excited about the prospect of growing into a small regional network and he was also afraid that one of his competitors might jump at the opportunity, so he came up with a plan. He offered Caribevision a fifty fifty partnership in which my father would run the operations of the company, and where the Joint Venture would assume a ten million dollar loan payable in 2017. Additionally, my father would loan them up to five million dollars to pay off their other debts until the time the deal was closed.
The Caribevision people accepted the deal and that is where my father’s worst nightmare began. The bank who held the ten million dollar loan didn’t accept the 2017 deadline and they called the loan. Caribevision who according to the agreements had to find a replacement loan didn’t and instead they initiated a lawsuit against my dad.
During the six years of the “joint venture” between America Teve and Caribevision, the Caribevision partners made it practically impossible for my father to run he company, questioning every decision he made, boycotting every board meeting, and never contributing a single cent to the enterprise. Not only that, but my father had to pay the station’s main cable provider almost two million dollars that Caribevision owed from their previous venture to avoid getting kicked off the air. Additionally, a court in Puerto Rico ordered the joint venture to pay a million dollars to a Caribevision employee whose contract was violated by Caribevision. My dad had to sell a company he had in Argentina, sell his house in Argentina, get a second loan on his mortgage, and borrow money, just to keep the company running. And to top it all off, he never paid himself a salary or bonuses, and Caribevision never paid my dad back for the loan he gave them.
So, what benefit did my dad receive from having to take care of the obligations his partners neglected? What damage did the Caribevision partners suffer for all these decisions my dad made? According to the six people of the jury, sixty million dollars.
You must be thinking I’m leaving something out. I can understand that someone could be punished for stealing but why would someone be penalized for lending money to keep a company alive? Where does the sixty million number come from? There has to be more to the story, but unfortunately there is not. I worked in America Teve since the beginning, I saw every monthly balance, I read every agreement, I participated in every board meeting, I was there when my dad inaugurated the building in honor of my grandfather, and when he hired all of the employees, and no matter how Caribevision’s attorney’s spin it, no matter how these six people in the jury see it, and no matter how an inexperienced judge who in her own words, “tried” to be impartial but clearly failed, rules in this case, I know the truth. Today an incredible injustice has been done. One of the Caribevisión partners summed it up best when he said on the witness stand, “What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine.”
If this decision isn’t overturned my dad will have to file for bankruptcy, he will lose the station my grandfather founded, the station which he dedicated almost twenty years of his life and all of his money to, more than three hundred employees, myself included, will probably lose their jobs, Miami will lose it’s number one local TV station, and a bunch of greedy foreign investors will get their way.
But I know my dad. He will fight to turn this decision around because that is who he is, that is what he learned from his father and that is what he has taught me. Never back down, learn to overcome every obstacle life throws in your way and never lose faith. I am not a lawyer nor a judge, I am just a humble writer, and as such all I can do is set the record straight for the world to see.
Damian Romay Manifesto
William Lawrence Sr Omnbit 11-24-15
William Lawrence Sr Omnbit 11-24-15
Kongo Gumi, a Japanese construction company, is the world’s oldest business getting its start in 578. It was family-owned until 2006 when it was acquired by Takamatsu.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-23-15
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-23-15
Fanta, the fruit-based soda pop made by Coca-Cola, was invented by the Coca-Cola bottlers of Nazi Germany. It was after their plants could no longer get Coca-Cola syrup when the shooting started.
Food Collection At Holy Myrrh-Bearers
Holy Myrrh-Bearers Eastern Catholic Church will hold its Annual Holiday Food Collection is collecting food for the local needy through Dec. 13. Those wishing to donate canned or boxed, non-perishable food items should bring them to the church, 900 Fairview Road, Swarthmore Pa., 19081, on any Sunday between 9 a.m. and noon or use the convenient drop-off box at the entrance to the Educational Center during the week.
Food Collection At Holy Myrrh-Bearers
NotInMyName — Muslims Against Terrorism
NotInMyName. It is a positive sign. Some Muslims have taken to social media to declare that they are Muslims and that they condemn the recent terror attacks especially in Paris.
The hashtags being used are #NotInMyName and #IAmAMuslim.
Hat tip Bob Small
NotInMyName — Muslims Against Terrorism
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-21-15
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 11-21-15
British literary greats C.S. Lewis and Alous Huxley died within 10 minutes of each other on Nov. 22, 1963. For some reason, the deaths were barely noted in the press.
SB76 Free Lunch Not
By Sen. Scott Wagner
This week has been busy with many people visiting my Senate office in Harrisburg and many emails received regarding Senate Bill 76 – The Property Tax Independence Act.
If SB76 is passed it would eliminate school taxes on all real estate.
To be clear – local county and municipal taxes would remain in place.
The elimination of school taxes would apply to all real estate in Pennsylvania – residential, commercial and industrial.
To completely eliminate school taxes on real estate in PA the legislature has to find between $12-14 Billion Dollars of revenue from other sources.
Other sources mean new taxes, increased taxes, and lifting exemptions on goods or services not currently taxed.
There is no free lunch – money is not falling out of the sky – so everyone has to have realistic expectations.
I have been a private sector business owner for over 35 years and I learned over 20 years ago this bit of wisdom from a business associate – “Begin with the end result in mind.”
So here is how we begin the task of eliminating school taxes on real estate – we have to identify the actual dollar amount that is needed to cover the school tax elimination – that is the easy part.
Here is the hard part of SB76 – we currently have 500 school districts in PA – each school district has a school board – to be clear there are 500 different school boards that are comprised of volunteer board members.
Each school district negotiates teacher contracts for wages and benefits without any input from the legislature.
Currently there are many school districts renewing teacher contracts with annual salary increases of anywhere from 2% to 3.5% increases – these increases are being given in a period when the CPI index is less than 1%.
The private sector business world is seeing dramatic health insurance increases – in the private sector it is customary for employees to pay for between 20% and 30% of their monthly health insurance costs.
In the Philadelphia School District teachers pay zero toward their health insurance – many teachers throughout PA pay a lower percentage toward their monthly health insurance costs than private sector workers.
We still have not fixed the pension crisis in PA.
Prevailing wage mandates are still required for construction and maintenance projects at school districts.
In my own school district in York this past summer the school district replaced roofs on several buildings – the school finance director requested two bids to replace the roofs, the first bid required using prevailing wage labor and the second bid did not require prevailing wage labor.
The prevailing wage labor price was $2.8 Million Dollars – the non-prevailing wage price was $2.2 Million Dollars a difference of $600,000 – Six Hundred Thousand Dollars – the district had no choice but to award the contract using mandated prevailing wage labor.
I call school districts the “Hungry Monster” that needs to be put on a diet – until we solve salary and health insurance increases – SB 76 will be a disaster – we MUST get school costs under control first.
Another very large issue with school boards is that I estimate that between 25% and 50% of volunteer school board members are married to a teacher, have a son or daughter who are teachers, the board member may be a teacher at another school or the board member may have been a former teacher – My point is that there is a large amount of conflict on school boards – these conflicts must be resolved and eliminated.
The conflict of interest on school boards is similar to the fox guarding the chicken coop.
So here is the dilemma that I face when voting on SB 76 – have spiraling costs been contained or eliminated – and where is replacement revenue coming from?
Here is another bit of wisdom I heard over 20 years – “Align your expectations with reality.”
In reality the SB 76 issue is front burner for everyone – it must be done correctly or three years from now what was a good intention will explode.
That leads me to my closing comment – “I am a person that will tell you what you need to hear – not want you want to hear.”
SB 76 must be done with great thought, planning and precision – My colleagues in the Senate are committed to getting this issue to the finish line.
I intend to vote for SB76 but it is important that it be done properly and not just jammed through.
Scott Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania State Senate.