Buzzcut wins!

The rest of our property tax rebates will be mailed out next week.

I still don't get this:

Lake County Council President Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, previously said the money to back up those checks likely would be loaned from county government coffers.

But Wieser said Friday that the money is being drawn from property tax replacement credits -- a state fund used to reduce local property taxes. Lake County municipalities would have received those funds initially.

The money came from the State from slot machine licenses. Nowhere in the law did it ever say that money would be going to any municipality. I don't understand why Blanchard or anyone else is saying that this is "costing" Lake County anything.

Lake County Public Employees are all criminals

Employees are abusing their take home car privelages.

A Lake County Treasurer employee is arrested for embezzling $100k.

A Lake County Sherrif officer killed his buddy while driving drunk, and tried to get out of it by claiming the buddy was the one driving. Instead of facing criminal charges, he is only being disciplined by the department.

Is it me, or is every single last Lake County public employee a criminal?

Lake County budget cuts are coming...

...but the focus of the story seems to be how to minimize the pain on public employees from North Lake County.

"We have over $20 million of ideas and not the pie-in-the-sky type," County Attorney John Dull said. "The problem is that they may have a disproportionate effect on north county."

The Good Government study also recommends merging agencies that provide duplicate services. Many county residents employed by potentially redundant government agencies live in north county.

The impact on north county of potential budget cuts always has given county leaders pause, but the state-imposed tax reductions are forcing their hands this time.

No offense, but screw the public employees and screw North Lake County. Make the cuts and return my tax money to me.

Munster bike path moving forward very quickly

Munster got funding for their portion of the Pennsy bike path.

They're not wasting any time! They predict that they'll be done with their portion by Thanksgiving!

It will run from the state line to Main Street, hooking up with the portion in Schereville to points south.

Going the other way into Lansing, you can pick up a trail that will take you to South Lake Shore Drive.

Forget the South Shore Extension. People can soon bike to work in downtown Chicago!

How committed are you REALLY to wind power?

Funny how people only support wind power when it comes from their state and they think it will save them money.

The fact is that the Dakotas are the "Saudi Arabia of Wind". It blows constantly there, which is what you need to produce power! Wind projects in Indiana are much inferior, simply because the wind doesn't blow constantly here.

But the Dakotas are 500 miles away from Indiana. Transmission over that distance adds to the cost, as does all the capital costs of the turbines themselves.

The bottom line is that wind power is not cheap. But I'd rather pay more for clean, renewable energy. And Nipsco's rates are pretty cheap to begin with.

The people I meet while buying a La-Z-Boy Recliner...

My salesman was Vern Vierk.

Vern is on the Lake County Property Tax Appeals Board. We talked a little shop about BP, Mittal, bogus assessments, etc.

Property tax "echo" will be fiasco of 2009

What the heck is a property tax echo?

If you are like me, you look at the formula for calculating your property taxes, and your head spins. Homestead expemptions. Homestead credits. Levies. It is just stupidly and unnecessarily complicated.

Because of the "reform" implemented this year for 2009, and because of the previous tax "relief" for 2008, the transition from how taxes are calculated in '08 and '09 will more than likely cause taxes in '09 to be higher than '08. The buzzword for this is a "tax echo".

It has to do with homestead credits vs. exemptions and how the state is taking over welfare and schools that used to be on the property tax rolls.

Bottom line? Yet another fiasco in the making! Expect people to be really pissed, but still vote the same incompetant Democrat boobs back into office. God forbid that you vote differently than Daddy did.

Post-Trib says that Buzzcut is wrong...

...to blame Democrat Lake County officials for the property tax rebate fiasco.

They also say,

Instead of giving it back to those taxpayers, Katona earmarked the $9.8 million for local governments as part of their property tax settlements. Daniels' order means cities like East Chicago, Gary, Hammond and Whiting, which all planned on a chunk of that $9.8 million, won't receive anything. East Chicago, for example, expected $1.3 million.

Why on earth would anyone other than taxpayers "plan" on getting any of the rebate money?

It seems to me that the conspiracy to steal our property tax rebates was widespread: Democrat Lake County Auditor Peggy Katona, the Democrat machine in Hammond, Gary, and East Chicago, etc. etc.

Kernan aide takes the "Blue Ribbon Commision" to the woodshed...

... and trash talks Mitch to boot.

Sorry, I will not accept criticism of the Blue Ribbon Commision by someone who makes their living by consulting for local governments. All this guy cares about is his paycheck.

I really found the whole commentary by Shaw Friedman (what kind of name is Shaw anyway?) to be confused. He didn't know if he should bash Kernan or praise him. I guess the friendly relationship between Mitch and Kernan just confuses the heck out of a hyperpartisan like Friedman.

Lies being spread about property tax rebate

The property tax rebate fiasco in Lake County has hit a new low.

In the Times today, there is a story about how all the hard working municipalities out there are going to be forced to "pay" for the rebates of everyone who had their rebates reduced by their savings under the tax cap.

As just about everyone now admits, Democrat Lake County Auditor Paggy Katona did not have the legal authority to do that.

That's why I say that it is a lie that municipalities are going to pay for the additional rebate. It was never their money in the first place. They never budgeted the money. So it shouldn't "cost" them anything when they don't get it!

Bunch of freakin' whiners.

Obama tells Buzzcut to "lay off his wife"

He also says that I'm low class.

Michelle Obama is campaigning for her husband. If she says something stupid, she should be criticized for it.

If she can't stand the heat, get back in the kitchen. If she were baking cookies, and not campaigning, I wouldn't have anything to criticize.

Is it me, or is Obama's entire campaign nothing more than him telling Republicans what they can't talk about?

Mitch Daniels agrees with Buzzcut...

...that Democrat Lake County Auditor Peggy Katona did not have the authority to reduce our property tax rebates by our savings under the 2% cap.

So far, every single elected official other than Katona has agreed with me.

Indiana AG Steve Carter still needs to weigh in.

Steve Carter endorses Greg Zoeller at Schereville Panera Bread!

My anonymous commenter was correct.

I know people want me to get on the Costas bandwagon. I don't think that I can do it. Nothing against Costas. I just think that Zoeller is a safer bet to continue Carter's anti-corruption initiatives.

My understanding is that Zoeller is the brains behind all of Carter's initiatives.

My understanding is that Costas is being backed by some of the elements with ties to Ed Cantrell. Law firms and whatnot.

Senate leader Luke Kelly agrees with Buzzcut

Now the leaders of each house agree with Buzzcut that the property tax rebates should not have been docked by their tax cap savings.

Katona is totally incompenant. But she's not the only one. The law instructs the Department of Local Government Finance to do a number of things. It never says anything about the State Auditors Office.

So why did the State Auditor give Katona an opinion (one that has absolutely nothing to do with the law creating the rebates)? And if Katona had a question as to how to calculate the rebates, why didn't she contanct DLGF?

It looks like Katona is going to ask Steve Carter for an opinion. This is just passing the buck. The law is clear to me, why does she need an opinion?

My fear is that Carter has shown a tendency to go with the flow on these issues rather than doing the right thing, i.e. former Lake County Councilman Will Smith's removal from office.

Democrat Peggy Katona didn't follow the law

Did your rebate check say the following:

"A portion of your local property taxes due in 2007 are being refunded due to
tax relief provided by the Indiana General Assembly. Your refund is in the amount
of $________ (insert amount of refund). If you did not receive a check because you
pay your property taxes through an escrow account along with your mortgage, your
lender will receive the refund and should adjust your payments accordingly.".

Mine didn't. So right there, she didn't follow the law. What makes anyone think that she calculated these checks properly?

Analysis of the rebate wording in HB 1001-2007

The relevant passage:

The amount of the refund is equal to the lesser of the
following:

(1) The amount of the taxpayer's tax liability (as defined in IC 6-1.1-21-5) on a
homestead for the March 1, 2006, or January 15, 2007, assessment date, after the
application of all other credits.

(2) The additional 2007 homestead credit determined for the taxpayer.

The key words, I suppose: "After the application of all other credits".

To me, this means the State property tax relief credit. If you look at the letter sent by the DLGF to Peggy Katona, this is how they calculate it.

Was the 2% tax cap a credit? I don't think that it was.

What does the law say about the rebate?

From HEA 1001-2007, which is public law 234-07:

HB 1001 – Property Tax Rebate Language
SOURCE: ; (07)AM147823.141. --> SECTION 300. [EFFECTIVE UPON
PASSAGE] (a) The definitions in IC 6-1.1-1, IC 6-1.1-20.9, and IC 6-1.1-21 apply
throughout this SECTION.
(b) Subject to appropriation of money from the property tax reduction trust fund
for an additional 2007 homestead credit, the department of local government
finance shall calculate and certify to the department of state revenue and the county
auditor of each county an additional homestead credit amount for property taxes
first due and payable in 2007. The additional homestead credit shall be paid as a
refund as provided in this SECTION for part of the tax liability (as defined in IC 6-
1.1-21-5) imposed on the taxpayer's homestead for the March 1, 2006, or January
15, 2007, assessment date. The department of local government finance shall make
the certification based on the best information available at the time the certification
is made. Not later than November 1, 2007, the department of state revenue shall
distribute to the county treasurer of each county the amount certified for the county
under this subsection. The county treasurer shall deposit the amount distributed in
a separate account and use the money only for the purposes of providing property
tax refunds under this SECTION.
(c) At the same time as the department of local government finance makes the
certification under subsection (b), the department of local government finance shall
certify to the county auditor of each county the percentage that would apply in each
taxing district to provide an additional 2007 homestead credit to taxpayers in the
taxing district. The county auditor shall use the certified percentage to determine
the amount of the refund due to each taxpayer. The county auditor shall certify the
amount of the refund for each taxpayer to the county treasurer not later than the
December 20, 2007, settlement date. IC 6-1.1-26 does not apply to a refund granted
under this SECTION. The amount of the refund is equal to the lesser of the
following:
(1) The amount of the taxpayer's tax liability (as defined in IC 6-1.1-21-5) on a
homestead for the March 1, 2006, or January 15, 2007, assessment date, after the
application of all other credits.
(2) The additional 2007 homestead credit determined for the taxpayer.
The department of local government finance, the department of state revenue, and
the property tax replacement fund board shall take the actions necessary to carry
out this SECTION.
(d) The amount of the refund shall be applied first against any delinquent
property taxes owed in the county by the taxpayer. The county auditor shall issue a
warrant for or authorize disbursement by electronic transfer of the remainder of
the refund. The refund shall be:
(1) mailed to the last known address of each person liable for any property
taxes or special assessment, as shown on the tax duplicate or special assessment
records, or to the last known address of the most recent owner shown in the transfer
book; or
(2) transmitted by written, electronic, or other means to a mortgagee
maintaining an escrow account for a person who is liable for any property taxes or
special assessments, as shown on the tax duplicate or special assessment records.
(e) In addition, the county auditor shall mail to the last known address of each
person liable for any property taxes or special assessment on each homestead in the
county, as shown on the tax duplicate or special assessment records, or to the last
known address of the most recent owner shown in the transfer book a written
explanation of the refund. The explanation must include the amount of the refund
specified in the following statement in at least 12 point type:
"A portion of your local property taxes due in 2007 are being refunded due to
tax relief provided by the Indiana General Assembly. Your refund is in the amount
of $________ (insert amount of refund). If you did not receive a check because you
pay your property taxes through an escrow account along with your mortgage, your
lender will receive the refund and should adjust your payments accordingly.".
(f) Any part of the amount distributed to a county under this SECTION that is
not applied or refunded as provided in this SECTION shall be transferred to the
auditor of state for deposit in the property tax reduction trust fund.
(g) This SECTION expires January 1, 2009.

AG Candidate Greg Zoeller in Schereville today?

From an anonynous commenter:

P.S. Next Attorney General candidate Greg Zoeller will be at Panera Bread on US 41 at Schereville... Steve Carter is expected to endorse Zoeller and he will be taking questions from 9 to 9:30am. The event is supposed to start at 7:45am.

If you're interested...

Democrat Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer Agrees with Buzzcut that our property tax rebate was stolen from us.

Even Pat Bauer agrees that the statute that created the rebates did NOT instruct bureacrats to subtract our savings from the tax cap from our rebates.

So two Democrat lawmakers, the very people who wrote and voted for the statute creating the rebates, agree that Peggy Katona and the State Auditors Office are wrong.

And Buzzcut is right. As ususal.

Democrat Rep. Charlie Brown says that he is going to ask Attorney General Steve Carter to investigate the issue. Carter can only do so if someone in a official capacity asks him to do so.

Bottom line on tax cap and property tax rebate

Lake County did NOT have its taxes capped at 2% this year. Politicians are going to say that they were, but every single person who had their taxes capped had their savings stolen from their rebates.

That's the bottom line.

I'm a Bitter American today. Where's my guns and religion?

The conspiracy to steal our property tax rebates goes to the highest levels!

From the Post-Trib:

Lake County Auditor Peggy Katona said she was instructed by the State Auditor's Office to treat the property tax rebates like homestead credits, and issue them only to homeowners whose rebates exceed the amount of property tax savings they enjoyed from the county's 2007 property tax cap.

Katona's office did distribute about $28 million in rebates to homeowners.

Lake County was the only county in the state with a 2 percent homeowner cap in place for 2007 taxes. Under the county program, homeowners could not pay more in taxes than 2 percent of the net assessed values of their homes.

Local government entities were forced to do without any revenue that would have come from property taxes collected above the 2 percent ceiling.

The tax rebate money will instead be used to fill the budget gaps.

Dan Novreske, the fiscal analyst who helped design the rebate plan for the state Senate Republican Caucus, said State Auditor Tim Berry interpreted the plan correctly.

"At the end of the day, I don't think we intended for this rebate to be applied in addition to the cap," Novreske said.

Berry acknowledged the attorney general might interpret the law differently, however.

Attorney General Steve Carter's spokeswoman Staci Schneider said the office had not been contacted about the situation.

"That is, of course, the kind of question we would consider if somebody came to us with it," Schneider added.

This is total BS. The law does say that the rebate cannot exceed the actual taxes paid, but it says NOTHING about the tax cap!

Steve Carter will only rule on this if an elected official asks him to. Rep. Charlie Brown, for example, needs to officially ask him.

Why are East Chicago taxes so high?

The City of East Chicago spends damn near $1500 per resident. The average for Lake County is $500.

What the hell are they spending so much money on? Public employees. 20% of the population of East Chicago is on the payroll.

That's the Democrat machine in action.

Why did the Democrat Lake County auditor dock our rebate checks?

Democrat Lake County Auditor Peggy Katona says that the state told her to dock our property tax rebate checks by the amount we saved under the tax caps:

She said the state auditor's office directed her to reduce the 133,380 rebates mailed last week by $9.7 million because thousands of property owners received their full tax break last year under the circuit breaker.

She provided The Times with an e-mail from Dan Bastin, settlement director of the state auditor, indicating the $9.7 million should be distributed to local taxing units like city, town, township and county government.

That's a bunch of bull right there. The law does not tell her to do that. Why cares what the state auditor says!

Even State Rep. Charlie Brown, who voted for the law creating the rebates, thinks that Katona was wrong to dock our checks.

Lake County incorrectly calculated property tax rebate checks

Well, I've been researching this for a few days now, and my conclusion is that Lake County did not have the authority to subtract our "savings" under the circuit breaker from our rebate checks.

I called Bill Dolan at the Times, who wrote the article about people getting checks for $0, and he said that he's aware that Lake County was wrong, and he is trying to get someone from the Department of Local Government Finance to say so.

The law does say that any money not distributed goes back to the County! So they ripped us off and they're going to keep the money for themselves.

How to calculate your property tax rebate?

Okay, here's the deal. There are two ways to calculate the rebate.

1) Find your town in the pdf I linked to in the previous post. In my case, Munster. Get your "Homestead Refund Percentage Rate". In my case, Munster, it is 10.0924%.

Take this rate and multiply it by your "Taxpayer Net Tax Liability AFTER SPTRC". This is your Gross Tax minus your state replacement credit, which should be shown on your tax record on the Lake County Treasurer's web site.

The other way is:

2) "Recalculate the homestead credit amount using the original homestead credit rate PLUS the Homestead Refund Percentage Rate, and then substract the original homestead credit amount. The Difference equals the Homestead Credit Refund".

This is really no different that 1). I don't know why they have the two formulas, they work out to be exactly the same.

My beef is that they subracted out my "relief" under the 2% cap, even though the instructions from the state do not say to do so.

What a frickin' ripoff.

Public Employee Unions are undemocratic

Who is more important: unionized public employees or taxpayers?

Okay, the article is about suburban D.C., but it applies to Lake County as well.

The Democrat party is a wholy owned subsidiary of the public employee unions. Most elected officials are also public employees. The unions get out the vote. They're motivated. That's why the Democrats are so dominant in Lake County. That's why incompetant public officials can't be voted out of office.

We need a Right to Work law in Indiana, and all the public employee unions need to be thrown out of the state.

Got my property tax rebate, but it MUST be wrong!

I finally got my property tax rebate, but the amount simply has to be mistaken. It is nowhere near 10% of what I paid in property taxes.

So I went on the Web to find the formula to calculate the rebate.

You start at the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. They have certified rates for each county. Lake County is here.

Of course, the thing is a scanned in pdf that can't be cut and pasted from!

I'm going to print out the forms, do the calculation, and see if the totally incompetant Peggy Katona can be trusted with addition, subtraction, AND multiplication. That's a lot to expect from a Democrat.

Lake County Democrat Judge Julie Cantrell has blood on her hands.

Mario Cardena was an illegal immigrant, a multiple DUI, and was routinely pulled over for traffic violations.

He had no Indiana driver's license. He never has. Wouldn't that tip you off that he was illegal?

He was in Judge Julie Cantrell's courtroom on multiple occasions. Not only did she do nothing to get this man deported, she did nothing to get him off the road, despite multiple DUIs.

Cardena went on to kill 3 people in a car accident. He killed himself as well.

Cantrell is up for re-election this year. Let's hold her responsible for not holding Cardena responsible.

Can the Democrat machine in Lake County be destroyed...

...by eliminating the precinct system and going to voting centers?

Mark Kiesling makes the case.

I think that its worth a try! Anything is better than the current system.

This could also be a huge boon to Republicans. We don't really have much of a precinct system. Even in Republican Munster, there are precincts that don't have commiteemen.

After the Democrat election night fiasco, now is the time to press forward with the elimination of the precinct system.

George Van Til: Pot. Kettle. Black.

What did Lake County Surveyor and gas thief George Van Til have to say about the election results debacle last night:

Lake County Surveyor George Van Til, who secured the Democratic nod for another run in the fall Tuesday night, criticized the county's handling of the election Wednesday morning.

"I didn't know my numbers until I woke up this morning," Van Til said.

As for the election officials, Van Til said sarcastically, "They've got some real winners there."

"Lake County didn't win last night," he said. "We look stupid."

Van Til noted this is not the first time the county has been late with election results.

"The only problem is, this time the whole world was watching," he said.

Stupid? As stupid as letting your teenage son drive your county truck to high school? As stupid as filling your personal vehicle with county gas?

Van Til knows stupid.

Lake County Democrat incumbants roll.

So much for "throwing the bums out". Philpot, DuPey, Scheub, and Van Till all won their primaries by comfortable margins.

Tax revolt? What tax revolt?

Van Til is filling his car at the County pump as we speak.

And on a night where Lake County Democrat incompetance at counting votes was on display for all the world to see.

Lake County incompetance and corruption for all the world to see...

The late returns from Lake County just highlight Democrat incompetance or corruption, or both. The late reutrns were all over CNN, Fox, etc.

We're a national or even international disgrace.

When are you people going to WAKE UP and throw the incompetant Democrat incumbant bastards out?

Just 'cause your daddy and granddaddy were Democrats doesn't mean you need to vote Democrat yourself. Enough is enough.

Obama is going to ROLL tonight!

The report from Republican Munster...

I've gotten 3 phonecall for Obama, someone came to my door for him twice, and there was an Obama person in front of the poll.

Hillary supporters were nowhere to be seen. Not much in the way of Republicans either, but there was a Ron Paul guy at the poll.

I voted for Paul. What the hell, it doesn't mean anything anyway.

The Buzzcuts are multiplying...

Blogging will be light, for obvious reasons.

The future of the Republican party is bright. This is baby Buzzcut #4.

Obama is coming to Munster!

Here.

.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will talk about his plans to stimulate the economy and restore jobs at a town hall meeting today at Munster Steel Co. in Munster.

Obama will talk about his commitment to fighting against unfair trade deals, investing in U.S. manufacturing and supporting job creation here at home, his campaign office said.

The meeting, billed as an "economic town hall with workers," is by invitation only. It begins at 11:30 a.m. at the plant, 9505 Calumet Ave.

I called my wife and told her to go hang out and try and see Obama, but she said that she's just going to try to avoid Calumet and 45th altogether.

This is walking distance from my house. This is the closest we are ever going to get to a Presidential candidate.

Why do we ignore violent crime?

Times columnist Doug Ross asks the question.

I've often wondered why the violent death of a Gary teenager doesn't get more than a small blurb in the Times or Post-Tribune.

The example Doug gives, a shootout in Hammond in broad daylight, did get a little more press. That's where I got the picture of the illegal gun used to do the shooting.

I think that this is a racial issue. Crackers like me live in lilly white, middle class Indiana towns with so little crime that the police can spend their time writing tickets for out of state plates.

The violence is in Hammond, East Chicago, and especially Gary. This is an issue of African Americans, Mexicans, and a few poor whites killing each other. Unless you're driving through, you don't even know these people exist.

Out of sight, out of mind.

I would think that a Gary teenager getting killed in an alleyway would get a little more press, though.

Why Munster is the best town in Indiana

Our biggest problem is new residents from Illinois who don't register their vehicles in Indiana.

This is really kind of sad:

This campaign was conducted in response to public complaints regarding the amount of out-of-state plates seen primarily on the west side of town and the amended town ordinance," Ball said in a prepared statement.

Police checked parking lots of apartment complexes and residential streets west of Calumet Avenue and north of Fisher Street, he said.

Seriously, Munster is so safe that police really have nothing better to do than look for Illinois plates in apartment complexes.

It couldn't be that, with the tax caps, town officials are looking for ways to fine people to generate revenue, could it?