How Could This Happen?

Quaker Apartments on Prairie Ave. in Wilmington, has for many years, received government subsidies in order to cover rental costs for low income senior citizens and handicapped persons.

Over the years a client waiting list for admittance has guaranteed a full capacity situation.

For unexplained reasons the facility has become a financial disaster as indicated by the amount of delinquent property taxes of $83,000 as of 6/1/15. See:

http://clintonoh.ddti.net/Data.aspx?ParcelID=290160910000000

This facility is thought to be indebted to the city for more than $200,000 resulting from a loan made sometime in the past. When asked at a recent council meeting concerning this never mentioned deal, the city auditor responded by stating that “they had written off the loan”.

It is my understanding that there are ongoing negotiations to resolve the debt but public information is hard to come by on this matter.

The present listed manager of the property for the owners, Quaker Apartments of Wilmington Inc., is SKW Management. This firm also manages the other Quaker associated senior apartments on Prairie Ave. commonly known as Prairie View ($152,000 delinquent tax) and Friendly Center ($117,000 delinquent tax).

As of this posting SKW is listed by the Better Business Bureau as “no longer in business”

It is unknown by me that if a Quaker Apartments bankruptcy occurs the city will be able to obtain a debt settlement.

The loan in question came from the city's revolving loan fund that is used as a small business development tool and repayment history has been good except for this secretive affair.

Paul Hunter  

Note To State Senator Peterson

What possible rationale leads the Senate to the conclusion that Granny does not need an affordable, available and easy to use means of communication  for emergency and family contact.
Re: Ohio budget would let phone companies end landlines
Paul Hunter

Additional Cardboard Recycling Information

Not mentioned in the WNJ article on Wilmington recycling was the the plan to allow non city residents and commercial entities to also dispose of clean, flat, corrugated cardboard at the drop off point near the landfill office.

Remember, you are not just saving finite resources, adding useful life the current landfill cell but also helping to keep solid waste fees at the current reasonable levels.

It is estimated that the effect on the environment of recycling one ton of cardboard saves about nine cubic yards of landfill space, 700 gallons of water and forty six gallons of oil.

Paul Hunter  

But We Balanced the Budget

Q. How does the Ohio state legislature hope to do this while cutting taxes for the wealthy?

A. By increasing taxes on the working poor via a regressive increased sales and a regressive potential flat tax of 3.5%.
A. By reducing spending on services. Try getting help from an under staffed and over worked income tax department.
A. By reducing income tax sharing with local governments 40% since 2008. One result is the deteriorating infrastructure like city streets.
A. Increasing property taxes for all residential property owners by12.5% and some senior citizen property taxes by an added 25%.                                    
A. Planed action such as this:

Ohio Senate’s budget plan may leave kids vulnerable, advocates say. Some of Ohio’s most vulnerable children could be forced to get by with less help from the state, even though Ohio already ranks dead last in child-protection funding. County children services agencies will lose $17 million over the biennium following the state’s elimination of reimbursements for tangible personal property-tax revenue. In addition, the Senate version of the upcoming two-year state budget slashes $600,000 in state aid for child-protection services from the House-passed plan.

Ah, the beauty of a single party government, led by a house speaker that owes little to his apathetic constituency. No checks no balance

Paul Hunter

Kasich Flirts With Flat Tax

Beware presidential wanabes seeking big money donations. After all, the working poor wont/can't contribute to campaigns against their own interests. Can Kasich say “income inequality”? I didn't think he could.
From the DDN: As he toys with running for president, Gov. John Kasich also is flirting with another idea: Backing a variation of magazine publisher Steve Forbes’ plan to overhaul the federal tax code[by instituting a flat tax]. If he follows his Ohio model he would also include a sales tax at the federal level.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/encyclopedia/Flat-Tax.cfmA central issue in tax reform is always who wins and who loses. Under the
flat tax, low-income households would lose because they now pay no income
tax and are eligible for a refundable EITC of up to $3,370. Although the
flat tax is more progressive than a VAT [sales tax], it is more regressive than the
current system. A flat tax would provide huge gains for high-income
households because their marginal tax rate would fall..... As a result, if
a flat tax were to raise as much revenue as the current system, the tax
burden for the middle class would have to rise. Consumption taxes would raise tax burdens on lower-and middle-income households over any time frame.
Posted by Paul Hunter

Backward Facing Ohio

Ohio's Government leaves the state even further behind the world's efforts in the climate change battle.

From the NY Times.

A victory for environmentalists.

Norway's Parliament is expected today to drop investments in coal companies from its $900 billion sovereign wealth fund because of their impact on climate change.

The vote is part of a growing movement to divest out of fossil fuels.

If You Voted

For a potential two mill dedicated street repair tax levy next November, and the ballot issue passed how much would it cost you?

If you are a renter it would not cost you anything if the landlord absorbed the small tax increase.

If you are an owner of a home valued at $100,000 the cost would be less than $6 per month.

If you are a senior citizen home owner that meets the qualifications noted below

the tax increase would, for most seniors, be under $5 per month.

Note: Homeowners who turned 65 before January 1, 2014 are qualified for the discount for the rest of their lives. Those turning 65 on Jan. 1 or later only qualify if their adjusted incomes are below $30,500, excluding Social Security.

If city council decides to opt for a one quarter percent increase in the earnings (income) tax ballot issue instead of a property tax, a household with a $50,000 taxable income would pay an additional $10.50 per month.

If you have an interest in this matter please contact city council at 382-5458 or bwoods@ci.wilmington.oh.us

Paul Hunter budhunter@frontier.com