Part time or full time?

Commenter Chris Hedges says,

Here's something that you can use to help convince your wife. Indiana has a part-time legislature, so you won't be away in Indianapolis all of the time.

My understanding is that the odd years are "long sessions". Even years are "short sessions". Not sure if that works out to full or part time.

I'm not 100% sure that this would work with my employer, but I hear that there's a law that says that you can't be fired while the house is in session!

The guy that had the seat before Reardon was a longtime Mittal (I guess Inland or LTV, really) employee, so it may not be that big a deal. I imagine that my employer might like someone looking out for them in Indy.

It would be pretty cool to see you run just to show people that there are alternatives to the status quo out there.

That's one of the reasons for me to run. I'm just an ordinary guy. I'm not rich. I'm not a public employee. I'm not a lawyer. I'm an mechanical engineer, soon to be a professional engineer licensed in the state of Indiana. That's a rather unique perspective in the legislature, I think.

Who's running in the 12th District?

Mara Candelaria-Reardon filed to run again in the 12th.

Candelaria Reardon has yet to draw an opponent for either the May primary or the November general election.

So where the hell is Buzzcut and why hasn't he filed yet?

Confession: my wife is TOTALLY against it. We've got a baby on the way in May, and 3 kids under 7. She's worried that its going to mess up my work and family schedule, which it probably will.

On the other hand... Reardon has no opposition! What kind of democracy is it that there is no opposition to incumbants?!?

So... am I running? I don't know. Filing doesn't end for a couple of weeks. I still have time to convince my wife. Or, even better, for a REAL Republican, somebody who knows what the hell they're doing, to get into the race.

George Janic is not going to run again, I have confirmed that. I wouldn't even be considering this if Janic were in, out of respect for the legend.

Tax cap phase in passes SENATE!?!

When the tax cap phase in passes the REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED SENATE 47-1, you know that we're all doomed.

I said it before and I'll say it again: property tax "reform" doesn't work. You can have your caps and your sales tax swaps all you want. A few years from now, the special interests will have carved in so many exceptions to the rules that property taxes will be RIGHT BACK where they are today. And you'll STILL be paying that damn 7% sales tax!

That's what happened in 2002 when the sales tax went from 5% to 6%. I guarantee you that 6 years from now, we'll have a proposal to go from 7% to 8% to fund property tax relief.

Hoosiers don't learn from experience. Might be something related to those low SAT scores.

The South Shore Expansion STIF is ROLLING.

Despite opposition from Democrats Charlie Brown and Vernon Smith of Gary, the South Shore Extension funding through a STIF propoal passed the house.

The House of Representatives adopted Rep. Chet Dobis' funding package by a 54-41 vote, with 15 Republicans joining 39 Democrats in voting for it.

I have to admit, I am impressed that this has gone as far as it has. I would never have bet that it would pass either house.

I don't like Democrats, but you have to be impressed with Chester. He had a good idea and he sold it to both downstate Democrats and Republicans.

Of course, as a heterosexual white male, he should be a Republican anyway.;)

COIT is dead. No, COIT is alive. No, COIT is dead...

Well, I was wrong about the new COIT distribution formulas. They passed the Senate 48-0.

Damn! Why can't the COIT just DIE!DIE!DIE!

On the positive side:

County Council members Larry Blanchard, Ted Bilski and Christine Cid met privately with members of Northwest Indiana's legislative delegation.

Bilski said he told them the new distribution formulas probably still won't garner enough support on the council to overcome a promised veto by the county commissioners.

"People just don't want it," Bilski said.

So who know? Is the COIT dead? Is it alive? It's like a freakin' ZOMBIE.

I hope we don't have to have another peasant revolt in front of the county council chamber. It looks like we might have to. That seems to be the only way to get Bilski a backbone.

Is Buzzcut a Racist-Sexist-Homophobe?

The NWI.com bulletin boards make a mention of Buzzcut:

One of my most amusing inquiries is your link to “Blue County in a Red State” blog. This is your very first links listed in “SOURCES OF INFORMATION” This bigoted moron called “Buzzcut” premises his blog existence on the following small-mined foundation (mind you (really all other readers that this was taken from Buzzcut’s very first blog entry, “There are lots of straight white males who vote Democrat. That's insane. Republicans should be cleaning up here.” That is this mental midget’s core philosophy. Sexual orientation coupled with racial overtones is to counter ANY sense of belonging to the Democratic party. SO my question is do you, and your University that employees you in part with tax dollars, is this someone whom you consider a “source of information”!?! This bigoted assertion is the principle that this red neck bases his goal in order to turn the county “red”. Interesting company you keep…

Sorry if I was making a "nuanced" argument, as John Kerry used to say, but it is a fact that straight white males are usually Republican, just as it is a fact that African Americans and single women are largely Democrats.

Thus, if you have a county like Lake County that has white males who vote Democrat, you have to ask, "What the deal with that?" (in your best faux-Seinfeld voice).

Because of demographics alone, Republicans should be winning in Lake County. It's a no-brainer.

Mitch's tax plan and schools

I was really confused about why Lake County schools were going to face cuts because of Mitch's tax caps at the same time that the state is taking over all funding of schools. Why should property tax caps effect something that is not being paid for with property taxes?

The devil is in the details. Mitch's plan does take all school funding off of property taxes and pays for it with state money. However, the state bases that funding on how much the school property tax would raise under the tax caps!

So if Gary Schools would face $15 million worth of cuts under the tax caps, that same cut will be coming when the state starts paying the bills.

That doesn't seem fair to me. The state should have some objective standards as to what they'll pay, maybe based on a certain amount of money per pupil, maybe giving additional money per each low income student. The assessed value of property of an area should have almost nothing to do with it.

Call me crazy, but Mitch's tax plan as it is now written into law is unconstitutional. The state is required to ensure even, fair, and adequate eduation to all. Basing funding on the assessed value of a community does not do that.

Why are Gary Schools so expensive?

Commenter Doug from Masson's Blog questions, "Any thoughts on whether Gary's children are more expensive to educate or whether Gary's educators spend money more inefficiently than other school districts?

(I imagine some combination thereof)."

The slides I posted come from this powerpoint: www.ibrc.indiana.edu/lakegov/LCGFS_final_presentation.ppt

Check out this report, yet another "Good Government" initiative which has some AWESOME banchmarking data, of which I posted some of the slides.

Gary has a lower student-teacher ratio and a lower teacher-administrator ration than it should. It has too many teachers teaching too few students, and too many administrators doing god knows what. It needs to lay off teachers and administrators and do more with less.

The "Big 4" (Whiting, Hammond, East Chicago, and Gary) also have too many firefighters, too many police officers, and too many government employees in general for their level of population relative to the other municipalities in Lake County.

Why are Gary Schools so expensive? Part 2

Why are Gary schools so expensive? Part 1

The Democrat/ Teacher Union assault on the tax caps has begun

You knew that all the cumbaya over Mitch's tax plan couldn't last. There is no way that teacher unions are going to stand by and watch their cash cow (uncapped property taxes) be capped.

Daniels wants to limit tax bills to 1 percent of assessed value for homeowners, 2 percent for landlords and 3 percent for businesses. But his so-called circuit breaker provides relief by restricting the property tax revenue that flows to local government, with schools expected to shoulder roughly a quarter of the $599 million statewide budget shortfall forecast for 2009.

The impact of the caps would be most severe in areas with the highest taxing rates, which often are a reflection of low property values. That phenomena help explain why high-poverty schools in East Chicago, Gary, Hammond and Indianapolis face the starkest spending cuts.

"We want our students to succeed. We hold our schools and our teachers accountable," said Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary. "But continually cutting funding for schools in Gary and throughout the state is counter-intuitive to that priority."

Keep in mind that Gary spends $14,000 a year per student, and has a graduation rate under 50%. Gary has far more administrators per student and teachers per student than they should.

We're more educated than Arkansas and Missisippi!

Indiana is totally unprepared for the 21st Century, educationally speaking.

One indicator is the average SAT score of high school seniors.

Lamentably, our entire state has lagged significantly behind other states. In 2007 Indiana ranked 38th with a combined score of 1487, against a national average of 1511. Moreover, the students in some of Northwest Indiana's school districts are among the poorest performers in the entire United States.

Another indicator is educational attainment. Here, Indiana's relative position has been embarrassingly low and has not moved in 30 years. In the category of "persons over the age of 24 with a bachelor's degree or more" Indiana ranks 47th with 15.6 percent against a national average of 20.3 percent. Only Nevada, Arkansas and Mississippi are lower.

Say what you want about the Chinese and Indians, they take education very seriously. How are you going to compete with someone who is SMARTER than you, more educated than you, and is willing to work for much, much less than you?

The people of Indiana need to take education a lot more seriously.

We're Number 3!

The existing South Shore line is the third fastest growing commuter rail line in the country.

That's pretty amazing. We're competing with the other Chicago lines, New York City, D.C. etc.

Yet another tick mark on the "pro" ledger for the SS Extension.

Democrat Rep. Charlie Brown much ado about nothing

You know that bill by Charlie Brown to repeal the tax breaks for BP, Mittal, and US Steel?

Yeah, nevermind. Failed to clear committee. Didn't even get a vote!

What a schmuck.

A DEMOCRAT has the only intelligent comment on tax "relief"

Rep. Craig Fry, D-Mishawaka, was the only lawmaker to vote against the amended plan. He complained that the legislation too closely resembles past tax relief efforts that, he said, failed to deliver on promises to homeowners.

"I just can't believe we're buying into this garbage all over again," Fry said during floor debate.

That sums up Mitch's tax plan to me. We've done this crap before, as recently as 2002. Raising the sales tax to pay for property tax relief does not work. Why is it going to work now?

It's not all negative. I like the following items:

*Cap tax bills at 1 percent of assessed value for homeowners, 2 percent for landlords and 3 percent for businesses, beginning in 2009.
*Shift $1.1 billion in school and welfare costs off local property taxes and onto the state's ledger
*Require referendums on most local construction projects, but not school classroom buildings
*Limit annual local government spending increases to the average growth in county personal income -- 2.9 percent in Lake, 4.6 percent in Porter
*Eliminate township tax assessors

I don't like these items:

*Raise the state sales tax by a penny, from 6 percent to 7 percent, to pay for the welfare and school swaps
*Double the state income tax deduction for renters from $2,500 to $5,000
*Boost the earned income tax credit from 6 percent to 9 percent
*Freeze property taxes for seniors who own a home worth $200,000 or less and earn annual income below $35,000 for singles or $50,000 for couples

Why should seniors get a better deal than other citizens? Because they vote.

Democrat Rep. Charlie Brown is not a leader

There is a move afoot to repeal HB 1858, which gave big tax breaks to BP, Mittal, and US Steel.

Democrat State Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary was the author of HB 1858. He is also the one pushing for repeal. Weird, huh?

I love this quote:

Rep. Charlie Brown acknowledged House Bill 1858, a 2003 bill which allowed the "Big 4" industries to claim lower values for their personal property, was not the only culprit in the significant property tax increases homeowners have experienced in north Lake County in recent years.

But Brown, D-Gary, nonetheless wants to base the tax breaks in 1858 to the companies' earnings because his constituents blame the law for their woes.

"People along the lake shore have demonized 1858," Brown said.

So the morons who live in this district have a mistaken notion, but rather than fix the notion, Rep. Brown caters to it.

That is not what a leader does. Brown is a follower, not a leader.

Some other good quotes that support my contention that the tax caps make HB 1858 a moot point:

Rep. Jeffrey Espich, R-Uniondale, argued most Lake County homeowners wouldn't even see any property tax reductions if the industries' property taxes went up because the vast majority of property in the affected areas is taxed at so far above the 2 percent property tax cap already in place.

"(Amending 1858) would simply mean more money for government to spend," Espich said.

But Lake County Commissioner Roosevelt Allen countered that corporate tax caps of 3 percent being considered by the General Assembly should apply to the mills and BP along with every other company operating in Indiana.

"Why should they get this additional break?" asked Allen, D-Gary.

25% of Indiana High School freshmen fail to earn a high school diploma

In case anyone is wondering why Indiana has such a hard time attracting good jobs to the state, along comes this report that shows that 25% of incoming high school freshmen don't graduate in 4 years.

I don't know how we can look at a statistic like that and come to any conclusion other than that our schools are total and complete failures. I also blame parents and the students themselves.

If you don't even have a high school degree, you're good for nothing more than sitting in a jail cell. You have no future whatsoever. Everybody knows that.

And then there is this:

Lake County is also home to urban schools with the worst graduation rates -- Hammond High at 36 percent and Gary Roosevelt at 41 percent.

These two schools should be shut down immediately. Keep in mind that Hammond spends $12k per student and Gary spends $14k per student. What the hell are they doing with that money?!?

Senate committee waters down the tax caps

After a state senate rules committee watered down the tax caps, you really have to wonder if Republicans aren't as beholden to public employees as Democrats are.

That would cost local government in Lake County an estimated $252 million next year, with city and school budgets in East Chicago, Gary and Hammond facing cuts of at least 29 percent.

"Since they are totally reliant on property taxes, except for gambling revenues, (Lake County taxing units) have a very severe problem," said Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville.

What the hell does Kenley, a downstate Republican, care about North Lake County municipalities? Is he getting kickbacks from East Chicago firefighters or something?

Democrats start to water down tax "reform"

It didn't take long for the Democrats' wacky ideas to get into the property tax legislation.

Just because Democrats hate rich people like the Klan hates African Americans, they modified the homestead credit to phase it out as homes become more expensive. Someone with an $800k home will get no exemption.

Maybe this means nothing if your property taxes are capped at 2% of assesed value. I know that in Hammond, East Chicago, and Gary, tax rates are so high that the homestead credit is null and void. You hit the 2% cap before the homestead tax credit even kicks in.

COIT won't die, part deux

The bad news is that the revised COIT distribution formulas made it out of commitee.

The good news is that some of the Senators obviously read this blog!

Considering the levy freeze persuasion enough, Sen. Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange, wanted to know why Lake County needs a special distribution formula to go along with the income tax.

"Why is this any different than what we gave them last year?" Meeks asked.

I'm still betting that these new distribution formulas don't make it into law.

Democrat State Senator Mrvan gets hot under the collar when questioned about watered down tax caps

CHECK THIS OUT! Wow, Mrvan must be feeling the heat to let some mere peon, I mean tax activist, get under his collar.

On Tuesday, he accused the Senate panel of caving to "special interests," which drew an angry rebuttal from Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond.

"You don't even know how we're going to vote, and you're accusing us of being against it," Mrvan said.

Priceless.

What the hell is the Lake County Solid Waste Board?

The Times has an article about the Lake County Solid Waste Board and it's interest in building a "waste to ethanol" plant.

The process is pretty cool, but experimental and probably totally risky. On the other hand, it is totally needed. One huge problem in recycling is how to recycle paper with food waste on it (like, you know, McDonald's garbage). One of the two proposals addresses that issue: turn it into ethanol.

My question is, what the hell is the Lake County Solid Waste Board? Municipalities are responsible for their own solid waste hauling. Why do we need a county board for this?

If these companies want to build these plants, build them. Get the various haulers in the region to sign contracts for their waste. Why does this board need to be involved?

We're never going to get our levy down if we don't start eliminating boards and departments that make no sense.

South Shore Extension scope increases...

Man, this is going to piss people off!

Once the SSE went downstate, the powers that be determined that the scope should increase to fix problems on the existing line in South Bend.

One of the best arguments against the South Shore is that the price tag is unrealistic. All government projects go WAAAY over budget. This is one example: scope creep.

On the other hand, Democrat House Speaker Pat Bauer of South Bend is at least proposing that the STIF be widened to LaPorte and St. Joseph counties, to pay for the extra $150M for the South Bend upgrades.

I think that a widened STIF is not a bad way to pay for the SSE or these upgrades to the original line. Of course, privatizing the South Shore is an even better idea.

Playing chicken with the tax cap

The reality of the tax caps are starting to sink in in Indy. There is a proposal afoot to "phase in" Mitch's lower caps

This, of course, is as awful idea. Why? Because the EXISTING 2% tax cap, which is kicking in now, which was passed in 2005, has done NOTHING to stop East Chicago and Gary from spending like drunken sailors. Those 2 communities, with 2 years notice, have done nothing to get their budgets under the 2% cap.

Hammond has done some cutting (heath department, their levy has decreased by 4% in the last year), but it is far from enough.

These 3 communities are the balance of the $270+ million that Lake County will lose under the CURRENT tax cap (2% for homesteads, 3% for everyone else). If they haven't done anything with 2 years notice, why would anyone expect any other municipality to do any cutting before they absolutely have to?

Phasing the tax caps in just gives these municipalities that much more time to waste our money.

Democrat Rep. Charlie Brown is not a bald headed white kid on the funny pages

One of the ideas that is out in the Lake County ether is that our property tax problem was caused by the tax breaks given to BP, Mittal, and US Steel by HB 1858.

The biggest proponent of this idea is Democrat State Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary. Of course, Brown should know, because he was the sponsor of that bill!

That's why I call him a schmuck. This jackass caused our property tax problems by getting this bill enacted, and now he wants to repeal it? He has no credibility!

The reality of the situation is that when the full tax caps kick in next year, and businesses are capped at 3% of assessed value, HB 1858 will be pretty much irrelevant. And lo and behold, there's Charlie Brown in the Times today, saying that the tax cap needs to be ammended so that when BP et. al. are making money, the caps do not apply.

What is that tax cap for businesses worth? $119 Million!!!!!!

Man, are taxes in this county f-ed up! Where do the powers that be in the Big 4 communities get off charging BP et. al. those kinds of taxes?

Times' "Editorial Advisory Board" made up of government takers

I can't find a link on the NWI.com website, but in the paper today they had pictures and descriptions of everyone on the Times' editorial advisory board.

Of the 15 or so people, only one was employed by the private sector. Everyone else was either an elected official, an executive of a government board, a non-profit executive, or an educational administrator.

In another words, they were ALL people who look to government to pay their salaries and fund their organizations.

And we wonder why the print media has such a pro-government bias?

Democrat Will Smith gets 15 months in the slammer!

WOW! I didn't see this coming. Will Smith is going to jail for a sufficient amount of time that Democrats can't argue that he wasn't really convicted of a felony.

Technically, if you don't go to jail for more than a year, you weren't convicted of a felony. If Smith were not SENTENCED to a felony, we might be eligible to stay in politics.

The era of Will Smith has come to an end. Being that he was President of the Lake County Council, that's saying something.

Visclosky is incompetant on the South Shore Extension

The South Shore Extension is Congressman Viscosky's baby. He's the point man on federal funding, and it seems like he's a one man show in getting other entities in the state to kick in their share of the funding.

Yet we learn today that the Regional Development Authority, which Visclosky says is going to kick in $150M for the project, hasn't even been approached by SSE proponents as to funding.

This is a major f-up on Visclosky's part. If the RDA doesn't have $150M to give (which they probably don't), then the local share is $500M, not $350M.

Right now, support for the SSE is totally based on the creation of a Sales Tax Financing District, so that the people of Lake and Porter counties don't have to pay any additional taxes. If the RDA has to raise taxes to pay for its share, support for the SSE will quickly evaporate.

This is typical Lake County Democrat incompetance. Visclosky is a hack.

County Income Tax won't just die?!?!

The powers that be in Lake County refuse to follow the will of the people and let the COIT just die. They're down in Indy trying to get the Senate to pass a different distribution formula.

Read my lips: there is NO distribution formula that makes the COIT fair. We don't need a COIT in Lake County.

The comments on the story are pretty good. Lots of good reasons that the COIT should just DIE!DIE!DIE!

I'm actually not all that worried that the Senate will pass this. I can't see why a Senator from a county other than Lake would want to "reform" the distribution formula that their county is already living under. If it is good enough for downstate, it should be good enough for us.

Meet the next corrupt Democrat!

Convicted tax evader Democrat Will Smith has a replacement.

Okay, start taking bets on when this guy gets indicted.

Democrat State Rep. Reardon fired for incompetance

A blast from the past from Advance Indiana:

Lawmaker Claims Lake Co. Sheriff Illegally Fired Her

State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon (D-Munster) worked for the Lake Co. Sheriff's office for the past three years until she was fired by Sheriff Roy Dominguez last December while the legislature was in session. Both Reardon and House Speaker Pat Bauer believe Dominguez' refusal to rehire her to her position as director of the Lake County Drug Free Alliance at the conclusion of the General Assembly this year violates a state law protecting the jobs of legislators according to a story in today's Gary Post-Tribune by John Byrne. Byrne reports:



Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez terminated Reardon in December, after three years running the agency that spearheads the county's anti-drug agenda. To Reardon, Dominguez violated a state law prohibiting employers from firing members of the General Assembly for missing work because of legislative duties.

Dominguez declined to discuss why he fired Reardon, except to say politics played no part in his decision. A letter Dominguez sent to Reardon this week denying her request to return to the alliance indicates he was not satisfied with her work. "(Y)our work performance reflected that you were not qualified to retain your previous position; and circumstances have changed so as to make it unreasonable to re-employ you in said position," the sheriff's letter states.

The law protecting legislators' jobs stipulates they must be qualified to return to their positions. But House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, said the sheriff's actions break the law.

"It's a violation of the law, and I'm very disappointed in that sheriff for violating the law," Bauer said.

"He's a lame duck sheriff, so I suppose he doesn't think he has to worry about that anymore," the speaker said.

"That's a shame, because all people should be people of good will. This is a part-time job. It's a difficult job," he said.

House Democratic Caucus Supervising Attorney Patrick Cunningham said he sent Dominguez a letter informing him of the law.

"Now it's up to (Reardon) to decide how she wants to proceed," Cunningham said.


If you examine the statute in question, it appears Reardon has a pretty strong leg to stand on in being reinstated to her former job. Indiana Code 2-3-3-1 reads:


Any person being a member of the general assembly of the state of Indiana who, in order to perform the duties as a member of the general assembly of the state of Indiana by attendance at any session of the general assembly, or attendance at any duly called committee meeting, conference, or legislative study committee meeting of which he is a member, has left or leaves a position or employment, other than a temporary position or employment, in the employ of any employer and is still qualified to perform the duties of his employment and makes application for reemployment within ten (10) days after the close of any such session, or meeting, of the general assembly shall be restored by his employer to such position or employment at not less than the same pay or to a similar position or employment and pay unless the employer's circumstances have so changed as to make it impossible or unreasonable to do so. When a member of the general assembly is restored to his employment it shall be done without discrimination, nor shall the member be caused to suffer inconvenience or any other adverse action by his employer, as a result of any action taken while serving as a legislator.


I read this statute as pretty much tying the hands of an employer from firing a legislator while the legislator is on leave from their job during the legislative session as appears to be the case with Reardon. If Dominguez had rehired Reardon and waited a few weeks to fire her and relied on reasons other than her absence from work during the legislative session, he would have probably been on safe legal ground.

It is interesting to note that Byrne's article notes that Reardon formally worked for U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky before he eliminated her position, which seems out of the ordinary. The article also raises a serious conflict of interest issue respecting Reardon's employment and her legislative duties. "Reardon sponsored a bill this session that brought more funding to the alliance," Byrne writes.

Democrat Rep. Reardon says Lake County needs welfare

State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster, welcomed Daniels’ assistance in averting financial disaster in Lake County.

“I hope the governor meant what he said today, because he’s right, Lake County is unique,” said Candelaria Reardon, a member of the Ways and Means Committee.” We have mills and refineries, serious infrastructure concerns.”

“A property tax bill which works for much of the rest of the state just isn’t going to work in Lake County,” she said.

This was in response to Mitch's testimony that because Lake County taxes are so high, his proposal is going to require huge cuts, and the state may need to help out.

My view is that Lake County got itself into this problem in the first place by allowing government to get bloated, and we can get ourselves out of it by cutting to the bone.

Every service provided by The Big 4 municipalities in Lake County is overstaffed. The benchmarking studies show that. So start laying people off!

We don't need welfare from the state. We need to start getting our own house in order. But Reardon represents the public employees, not the taxpayers, so her first instinct is to go downstate looking for a handout.

Hoosiers vs. Danes

Indiana's economy is the same size as Denmark's. Cool map!

What Democratic Rep. Reardon thought of Mitch's speech

Meanwhile, Rep. Mara Reardon, D-Munster, was quick to note that the 2006 telecom rewrite allowed cable companies to drop public access television programming in East Chicago.

That's her issue? CABLE ACCESS?!?!?!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most people would rather have the home shopping network than cable access.

With all that's going on with taxes, this is my opponent's issue. Un-fricken believable.

If it keeps on rainin the levy's gonna break.

Commenter Bigreub blasts me, "Do you not understand property taxes? The levies are set regardless of the assessments. All the assessment changes do is redistribute the billings for each property. For every dollar that someone's tax bill goes up someone else's bill goes down a dollar.

Yes and no. Theoretically, you are correct. But if the Democrats actually cared about the taxpayers that they represent, they'd know that the assessed value had switched from commercial to residential, and they'd adjust the levy down to make sure that the average tax a homestead pays is the same year to year.

But Democrats don't care about the taxpayers. They only care about their REAL consitutents, the public employees. Keeping the homestead levy constant would require huge cuts in spending, and thus layoffs, pay cuts, and most likely an elimination of pensions. Democrats will never go for that. So they stiff the taxpayers with 30% higher levies.

You can blame the Homestead and PTRC freezes that Mitch pushed in order to balance his own budget for the current tax bill increases.

No argument there. The state definately balanced its budget on the backs of the property tax payer by not fully funding the PTRC.

Of course, this is another danger with the current round of property tax "reform". There is no guarantee that at the next revenue crisis, the state won't stiff the PTRC again.

That's why under Buzzcut's tax proposal, I propose to eliminate the Homestead tax credit and the PTRC, and in return cut the sales tax back down to 5%. Almost everybody in Lake County has already hit the 2% tax cap, so my proposal won't raise property taxes in Lake County at all (well, except for Dyer, St. John, Schereville, and Highland. Sorry guys).

That way, under Buzzcut's tax proposal, your property tax paid has absolutely nothing to do with the whims of the legislature.

The Times agrees with me that Cid has to go.

The Times agrees with me that public employees have no business being on the Lake County Council.

Cid, D-East Chicago, said she would set an agenda for county government that avoids major job layoffs but seeks to end expensive and controversial perks.

Nothing against ending costly perks, but the layoffs shouldn't be avoided. The Good Government Initiative recommendations by consultant Maximus Inc. should not be ignored.

This brings us to the main reason Cid should not have been named council president: She is a county employee and, therefore, cannot help but make decisions that affect her own department.

I've been saying this for weeks.

I think that I like McCain.

Steve Dalton mentioned that he's for McCain.

I think that I am too. I think McCain is the only candidate who was right on the Iraq War from day one.

McCain never drank Rumsfeld's cool-aid regarding troop size. From day one McCain said that there needed to be more troops in Iraq.

And lo and behold, when we DID put more troops in there, Iraq was pacified and Al Qaida was destroyed.

There's one quote from McCain that sold me. He said recently that if the Democrats had had their way, either Saddaam would still be in power, or Al Qaida would have defeated us in Iraq and would now be in power there with a huge propoganda win.

The problem with McCain is that he's pissed off a lot of Republicans over the years. Rush and McCain have gone at it a lot over the years, for example. McCain-Fiengold is one of the most hated laws among Republicans.

McCain also doens't have a lot of money, especially compared to Hillary and Obama.

And he's old.

Like I said, there is no perfect candidate out there. The Perfect Candidate would have McCain's foreign policy experience, Giulliani's executive and 9/11 experience, Romney's looks and money, and Huckabee's humor and faith.

How about Romney for Prez, Huck for VP, McCain for Secretary of State, and Giulliani for Homeland Security? Can I broker that deal?

What about consumption taxes?

Commenter Steve Daltons challenges,

"I have to disagree a bit though Buzz. I think property taxes, any property taxes are a disincentive to acquire and hold assets. So in general I would favor consumption taxes on current consumption and eliminate any and all death, asset, savings, capital gain, or property taxes."

In a perfect world, I don't disagree. Mike Huckabee's Fair Tax probably makes the most sense.

But look at the tax rate for the Fair Tax. Huckabee claims that it's 23% (keep in mind that Indiana's sales tax is 6%). In truth, if you calculate the rate the way all normal people do, it's 30%. And my thinking is that it really needs to be more like 45% to make up for the income tax, corporate income tax, payroll taxes, etc.

And that's just the Fed's share. If Indiana is going to go to a consumption only tax system, our sales tax needs to be 15% to replace just the property tax. Replacing the income and corporate taxes means it has to be even higher.

This would result in a huge tax increase on most people (most people don't even pay federal income taxes!). Most Americans spend every nickel that they make, and then some! It would also be a huge tax cut for some rich people who consume far less than they earn as income.

Now, you can make supply side arguments about how much more efficient this perfect world would be with the Fair Tax. I don't disagree. But the transition from our world to the perfect world would be a b****! There would be a tax revolt that would make what happened in Indy look like a junior high pep rally.

Again, most people don't pay taxes. Their federal tax liability is zero. They don't even see their payroll taxes as taxes, they're never in their check in the first place. Sales taxes are paid little by little and are ignored for the most part because it is "only" 6% of any purchase.

But now if they're 50% or more of any purchase, people are going to notice that! And they're going to be PISSED OFF!

Why are property taxes so high in Lake County?

Commenter Eric Schansberg asks, "Why does Lake County put up with this? I'm editing the next issue of the IPR-- on property taxes-- and have run up against the freakish example of Lake County's use of property taxes."

The answer is multifaceted. First of all, historically, the Standard Oil refinery and the steel mills paid all the taxes in Lake County. Homeowners paid very little in taxes, mostly because of the way that homes were assessed. Back in the '60s, when Standard and the mills were making money hand over fist, that was just fine. They paid the taxes to keep labor peace with their unionized workforce that largely lived in these communities (Whiting, Hammond, East Chicago, Gary).

This is also why Lake County doesn't have a COIT. We haven't needed it, as long as the corporations paid all the taxes.

So the first chink in the armor was the lawsuit that challenged how homes were assessed. True value assessment got rid of the sham called depreciation, which essentially put all those formerly untaxed homes in the Big 4 communities back on the tax rolls. True value also switched the tax burden to faster appreciating residential property from slower appreciating commercial property.

The second chink in the armor was global competition. The steel mills were bankrupt, and the successor companies to Standard (Amoco, then BP) were essentially so. Because of their financial hardship, the big corps got together and got the general assembly to pass HB 1858, which significantly lowered their assessments and tax liability. The rumor I've heard is that BP's annual tax liability to Whiting was cut by $20M per year just from this one bill!

None of these changes in and of themselves should result in a higher tax bill. They should just result in less revenue coming into the government. The city governments should have streamlined and eliminated services, consolodated, etc.

But they didn't. They just started jacking up their levies.

Why do people accept these higher levies? The demographics of Lake County is largely Democrat. The people that they vote for, being Democrats, are not the kind of people to cut government. They're the kind of people that, seeing that their levy is capped at 2%, go ahead and submit a levy well in excess of 2%!

But people are pretty pissed off here. Maybe they're ready to vote Republican. That's what I'm banking on.

Indiana Tax Trends

I'm not sure if I posted this before or not.

According to the Tax Foundation, Indiana has gone from having the 8th lowest taxes in America in '03 to the 12th.

We're ahead of Illinois, barely. We're also ahead of Michigan and WAAAY ahead of Ohio.

But the trend is consistantly negative. I think that you are seeing the impact of the increase in sales tax from 5% to 6%, and maybe trending.

How bad is it in the 12 district?

The 12th district consists of slivers of 6 communities: Whiting, East Chicago, Hammond, Highland, Munster, and Dyer.

You can see that 4 of the 6 communites attempt tax homesteads at rates above the 2% cap. Of course, that's just stupid, they can't do that in Lake County.

Those tax rates in Whiting, Hammond, and East Chicago are just frightening. Thank god for the cap. Nobody should have to pay 5% of their assessed value in property taxes.

Munster should be ashamed of itself. The most Republican community in Indiana shouldn't bust over the tax cap. Embarrasing.

Highland and Dyer are in trouble. They're under the cap. Look for local officials to attempt to raise taxes right up to the cap. Dyer residents should look forward to a 28% increase in taxes next year!

Frightening apathy on Republican side.

So I went to the Munster Town Republican Commiteeman meeting last Thursday to feel them out about a run for the 12th. During the meeting, we did a mini-caucus for the Republican presidential candidate.

There was no enthusiasm whatsoever for ANY of the candidates. It was frightening to behold. After all, these are the guys that need to GET OUT THE VOTE come election day.

Munster is the most Republican town in Indiana and one of the most Republican towns in the country. If we're not enthusiastic for the candidates, our presidential prospects are bleak indeed.

Can a Republican with the 12th district (which, after all, is heavily Democrat) at the same time that there is an Obama tsunami?

BTW, I'm not exactly enthusiastic for any candidate either, but I like ALL of them. I could support McCaing, Giulliani, Romney, or Huckabee with no problems. They all have things that I like about them and things that I don't like.

Who's worse, Lake County or Marion County?

Commenter Steve Dalton throws out another challenge:

"Buzz, I grew up in Indy, and frankly they all think NW Indiana is corrupt. I'd say we need to clean up our house pretty fast here."

Look, I don't necessarily disagree. I don't think that Marion County is corrupt, and we all know that Lake County is corrupt to the bone on the Democrat side of the aisle.

No, the problem with Marion County is that they think that the world revolves around them, and that they can get Indy to essentially write county specific special legislation just for them (which is of course unconstitutional).

Combine that with the fact that Indy essentially has no industry other than government, and you get a VERY warped mentality down there.

I think that if you could do a study as to who really pays the bills in this state, Lake County sends WAAAY more money downstate than it gets back. Marion County takes WAAAAY more money in than it sends elsewhere.

They're tax eaters, and they have been for 80 odd years (since the state sales tax was instituted in 1932, at least).

If not property taxes, what?

Commenter Steve Dalton challenges me:

"Ok, I'll take the bait Buzz, I agree that taxes are stupid in Lake County, and that property taxes are the worst.

So, why not go to an income tax or sales tax which would be a lot less political and less complicated?"

Simple answer: the problem is not property taxes per se. The problem is government spending, which has to be paid for somehow.

Look, why is the property tax rate in Hammond 8.4%? Because they spend money like drunken sailors! Can you say Lost Marsh Golf Course? What business does Hammond have running a golf course on top of a slag heap?

If sales taxes or income taxes replace the property tax, the rates needed to generate the equivalent amount of money would be insane. Do you want to pay a sales tax rate of 15%? A local income tax rate of 10%? That's what the numbers need to be to generate that kind of revenue.

Keep in mind that, at least for homesteads, the property tax is capped. In the example I posted, the only reason the $78k house had a tax bill of $3600 was because it was a rental property. If it were a homestead, the tax would only have been $1560, which is on the high side of reasonable.

There's no cap on the sales or income taxes. Your liability is essentially unlimited.

So... I think that there's nothing wrong with property taxes per se. They are NOT more difficult to calculate than the income tax (arguably, the assessor is more reasonable and less invasive than the IRS, for example). Home sales, being public record, make the determination of fair value a little easier than determining whether, say, a business owner is generating income or capital gains.

The best thing since sliced bread...

... is online listings of property taxes and assessments.

Some people think that it is a violation of privacy. Others, like me, think that it is a great way to self police the politcal class. I love going on whitepages.com, finding politicians residential addresses, and going online to see how much their place is assessed for.

F*** Marion County

There is a proposal afoot to allow a different distribution of property tax rates in Marion County than in elsewhere in the state.

You know, I for one am sick and tired of this state being run for Marion County and Marion County alone.

It is unfortunate that the largest city in the state is also the capital. The combination of population and large numbers of public employees makes the place the root cause of most of this state's problems.

Hammond taxes: stupid high!

His Hammond house is a little more than 1,100 square feet, 40 years old and assessed at $78,300. Brock rents it for about $800 a month.

"The tax bill I received for the house in Hammond is $3,654.

Do the math. The tax rate in Hammond is 4.6% of assessed value. With the homestead tax credit, the true tax rate is 8.4% of assessed value.

That's just highway robbery!

Mitch is full of crap on STIF

"The cardinal rule, as you'll recall, with us is that no other Hoosier other than those in the area that would benefit from the convention center should pay for it," Daniels said. "So if (another plan) violates that principal, I would probably have a problem with it."

So says Mitch with regards to a sales tax increment financing district to pay for the South Shore Extension.

To which I say BULLS***!

I have one word for you, Mitch: MAJOR MOVES.

With the tollroad sold, in effect Northwest Indiana is paying for the transportation infrastructure of the whote friggin state.

In effect, this STIF is OWED TO US to make up for selling the tollroad at our expense.

Who wants to be on my campaign commitee?

So I downloaded the forms to run for the Indiana House. I'm in the 12th district, currently held by Candelaria-Reardon.

You need to fill out two forms and file them in Indy. Filing begins on the 23rd. I'll probably file on the 1sr.

If my wife lets me. ;)

New Rumor: Old Man McDermott to run for County Comish

Okay, sorry I didn't post this before.

I heard FOR THE SECOND TIME last night that Old Man McDermott is going to run for Fran DuPey's seat on the Lake County Commision. I heard this from a Munster Republican.

I had heard this last week from a guy who heard it from Lake County Republican Chairman Curley himslef.

I also heard that 70+ year old McDermott has a 38 year old wife. Eww.

Anyhoo, why would anybody vote for McDermott? Seems stupid to me.

A gun in your hand is worth two cops on the phone.

Every gun hater out there needs to take 6 minutes out of their life to listen to this 911 recording.

A Democrat with a Good Idea?!?

I have to admit that Democrat State Rep. Chet Dobis has a good idea for funding the South Shore Extension:

A Sales Tax Increment Financing District.

I knew that state law allows them, but only under some specific circumstances.

Under a STIF, instead of sending sales tax revenue to Indy, the revenue stays where it is generated and can be used to pay off bonds for infrastructure.

Quite frankly, this is a brilliant idea. Almost as good as my idea of selling the existing SS line to a private company and using the revenue from the sale to build the extension.

Anyhoo, kudos to Rep. Dobis. I don't praise Democrats for their intelligence very often.

Tell the judge to throw the book at Democrat Felon Will Smith

Hey, should YOU wish to write to US District Court Judge Simon and tell him what a sleazeball Will Smith is, his address is:

Judge Philip P. Simon
5400 Federal Plaza
Suite 4400
Hammond, IN 46320
(219) 852-6740

No e-mail, sadly.

Taxpayers ask that the book be thrown at Democrat Felon

So convicted tax felon Democrat Will Smith will be sentenced soon, and the letter writing campaign has begun.

All this friends say that he's the best guy every.

Thankfully, two Lake County taxpayers took the time to write the judge that Smith should have the book be thrown at him:

Lorraine Bank, of Lowell, said the sentence could extend far beyond Smith's situation.

"Please throw the book at him and keep him away from our local government for as long as you can," Bank wrote. "In the meantime, the rest of these parasites might get the idea from watching what happened to Mr. Smith and go away also."

I think that that's all that needs to be said!

The BMV cost me $600

Okay, so I moved to Indiana from Illinois this year. My wife and I went to the BMV to get our Indiana licenses. I had no problem. But my wife was unable to get a license with the correct name on it.

When we got married 11 years ago, she took her maiden name as her middle name (you know, like Hillary RHODAM Clinton).

This was no problem. At the time we lived in New York. She got her license changed there, as well as Social Secutity card, passport, etc.

We didn't have any problem in Illinois as well. All of our mortgages, brokerage accounts, etc. have the name with the maiden name as the middle name.

Unfortunately, my wife let her passport expire. So when she went to the BMV, she had to use her birth certificate.

This is how the BMV discovered that her maiden name was her middle name. Evidently, this is not allowed.

They instead gave her a license with one of those hyphenated names.

That, of course, was not acceptable. The hyphenated name is not on her social security card, accounts, mortgage, etc.

So we had to go to court to get her name changed to what it has been for the last 11 years. It cost us $600 to do it.

F***ing bureacrats.

And now I read in the Post-trib that the BMV may not even be applying the law correctly!

AHHHHHRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! I could KILL somebody!

More on Democrat Rudy Clay's mismanagement of GSD

From commenter Chris Hedges:

When I lived in Hobart, we paid money to GSD -- they handled our sewage, so it is nice way to reach out beyond the city limits to get some additional cash. They're talking about raising sewage fees, so who know what might happen. There was talk a while back about Hobart building its own plant. Maybe fee increases will spur movement on the part of the town to build their own plant.


So that's the crux of the mismanagement: Democrat Rudy Clay, mayor of Gary and trustee of the Gary Sewer District, figured out a way to get suburbanites to fund his stinkhole of a City.

His only defence is that he's not the first Gary mayor to do it.

Is it me or is Rudy Clay a clown? I saw him at "The Uprising" on January 3rd. He looks like a fool. Who has mutton chops anymore? That's just stupid.

I'll tell you this, if we can figure out a way to make the mismanagement a felony, we can get him kicked out of office. That would put a big dent in the Democrat machine.

The cutting of government begins!

The consequences of the frozen property tax levy have begun to be felt in Crown Point.

Okay, no real cuts have happened. But at least the City of Crown Point is making preparations to at least hold the line:

To Crown Point, that means the loss of about $246,000, data show.

It puts the city's proposed addition of four full-time firefighters, three police officers, one dispatcher, a crossing guard, full-time building inspector and eight police cars at risk.

Good news! Even though these are baby steps, they are steps in the right direction nonetheless.

A lot of South Shore Extension Commentary Today

There were a couple of commentaries and a few letters about South Shore extension in the paper today.

http://www.nwi.com/articles/2008/01/06/opinion/guest_commentaries/doc76973290c804bcaa862573c60078d62e.txt

Not too much new in these commentaries. Same numbers, same arguments I've seen before. Nobody seems to be addressing the main criticisms of the expansion, that it's too expensive and that Metra has no capacity to allow more South Shore trains.

I'd like to see somebody address the last criticism. If we build it, will Metra allow us to run more trains?

Long Term Indiana Economic Trends: Not Good

What are the long term economic trends for Indiana?

1) During the past year, the third quarter of 2006 to the same quarter in 2007, Indiana has ranked 45th in the nation in personal income growth. We grew by 4.3 percent while the nation advanced by 5.0 percent (these numbers are not adjusted for inflation).

2) This is the fifth quarter of the past year-and-a-half (six quarters) where Indiana has not kept pace with the nation.

3) It is the 11th time in the 13 quarters (three and one-fourth years) we have lagged behind the rest of the nation.

4) In every decade since the 1950s, Indiana has had slower growth in personal income than the nation. Over a period of 230 quarters, 58 percent of the time Indiana grows less rapidly than the nation.

5) We had 2.63 percent of personal income and 2.61 percent of the nation's population in 1950. But in 2006, those numbers had fallen to 1.86 percent and 2.11 percent, respectively.

6) Today, per-capita personal income in Indiana is $32,226. If our personal income had grown at the average rate of the nation, the average Hoosier now would have $4,700 more for shopping, rent, gas, taxes and all the goodies of life.

So, the long term economic trends in Indiana are not positive. It doesn't take a genius to understand why. Taxes are too high, government is corrupt and ineffective, and our school system produces graduates who are not prepared for the jobs of the 21st Century.

I think that some of this is turning around. Certainly, thanks to No Child Left Behind, we at least know how bad schools are, thanks to widespread testing.

Misinformation about Indy forcing a COIT on Lake County in '08

This Times article continues to spread some convienent lies about what the legislature will do about the lack of a COIT in Lake County.

The claims are twofold:

1) The legislature will once again require Lake County to adopt a COIT in '08, just like they did in '07. If it is the same as HB 1010, they will freeze the levy again if we don't pass a COIT.

2) The legislature won't let us "participate" in tax reform if we don't pass a COIT.

Neither of these claims makes sense.

#1 is stupid because it was a Lake County legislator that got the COIT requirement written into law. It wasn't "the legislature" that tried to screw Lake County, it was Democrat State Rep. Bob Kuzman. Will he try the same nonsense in '08? I'm guessing that that's unlikely. While he's not running again, he would just be giving his Democrat successor a likely defeat if he tries this crap again.

#1 also assumes that a frozen levy motivates people to pass the COIT. My thinking is that we've already hit the tax cap, our levy is frozen no matter what the legislature does.

#2 is also unlikely. It's unconstitutional to enact county specific laws. We'd have a good case in Tax Court if the legislature tried to ban us from any "reform" they enact for everyone else.

So... let the try and force us to pass the COIT. Freeze the levy in '09. Who cares? It changes nothing.

The COIT is wrong for Lake County. It was wrong in the past, it's wrong now, it will always be wrong.

More Democrat Mismanagement in Lake County

The U.S. Attorney's Office has asked Democrat Mayor of Gary, Rudy Clay to resign as special administrator of the Gary Sanitary District alleging mismanagement of funds, a city attorney said Friday.

The sanitary district has been "lending" money to the City to meet operating expenses. This is a sneaky way to get around the tax cap, which does not apply to user fees from the district.

Look for more swaping of funds just like this in the future. It's not entirely clear to me that this is illegal, although, of course, it should be.

Who will be President of the Lake County Council?

The Times reported today that Eloise Franklin will step down as Lake County Council President. Maybe that's not surprising, seeing as how she totally f-ed up the COIT vote. Typical Democrat incompetance.

Unfortunately, it looks like Christine Cid, a public employee employed by Lake County, is in the lead to replace her.

Call me crazy, but a public employee is the last person who should be elected President. How is she going to do the cutting needed under the tax cap?

Larry Blanchard is the only council member qualified to be President. Being the only Republican on the council makes him qualified.

Mittal pays $11.5M to East Chicago!

Thanks to yet more gross incompetance in government, we now know that Mittal pays the city of East Chicago $11.5 million dollars per year in property taxes.

This doesn't include what they pay to the schools, county, state, township, etc.

That is an insane amount of money.

You have to love this quote:

Bennett said the city budget already is under stress because of a state-mandated property-tax freeze that will deny $2 million to the city budget this year. He said proposed pay raises for employees may be jeopardized.

Thanks be to God for the tax cap. These bastards are starting to get what they deserve: pay freeze, layoffs, etc.

Yet more on the South Shore Subsidy

More from commenter g:

I don't think your new take on this is off by much. I don't see any other way to lure higher incomes to the region. The jobs have no chance of coming here until enough people that live here are commuting and employers see that these types of workers exist here. That's how it happened in every other direction outside of Chicago.

This is certainly an excellent argument for the expansion. My man Mitch talks alot about a "brain drain" from Indiana, and certainly one aspect of the drain is that there is NOT a critical mass of professionals in Lake County the way there is in, say, the western suburbs of Chicago.

I don't think that it's revolutionary to note that, once you have a critical mass, it feeds on itself and grows.

My problem with the SSE is simply cost and excecution. Having lived in the northwest and western suburbs of Chicago in towns with good train access, I don't think that there is any question that the expansion will help bring in more professionals to the area. It would be great for Munster, for example.

Let me throw some more numbers at you. The local cost of the SSE is supposed to be $500M. At 6% interest, paid off over 30 years, that works out to $36M per year. That's the cost of just getting the train out here, the capital cost.

Then you have that operating subsidy from the state, which Harper says will be up to $35M per year. So the total subsidy would be $71M per year.

If you doubled ridership to 8M rides, that subsidy is up to almost $9 a ride, from the $7.50 previously.

$71M per year is a lot of money. That's equivalent to the amount of money the COIT would generate.

Comment on South Shore Line Subsidy

From commenter g:

Harper's comment does not seem all that clear to me. I don't know if that was his intent.

The current $15M state subsidy is for the entire line. Harper only cites the number of riders in Lake/Porter county that "regularly ride the train to work." He does acknowledge that "the train is used by many to go to Chicago for shopping and sporting events"; but the group he chooses to focus on makes up only about 1/2 the total riders. The South Shore claimed 4,000,000 total riders in 2006 (google south shore ridership.)

Even at the full ridership number, the current subsidy is an eye-opener.

This is not an argument for or against the extension(s). Just a nobody requesting clear information from both sides.

Okay, 4M riders per year with a $15M subsidy is $3.75 per ride. That's quite a subsidy.

Of course, that's just the cost. If the South Shore Expansion proponents are correct, all those people riding to Chicago make a lot more money than they would if they worked in Lake County. If they make $50k more that they otherwise would (that's the difference between the median household income in Lake County vs. Cook County), at 3.4% income tax that's another $1700 per year per rider. At about 250 working days per year and 2 rides per day, that works out to $3.40 per ride!

It's a wash!

Who screwed Lake County?

Who wrote the requirement that Lake County adopt an income tax into HB 1010?

Democrat State Rep. Bob Kuzman. He represents the 19th district out of Crown Point.

Interestingly, he's not running again. Hmm. I wonder why.

Good riddance, rat bastard. You tried to f*** us over, but we stopped you.

Property Tax Reform, Lake County Style

The county "option" income tax failed in Lake County on Friday. As a result, Indianapolis will freeze every municipality's levy in Lake County at the 2007 level.

Some people, like Lake County Commisioner Roosevelt Allen, Jr., think that this is a bad thing.

Some people, like Lake County Councilman Larry Blanchard, know better. If the levy is frozen, jackasses like Roosevelt Allen, Jr. can't raise it!

This is the simplest way to property tax relief I've ever seen. Brilliant!