Part-Time Legislature Needed

Years ago we almost got our part-time legislature back. We just missed the mark. We also thought that Term Limits would help alleviate some of our problems and it did. Now it is up to us to make another attempt.  A Part-Time legislature just might help them come home to their constituents (they really only work part time anyway) and have to do work in the real world.  

Get a petition and circulate it. We have a much better network now to promote and make contact. Take the petitions to your work, church. clubs and family gatherings. If enough people get involved we can make this an easy job. Do your share and make it harder for the lobbyists to be heard over their constituents. 

If you are unable to circulate petitions, (that means you can't sign your name and have no friends) then you can at least make a contribution for printing the petitions and fighting those special interests that will be trying to defeat the proposal. As a matter of fact, do both.

Lets give this all we have got.
 http://parttimemi.com/

They Come to America II - Free

Wayne County Taxpayers Association Presents

They Come To America II

This is a documentary on immigration that everyone should see.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

6:30 to 9:00 PM

Leon’s Family Dining

23830 Michigan Ave.

Dearborn, Michigan

( 1/2 block east of Telegraph)

This is a documentary that you shouldn't miss. Immigration effects our economy our taxes, all of our lives.  We agree that something needs to be done, but it has to be something well thought out and coordinated to make things better instead of destructive to our way of life.  The showing is free and you can bring anyone with you.

Please note that it starts a half our earlier than our normal meeting and is a week earlier due to Thanksgiving.

Liberal Fascism At Its Peak

How much more of this are the american people going to take. No one wants to believe that our president is trying to punish those who don't agree with him but the evidence is as clear as the nose on your face. He closed the open air World War II memorial that you just walk by to veterans and others. He closed the Lincoln Memorial that is outside and accessible to walking traffic. He closed the scenic roads that allow stops to view Mt. Rushmore which is not run by the government but a private company, He made people who own houses on government property leave their homes. People who operate businesses on government land were forced to close. In a stunning development, some military priests are facing arrest if they celebrate mass or practice their faith on military bases during the federal government shutdown.

Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was "closed" due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored fishing is also prohibited at Biscayne National Park the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean. Keep in mind that the enforcement of these closures cost more than keeping them open.

The worse of all the nonsense is the lack of funding to return our dead warriors to our country and the failure to transport their family to receive them when they arrive. The benefits of the fallen soldiers' families have been held back as well. These funds  have been passed in the house but Senator Reid has refused to bring it to a vote.

As much as liberals speak about bullying in our schools and workplace, our president is acting like a petulant child who is trying to bully and punish the whole country to get his way. The shutdown effect only 17% of our government and he has ordered that they should make it as painful as possible. Even if he denies that he gave the order, he could fix any of these situations with a stroke of a pen.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

This week I opted out of a Smart Meter by calling DTE 's Customer Service (800) 477- 4747. I suggest you also opt out. While your at it tell your state and federal senators and representative that you don't want them either.  I was moved to do this as a result all the bad things I was hearing about them. People have reported health problems of all kinds.  In addition to that, the privacy issues were screaming in my head. I was watching a commercial on a security system where you could control your heat, lights, air conditioning and a camera in your home from your cell phone.  Smart Meters have the same type of technology. Your energy company would be able to do the very same thing.

The recent NSA scandal only makes this more horrifying. Companies have been cooperating with the government to monitor phones, email, personal pages and anything else can get their hands on. The most recent findings are that the government was sharing information from and with the IRS.  

This is a big issue. With the flick of a switch they can learn more about you and your habits than your family members.

 For those of you who do not know what a smart meter is, please click on the links below.

Michigan: Smart Meter Education Network

Smart Meters- Stop the Invasion!

Michigan Stop Smart Meters

IMPORTANT INFORMATION for all Allen Park Voter/Taxpayers!

 By Tim O’Brien

The Allen Park Emergency Manager

recently released a video of FAQ’s to

answer some “Frequently Asked

Questions” about the 6¾ mill tax increase

she has placed on the August 6th ballot.

State law does not permit public officials

to use tax money to advocate a tax

increase so the questions and answers

were carefully selected.

But before you vote on August 6th you should also consider the Frequently Avoided Questions

Q. How much will this millage cost the average Allen

Park homeowner?

A. As our Emergency Manager says: 74¢ a day. But

thinking of it as “less than the cost of a cup of coffee

or a soft drink” is, ironically, exactly what financial

planners warn people against doing! This tax increase

will cost the average homeowner $270 per year —

$2700 over the ten years it will last. Or to put it in the

most familiar context, an additional $22.50 a month

into mortgage escrow for the next decade. Assuming,

of course, a house with an SEV of $40,000.

 
Q. Will this millage go exclusively to providing police and

fire services?

A. That is a meaningless distinction. The city has only

two checkbooks -- one for water and sewerage and

the other for everything else. The basis of the claim is

that since 6¾ mills will generate almost $5 million in

annual revenue while expenditures for public safety

are more than twice that amount, it can be said that

the money raised is being spent there. That, of

course, frees up $5 million that went for police and

fire services last year to be spent on other things. It's

the same shell game that was played on voters years

ago when they approved a state lottery on the promise

that the revenue generated would go to education.

Money is what economists call a "fungible

commodity.” Just as one glass of punch is like every

other one dipped from the same punchbowl, one

dollar is just like every other one taken from the same

general fund. There is no way to ‘earmark’ it.

Q. Have residential property taxes really decreased 28%

in the last five years?

A. That's difficult to answer without knowing how the

calculations were made. But what does it matter to

individual homeowners in any case? The important

question is: Has your property tax bill decreased 28%

in the last five years?

Q. Are home values predicted to continue to decline?

A. Not unless recent trends suddenly reverse and values

start down again. The Zillow real estate website

shows current Year-over-Year selling prices for

homes in Allen Park at +12.4%. The Trulia website

puts the Y-o-Y number at +17.7%

Q. If this millage passes, will no additional tax increase

requests be made? Also, if fiscal stability is restored,

might this increase even be rolled back?

A. Both are speculations, not commitments. There is

nothing in the proposal that even hints at either one.

Q. If this millage proposal fails, what changes in city

services can residents expect as a result of the fallback

"Plan B"?

A. That's impossible to say. However, whether or not the

dire predictions are a 'scare tactic’ as some have said,

consider the warnings from public officials before the

last proposed millage increase — that if it did not

pass, the city's recreation center would close. The

millage failed. Stop by the rec center and interrupt all

the activities there to ask if it’s closed.

Q. Isn't that because operation of the rec center was

given over to a private company?

A. Indeed. And that certainly suggests what will actually

happen if this millage fails. At the top of the list of

services ripe for turning over to a private provider is

EMS. In this era of fireproof everything and smoke

detectors in every building the function of the fire

department has become primarily providing an

ambulance service. This doesn’t require a full-time

staff of 28 and such expensive equipment as, for

example, our 100-foot ladder truck. (In fact there is

the only one building in the entire city tall enough

where this specialized vehicle could ever even

possibly be needed -- which is probably why the only

action the truck has ever seen is in parades.)

 
Q. What has been done to reduce the $3 million per year

cost of providing health insurance for the city's 220

retirees?

A. Nothing yet. However, beginning in the new fiscal

year prescription co-pays will be increased to $10 for

generic drugs, $20 for preferred brand name drugs

and $30 for all others — from long-standing co-pays

of $1, $2 and $5 respectively. In addition both

current and reired employees will begin paying 20%

of the premium for their health insurance plans (that,

incidentally, will provide coverage that — like the copays

— will be closer to what most taxpayers have.)

Q. Have current employees been switched over from

"Defined Benefit" pensions to 401(k) type "Defined

Contribution" pensions?

A. No. And even though this — along with the goldplated

health insurance plans — is what bankrupted

two of the Big Three, it isn't clear how or when the

transition even can be made. Although government

employees — city and county, along with teachers —

are the only workers who still have this open-ended

benefit, ever increasing life-spans have made the cost

of funding it so enormous that the system cannot

afford to allow current employees to rto redirect

retirement savings into their own 401(k) accounts.

The contributions they make under the current

system are essential to continue paying benefits to

retirees.

Q. Hasn’t anything been cut from this year’s budget?

A. Yes. Pay for the mayor and council was cut by 50%

for an annualized savings of $24,000 and curbside

pick-up was transferred from DPS to trash contractor

Republic Services for an additional $200,000 per year.

A.

Q. Do appointed city employees really get 90 days of

annual sick leave?

A. Yes. Though that three months of sick time per year

will be changed to 12 days per year beginning with

the next fiscal year.

 
Q. Has the pension "spiking" been stopped?

A. No. Though this is something else that is scheduled

to be eliminated next fiscal year. In the meantime,

however, at least three — and perhaps more — city

employees will be using the (borderline fraudulent)

tactic of banking all of their vacation, comp time and

unused sick days to and converting them into cash to

enhance their last year's salary. The 2.9 pension

multiplier is then applied to this artificially inflated

pay scale to calculate their retirement benefit — a

“spiked” amount they will then draw for the rest of

their lives.

Q. 2.9 multiplier? Isn't that higher than average?

A. Higher than average? It is the highest in the entire

state! It is double the typical 1.25 to 1.5 range.

Adjusting it down to 2.25 is another change to begin

next year. Strangely, this is still 50% higher than the

1.5 pension multiplier that is part of Governor

Snyder’s “Best Practices” program for local

governments. Perhaps we can get our EM to confer

on this with the person who appointed her.

 The Bottom Line

Our experience with an Emergency Manager makes you wonder why people were so worried about giving an unelected official so much power. The Allen Park E.M. has done almost nothing to address our structural deficit. No property sold. No bonds renegotiated. No consolidation of services with other cities. No staff reductions. Not one provision of one labor contract has been revised. The only

substantial steps she has taken is to borrow another $2 million, and then put a proposal on the ballot to raise taxes by $5 million a year for the next decade.

They will only raise our taxes as a first resort!I

 

I need both the funding and some volunteer help to do the lit drop the week before the election.

Any help you can offer -- or point me to -- with either or both will be greatly appreciated.

TOBrien@SmallGov.us  

 313-359-7820

 Small Government Committee _ PO Box 118 _ Allen Park, Michigan _ 48101They