Re: [PG-Politics] PG-Politics] Candidate Baker announces his first plan for HUGE spending (and tax) increases.
What you are outlining is just basic good business practice to track expenses. It should be a given to be able to break out specific information. Schools are funded by taxpayers so who cares. Just go back and forcibly get more. That's why people get frustrated because they have to spend responsibly.
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On Aug 12, 2017, at 12:23 AM, Stan Fetter sfetter@icloud.com [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
One important distinction…
True that they have to break out some spending in specified ways for reporting to various state and federal agencies.However, there's NOTHING out there that says they cannot also break it out in some user-friendly manner. This was the basis of a series of huge arguments we had with the old school board years back - their excuse always was "we don't have to report things that way so we don't." At one point the council (and I think Walter Maloney was in on this) was trying to figure out what the janitorial operations were costing. The response from the school board, and this is damn near a direct quote, was "we are not required to furnish that information so we don't."All of which, I think, is BS.I don't care what the state and federal agencies require, and I REALLY don't care what they have in the contracts with the unions. And, I'm not worried about the individual salaries of specific people. What I would like to know, though, for example, is "we have X number of administrators at Z level with a total cost (including fringes, retirement, etc.) of W and the salary range is xx to yy." If some portion is grant-funded, that should be broken out too.We are paying these bills, and in exchange we should know where it's going.Why they don't get this is beyond me. It ain't rocket science.sbfOn Aug 11, 2017, at 9:16 AM, arteerick ARTEERICK@aol.com [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:FYI OnlyYou can go back on vacation Stan, but I understand:-).I also agree with him on bus fuel, some of congresses wasteful spending priorities and the coal issues. Also note, many metro buses now are run using natural gas.As previously stated understanding and knowing where to find public school system and some other government agencies is complex, but I do not agree it is not transparent. However, you have to be trained to understand what is readily available on the website, inside their large budget and master plan books.Some salaries also do not all come from taxpayer funds, but via grants government and non-government.Some staffing by law or contract must be reported a certain way or in a certain place.That does not mean it is not publicly accessible. You can also find information on salaries within the unions and state department websites.The only thing local school systems and governments have any control of is what is negotiated in contracts. The rest is dictated by state or federal agencies or elected bodies. Lastly, most individual information unless otherwise stated may be covered by various privacy laws.Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphoneYeah, what he said…-------- Original message --------Date: 8/11/17 1:40 PM (GMT-05:00)Subject: Re: [PG-Politics] PG-Politics] Candidate Baker announces his first plan for HUGE spending (and tax) increases.On the buses, federal law requires that they be replaced on a time schedule - I think for public schools the limit was 12 years, (somebody here probably knows more current information) so you could reasonably just put the new technology in as the natural rotation occurs. The technology has gotten a lot better in recent years; Pepsi, Fedex, and Verizon have all deployed substantial numbers of both hybrid and all-electric vehicles in places where they work. I expect the batteries are going to continue to improve, so I don't really see an issue here. (That is, unless people like Jay Walker get mixed up in it and ignorantly try to force a single technology or vendor…back to the artificial turf)The money pot discussion is valid, at least to a degree. One of the long-standing frustrations in the county has been how the school system divides things up into categories, and at least years back, the screwy logic employed and the amount of effort they expended to conceal the data. For example, (and again….this goes back years so it may have changed) teacher salaries were lumped into a bunch of other salaries, but the pension and retirement costs were somewhere else. There was no way to figure out what was being spent on teachers as opposed to administrators, custodians, etc. And, they'd load certain categories and short others and claim they had no $$ (for teacher raises, for example) while at the same time they'd funded some gravy projects that could have waited. (The ill-advised effort to move to a new HQ building some years back comes to mind….)All that reminds me of the current $$ mess at the federal level, where the Republicans want to overspend on the wall, defense, etc. and strangle everything else as though the wall and defense spending don't matter but we have to be very stingy when it comes to saving people's lives, etc.Comment on coal…as pointed out by Rev Kitchen and others, it's a dying industry. That's due to a bunch of factors - not just the harm it does to the environment (Does anyone REALLY believe that you can take the entire top of a mountain off, dump the debris in surrounding streams, and NOT do permanent damage? Other than people who still think the earth is flat?). It's a dirty, highly unsafe practice that's thankfully been overtaken by events both in other fuels and the economy in general. I don't advocate shutting the industry down - but, it's got to exist in a manner that does not routinely kill its workers, destroy the environment, and asphyxiate the rest of us. Those goals clearly are attainable, were it not for the tinfoil hat crowd.OK…end of rant. I'm supposed to be on vacation, not worrying about the nonsense that goes on 6 time zones back to the east….sbfOn Aug 11, 2017, at 6:30 AM, Joseph Kitchen josephkitchen@gmail.com [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:The argument that it all comes from taxpayers is ridiculous. That is where all money comes from. When you go to the movies the people paying for admission are taxpayers. The people who buy groceries are taxpayers. The people who buy shoes are taxpayers. The people who ride metro are taxpayers. So again, using that argument knowing full well it that money used to purchase busses and money used to hire teachers are different budgets is purposefully done to mislead people to believe that we can have teachers or busses when in truth we can have both.Mr. Baker's plan (of which I also have many questions) does not call for the immediate replacement of all busses at once. School systems across this region purchase new busses every year. His plan would most likely require the purchase of all new busses to be electric.Oh and FYI ALL government spending (not just liberal) is someone's money. So if you out here driving on the road, someone paid for it. That is how it works.Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr."This is our moment"On Fri, Aug 11, 2017 at 12:10 PM, 'John M. Scroggins' dcrussell@gmail.com [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Exactly. The (mainly "liberal") politicians and followers who work hard to buy votes with someone else's money use their talk about several "pots" as part of a shell game to confuse the people they steal from.
"mary plath meplath@yahoo.com [PG-Politics]" <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
I think this point bears repeating:As to number 4, the money for all those pots comes from the same source - TAXPAYERS.
From: "Comcast robinsonawjr@comcast.net [PG-Politics]" <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com>
To: PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2017 4:39 PM
Subject: Re: [PG-Politics] Candidate Baker announces his first plan for HUGE spending (and tax) increases.
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On Aug 10, 2017, at 10:24 AM, Joseph Kitchen josephkitchen@gmail.com [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Again while I am far from a Baker surrogate two Republicans are once again misleading the conversation.1) No much of our energy (let alone anyone's energy anymore) is generated by coal. It is why it is a dying industry. We transferred from coal a long time ago and more and more places are doing so as well.2) As governor Rushern nor the state legislature is required to submit any increase in state taxes to county voters for approval. The county charter cannot bind the state legislature.3) Other states have already moved to Bakers plan and done it without raising taxes. Busses are automatically replaced and you just replace older busses with new busses that are zero emissions. He doesn't talk about replacing them all at once, nor would he, as doing so would not only be expensive, but it wouldn't make good economic sense as he'd likely be replacing busses that have recently been purchased. A phased out change is something we did when we moved to the current fleet of busses we have now that get more gas milage and have more rider safety. The interesting thing or point that should be debated is that I believe (and I am not sure) these decisions are made at the county level. His platform seems to make this a state mandate which is a legitimate concern for those interested in local control.4) As often is misunderstood, money used to pay teacher salaries is not from the same budget for things like busses. They come from different pots of money. Connecting the two is lazy.Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr."This is our moment"On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 10:07 AM, Comcast robinsonawjr@comcast.net [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Oh, I see the whole state is in for a bumpy ride. It would appear Rushern must have promised the development community billions in taxpayer money for support of his campaign.Schools claim to be unable to pay teachers decent wages, but the state has billions for buses. Oh, I forgot, the democrats already own the teacher's union and state legislators. He doesn't have to placade them but he needs developer money for a statewide campaign.Interesting, how many times Rushern tried to remove PG term limits. I guess the governorship is next step.
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On Aug 10, 2017, at 9:53 AM, Comcast robinsonawjr@comcast.net [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Do any of these "brilliant people" know how electricity is generated. Much is coal generated. I thought they hated coal!As to new taxes, I suggest you watch your state legislature, folks. If Rushern follows the county charter, our law, approved by the people, he must take any new taxes to ballot. I predict Rushern will end run the people of PG by having the state legislature do to the charter what they did with the taking of TRIM. Notice the new spending is for schools. That is the way they bypassed our charter and TRIM with SB848. SB848 said specifically that tax limits or votes required by charter didn't count. The state had the power to overturn the people, the popular vote, our law, if they spent the money on education.The way that a lot of the corruption works is by doing things for the "kids" where the county has to buy a lot of land at exhorbitant prices and giving building and services contracts to developers who are friendly and generous.I suggest you start letting your state legislators know your opinion now. Will they care. I don't know. They might if you give money to republican or independent candidates and let them know.All I can say is, hang on, Prince Georgians, you are in for an expensive bumpy ride. I would love to start a statewide movement for local charter preservation and not allowing legislation apply to only one county.
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On Aug 9, 2017, at 8:15 PM, 'Howard J. Fiske' fiskehj@gmail.com [PG-Politics] <PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com> wrote:Baker's plan will cost billions of dollars.Where will he find the money for this? Although he claims the schools will save money on fuel costs, he completely (and dishonestly) ignores the tremendous new costs of his plan--replacing every school bus, developing the infrastructure for recharging the buses every few hours and for maintaining a different kind of fleet, and increasing the number of buses to account for the limited range of his new buses.The only way he could possibly find the money to pay for this is by imposing HUGE increases in taxes on the already highly taxed residents of Maryland.And he wants us to sign a petition supporting this cockamamie scheme to grab more of our money?---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Rushern Baker III <info@rushernbaker.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 9, 2017 at 6:02 PM
Subject: Take This Step To Fight Climate ChangeThe New York Times' sharing of a recent federal climate report confirms our need for leaders at every level to take immediate action to reverse the devastating impact of climate change, also known as global warming.That's why as Governor I'll find ways to help transition all our large school bus fleets from diesel to zero-emission school busses, fueled by clean, 100% electric motors.Moving to 100% renewable energy for our bus fleet is a win-win-win for Maryland. It's good for our environment, good for our kids' health, and good for our schools by allowing them to save money on fuel.This gives Marylanders the chance to roll up their sleeves and lead the way nationally in combatting climate change at the state level. By switching to cleaner, greener busses, we can become a national model for how states can do that part in reversing the effects of climate change.Will you add your name to our list of people who support zero-emission electric busses for Maryland schools?Sincerely,Rushern
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Posted by: Comcast <robinsonawjr@comcast.net>
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