Poor Children = Hungry Children

Note to Wilmington Board of Education:

None of these item will have an effect on the districts budget. These two items deal with the poverty situation in our area.

1. Question: Do we really know how many eligible student's families have not, due to a lack of awareness or pride, applied for the free and assisted lunch program?

There is possible solution to this hungry student problem. The Community Eligibility Option offers free meals for all students, regardless of need, to school districts that qualify for the program. There is no need for parents or students to apply or request special treatment under this option.

Our food service provider, Sodexo, oversees the Option program for the Middletown district. The business manger for that district has said that they are quite pleased with the first half year results.

In my opinion we should, at the least, find out if the WCS is eligible.

2. Many districts take advantage of the state's free summer feeding program. We are a poor district with many hungry children, (see poverty rate list) yet we ignore this nutrition program.

Paul Hunter

Clinton County's Poor Children

Nearly half of Ohio kids get subsidized lunches 

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014 03:41 AM

The percentage of students receiving subsidized school lunches hasn’t budged for four years, indicating that poverty persists for Ohio children and raising doubt about the state’s economic recovery. More than 800,000 kids — 44 percent of students — are enrolled this school year in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program for low-income families, according to data provided by the Ohio Department of Education.

Note: How many families do not apply because of pride or inattention?

In our county:

Blanchester 48%

Clinton-Massie 25%

East Clinton 55%

Wilmington 55%

Border school districts within Clinton County

Lynchburg 43%

Fairfield 36%

Fayettville 43%

Miami Trace 49%

Greenview 31%

Additional aid is available if requested.

Paul Hunter contact paulhunter45177@gmail.com

Poor Boys

In my opinion:

Tennessee political leadership sells anti labor message. VW wishes ignored.

What would one expect from a culture wherein the populace is easily manipulated by their betters. Often against their own morality and interests

Poor white boys die to protect their better’s capital (slave property) interests

Their masters speak

Bob Corker, the Tennessee senator is a classic pro-business Southern conservative, who made a fortune in the construction and real estate industry

Corker's bombshell, which runs counter to public statements by Volkswagen, was dropped on the first of a three-day secret ballot election of blue-collar workers at the Chattanooga plant whether to allow the UAW to represent them. Corker has long been an opponent of the union which he says hurts economic and job growth in Tennessee [Governor] Haslam, has been an outspoken critic of UAW’s involvement in efforts to represent employees at what is the United States’ only Volkswagen plant.

You can bet the house that Corker and Haslam’s wealth is far higher than than most residents of the 6th poorest state in the nation. Tennessee joins Alabama and Mississippi, two other bastions of anti unionism, in the race to become the poorest states in the USA

Paul Hunter paulhunter@frontier.com

Strange Fruit

STRANGE FRUIT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Planted by manipulated white men trapped in a culture of ignorance.

Knockout Game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

Played by ignorant black boys trapped by the history of their parents and grandparents

Paul Hunter

The Ohio Miracle, Chapter II

Jobs Ohio bombs.

But we have low taxes. We also have cities going broke and cash starved public education. What's not to like?

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/business/chinese-company-cancels-plans-to-build-lebanon-man/ndTZn/

Chinese company cancels plans to build Lebanon manufacturing site

LEBANON — 

Plans by an international auto supplier to build a new manufacturing plant in Warren County are “indefinitely on hold,” Lebanon economic development director Jason Millard said..............

…............“We were working with MINTH North America. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, the company decided to look outside of Ohio for their project. As a result, we are no longer collaborating with them,” Lance Barry, spokesman for Cincinnati USA Partnership for Economic Development, said in an email.

The Partnership is a private nonprofit agency responsible for leading the region’s business attraction and retention activities. It is one of six regional JobsOhio Network partners statewide along with Dayton Development Coalition.

Paul Hunter (for contact or comment) paulhunter45177@gmail.com

Our State Representative

http://votesmart.org/candidate/120604/cliff-rosenberger#.UwC89_ldUgs

Cliff Rosenberger refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2012 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders. (http://votesmart.org/for-candidates/forms

2012 Political contributions total $132,151

Major contributors.

Electric Utilities			$13,800.00
Lawyers & Lobbyists			$8,450.00
Real Estate			$7,075.00
Telecom Services & Equipment			$6,249.00
Oil & Gas			$4,700.00
Health Professionals			$3,450.0

A grade of:

0% from Ohio Federation of Teachers.

20% by Innovation Ohio

88% Buckeye Firearms Ass.

100% American Conservative Union

100% Ohio Chamber of Commerce

An A by the NRA political victory fund.

Endorsed by:

Ohio Chamber of Commerce

Ohio State Medical Ass.

Ohio right to Life

NRA Political Victory Fund

Voted:

For an amendment prohibiting the state auditor from auditing the governor's “Jobs Ohio” Department. (Jobs Ohio spends taxpayers money)

For a change in highway sped limits.

For a ban on internet cafes . (HB7) [?]

For a bill to allow assessable ammunition to be in vehicles with CCW weapons.

For a bill requiring teacher evaluations (SB 316)

For a repeal of the corporate franchise tax (HB 510)

For eliminating limits on credit card interest rates (HB 322

For restrictions on abortions (HB 125)

For prohibiting insurance coverage of abortions (HB79)

For allowing concealed guns in bars SB 17

For banning public employee unions from bargaining (SB 5)

For the creation of Jobs Ohio (HB1)

For reducing school funding (HB 30)

Against a ban on internet cafe gambling (HB 605) [?]

Against prohibiting texting while driving (HB322)

Compiled by Paul Hunter

Opinion on Concealed Carry

Another CCW Hero For The Florida* Stand Your Ground Hall Of Fame.

These upright citizens defended themselves with deadly force while under mortal threat by:

.38 cal Skittles > George Zimmerman

.3 cal. Popcorn kernel > Curtis Reeve

.45 decibel loud music > Michael Dunn

Whine Lephew will make the induction oration.

*Thanks to our Ohio legislature, Florida's conceal carry permits will be honored here.

Paul Hunter

Guns Galore

According to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#United_States

A sampling of developed countries reveals that there are a lot of good guys and a lot bad guys with a lot of guns in the United States and they are killing each other at high rate. The data doesn't reveal which side is winning.

The below data includes the 2011 homicide rate per 100,000 population.

U.S. – 4.1

Australia – 1.6

Canada – 1.5

Poland – 1.3

France – 1.2

U K – 1.0

Ireland – .9

Denmark – .8

Germany – .8

Japan – .3

Singapore- .3

Below data ranks number of guns per per 100 residents.

United States #1

Australia #15

Canada #13

Poland #142

France #12

England #88

Ireland “70

Denmark #54

Germany #15

Japan #164

Big Question 

Economist Andrew McAfee explains that “science fiction is finally coming true with the rise of automation. This is eliminating the drudgery of physical labor and changing the future of work.”

http://smartmanufacturing.com/category/economic-impact/

“The main benefits of this type of workforce is it creates abundances and frees people up from unsafe, unfulfilling and unwanted type of work. In other words, it creates nothing short of a new type of society.”

In my opinion he is making a fairly safe prediction but he fails to address the real life changes that national economic systems must make. Wealth distribution has presented political and social tensions even before Adam Smith* and Karl Marx started the discussion.

Question: Can nations adapt to the required new economic model where machines generate the consumer and capital goods but do not provide the money for the consumer to purchase the non labor intensive products?

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith

Please send your answers to paulhunter45177@gmail.com

Forewarned Should Mean Forearmed

Update 

Remember back in August of 2011 when the city made a deal with Total Baking Solutions (TBS), owned by the Roberts Family of Roundup, Montana? The Roberts agreed to lease the city's newly acquired former Textron building on Nelson Ave. for one dollar per year for a five year period. At the end of the lease the company could purchase the building for $1 million. The purchase price would be reduced by $250,000 if the company would average 100 new employees over the lease period.

Income tax revenue from the new employees was supposed to compensate the city in lieu of lease payments. The city's waste water department had contributed a half million dollars to purchase the property

As of 2014 the new employee numbers are believed, by some observers, to be well under 20. The exact number is not public information.

One would assume that before making such a significant deal, the history of the TBS owners past business practices would be researched. This writer easily found the newspaper accounts below on the internet. Even more revealing is information obtained as a result of a public records request concerning correspondence warning the Mayor to beware of striking deals with the Roberts family..

Alamogordo Daily News

Sunbaked Biscuits Replaced 01/01/2008

Year In review

One of the most contentious stories of 2007 was the implosion of local cookie maker Sunbaked Biscuits. The company went belly up early in the year and disappeared amidst a flurry of lawsuits………….By mid-January of 2007, Sunbaked closed its factory and informed its creditors it was seeking a buyer. However, the company at first said production had halted due to a damaged conveyor belt. The lawsuits quickly followed…………Sunbaked and its owners, Dave and Chris Roberts, aren't out of the woods yet. Three lawsuits against Sunbaked in District Court, brought by Delta Systems, Plastic Packaging Technologies and Consolidated Electrical Distributors, are still wending their way through the legal system. 

From newly released correspondence from the Mayor's office:

Allegation: By a Michael Morris

Jun 21, 2011 http://www.topix.com/forum/city/alamogordo-nm/T5DNB5CEOAIU12RS4

Tularosa, NM

Some of you may remember the Roberts Family of Roundup, Montana that scammed over $2 million from the taxpayers of Alamogordo [New Mexico] in the Sunbaked Biscuts scheme. The Roberts are at it again in Wilmington, OH changing little more than on their website.

Here the local paper [Wilmington News Journal] explains the rock solid deal to get a former industrial building owned by the city in a jobs deal to bake cookies.

Email to Mayor Riask from a brother of the Roberts family, at one time a facilitator for the TBS Wilmington deal.

David,

Just a few more proof [sic] of what have found out and why I left. You will see he Bankrupted a company called Baking Systems in same address as of roundup [Montana] also to not pay lines [sic] and judgments.

Stuart

email from stuart a roberts

Saturday July 09, 2011

To: mayor@ci.wilmington.oh.us

Dear David

I needed to send you this along time ago after you were so good to me. A quick synopsis. I was separated from my family for more than 15 years due to my father and brothers unethical practices. I returned after my father had asked me and was showing supposedly his changed ways and nude [sic] promise that the stock and company would e under my control. This never happened and in april after learning of the things below in the blog I left as you may well know. He has since dedicated to saying unheard of things about me and calling clients and saying things like I stole etc.

I have proof of many things of fraud I have located and want to warn you and the city , he lied to me and all you [sic] and was good at it. The record can be found from 1981 to 1983 in Missoula montana under Big Sky baking and in Alamo Gordo and Sunbaked biscuits along with my brother Chris who is helping him to try and destroy my good name.

I will testify against him in any legal action [sic] you need to take to recover your,building and costs incurred.

Sincerely,

Stuart

Granted that this appears, in part, to be a family feud but it should have at least been brought to the attention of city council and the public in light of the included newspaper account.

My personal view is that as soon as the five year lease period expires the Roberts will seek another location in a poor community hungry for any job promise. I have encouraged the administration to make an attempt to alter the agreement with TBS in light of the fact that the new jobs scenario has fallen far short of expectations,

Note:TBS has been delinquent in paying its utility bills to the waste water department.

Paul Hunter 

TIF A New Form Of Tax Abatement

TIF Agreement Synopsis

In 2012 The city, and Wilmington schools agreed to a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) arrangement with ATSG, the parent company of Airborne Express. The deal will divert property taxes that ATSG would normally pay to the Clinton County treasurer for a new joint use maintenance and paint (JUMP) hangar being built at the Wilmington Air Park. Those tax revenues would, under normal circumstances, be distributed to the various local entities such as the school district, city and county.

The state of Ohio has arranged for a $4 million loan to help finance the construction of the hangar and the diverted tax dollars will be used by the city to pay off that loan over the 20 years starting in 2016.

The hope is that the new 259 good paying promised by ATSG as a result of the hangar construction will increase tax revenue by other means, both direct and indirect.

All JUMP hangar Property tax payments shall be placed in a city controlled state loan repayment fund, called the service payment fund.

Starting in tax year 2014, collected in 2015, the city will start collecting service payments from JUMP hangar property taxes.

Payments from the service fund for the $4 million, plus 1% interest, loan repayment, shall commence on 5/15/16 with the first payment of $88,145 and a second payment of $88,586 on 11/1516. Twice per year payments of increasing amounts will continue until the final payment of $107,000 is made on 05/15/36.

VALUATION OF PROPERTY

Assuming that the original value of the hangar will approximate the $15.5 million cost of construction, the resultant tax payment would be:

15,500,000 X .35 = 5,425,000 taxable value X .048 tax rate = $260,671 per year for the service fund.

Under this valuation scenario, where the first year loan payment of $176,731 is $83,900 less than service fund revenue the Wilmington school district can receive their annual compensation payment.

ANNUAL SCHOOL COMPENSATION PAYMENTS

The city shall make semi annual payments to the Wilmington school district from the service payment fund, if enough funds are available.

The payments will calculated at 25% of the amount the district would have received if the TIF agreement had not existed.

Using the above valuation, the amount of the annual payment would be:

$5,425,000 X .0263 (school millage) = $141,000 X .25 (agreement allowed) = $35,263. Using the same formulation Laurel Oaks JVS would receive $3,369.

Note: Any new school levies would effect the annual payments to the schools.

INCOME TAX

IF the service fund lacks sufficient money to fully compensate the schools in any given year the city shall provide make up payments via new income tax sharing

If no make up payments are required: From calendar year 2012 and thereafter the City will make annual income tax payments to the school district equal to one-third of any new city income tax revenues derived from new JUMP hangar employees including construction employees.

Paul Hunter (contact or comment paulhunter45177@gmail.com)

Gas Aggregation For Wilmington

Ordinances have been passed, bids have been received and soon, maybe by April, letters to opt out of natural aggregation will be sent to Vectren gas customers. If the customer decides not to be a part of the aggregation agreement they must return the enclosed opt out (of aggregation) form. Otherwise the customer will be automatically enrolled. Keep in mind that billing and service will still be the responsibility of Vectren who will charge a separate amount for that service that is called “energy delivery”. Electric aggregation began last year and this program follows the same general guidelines with one exception, opt in letters will be sent to Vectren customers that have signed individual contracts with other suppliers.

Although the final actions have yet to be completed the recommended bid was submitted by Volunteer a gas supply company. Until final action is taken by council exact costs cannot be quoted but these numbers are close.

Volunteer Energy offers a unit* price of 52.8 cents ($.528) fixed for eighteen months.

* A unit is 100 cubic feet of natural gas. On the Vectren bill, the amount used per month is labeled CCF under “gas meter information”.

Vectren Source is currently offering individual 18 month contracts at 62.574 cents ($.62574) per unit.

Each individual customer is unique and should do a thorough study before making a decision that will be in effect for eighteen months.

The wholesale market price of gas for March is predicted to be around 54 cents per unit which converts to an expected retail price of an estimated 64 cents.

In a cold winter like the present one a 150 unit (CCF) at 64 cents results in a gas bill of $96 plus delivery charge. The bill decreases to $79 plus delivery charge under the proposed aggregation price..

Paul Hunter

Council Streets Committee Deliberations

As reported in an article in the Saturday, 2/1/14 News Journal the Mayor and committee members voiced their views and concerns about the street maintenance and repair budget.

The Mayor stated that it would cost $1 million per year to maintain the streets. This year's budget includes $886,000 for the streets department,,leaving a $115,000 shortfall.

The option of increasing the income (earnings) tax, as was discussed, would generate an estimated $2 million and require a ballot issue. A household earning $60,000 a year would have to pay $25 per month in increased taxes.

The other option mentioned was placing a property tax levy on the ballot. This writer has been pushing this option since 2008 when R&L trucking moved their vehicle registration out of state taking $700,000 street and bridge money with them. A two mill tax would generate an estimated $473,000 per year based on 2012 total property values. The levy would cost homeowners $6 per month for each $100,000 of home value, Qualified (born before 1949) senior homeowners would pay just $4.38 per month.

It was reported that the Mayor has been lobbying the state to change commercial registration policies in order bring R&L back to Oho registration. Two years ago the legislature did just that but R&L has not changed. In any event, even if the company did return, no new dollars would flow to the city.

Research indicates that the city had been receiving the R&L registration money in error going back to when the company moved from its original location on Ludovic St. in the city to county locations.

Breakdown of 2013 streets funding sources:

Vehicle registration: $146,709 http://services.dps.ohio.gov/TaxDistribution/Pages/Public/ParameterSelection.aspx

Gasoline tax: $356,396 (city auditor)

Transfer from taxpayer's general fund $372,253 (2014 $469,527)

Minus $108,000 for new street construction bond payment.

Paul Hunter paulhunter45155@gmail.com

Municipal Court Miracle

The Clinton County Municipal Court is located in the City Building and is financially supported by the city's general fund. Any expenses that exceed court revenues are made up each year by the city's taxpayers.

The court has covered its costs in only three of the last fourteen years. One of those years was 2013.

Last year's $37,000 surplus falls far short of the year 2000 when the revenue was $221,000 over expenses. In 2011, a more typical year, the taxpayers shelled out $164,000 for court operations.

The miracle might extend into 2014 if the court's case load and staffing remains as is. Council has increased the court's budget by only $7,000 over 2013' level.

Paul Hunter