So can the city afford to trim (their) trees in the boulevard?

by

So let me get this straight . . .

We don’t want to take money from FEMA because they are the big bad Feds (who we actually pay taxes to, so we are essentially taking money from OURSELVES to fix a problem WE have).

Then we find out we don’t need to take the money because the city is in ‘fine financial shape’ so we pay for this branch cleanup out of the city coffers (also our money).

Factor in that the city has saved millions this winter due to the lack of snow and snow removal (somewhere around $7 million).

So why hasn’t the city been budgeting for tree trimming all along? We apparently have the money to do the ENTIRE city at one fast blast, why not section it off over a 5 year cycle?

Funny how the city conveniently ‘doesn’t have the money’ in a normal budget cycle, but when a natural disaster occurs we have all kinds of cashola, enough to give the FEDS a middle finger and to cleanup the whole kit and kaboodle.

My suggestion is to implement a program every year to trim the trees in the boulevard, because, you know, like, we have the money. Oh, yeah, and F’CK the Feds who wants their (our) money anyhoo?

Bread for the World, Advocacy Project legislative updates

by

Advocates,

Here are some bills that would have an effect on low-income children and families in South Dakota. We know that money is tight in these homes, especially with rising food prices and utility bills. I am taking the liberty of suggesting whether to support or not, but you can assess them given the low-income people you know.
On taxes:
SUPPORT
HB 1154 would help by shifting tax from food to non-food. The state’s portion of the food tax would drop from 4% to 0%, while non-food would compensate going from 4% to 4.35%. The many low-income people we have interviewed about this plan have thought it a good idea that would help them. Even people with food stamps like the idea, because they are hoping to get off food stamps, and their neighbors are paying tax on their food.
Special focus: House Taxation Committee – Rep’s Duvall, Erickson, Feinstein, Greenfield, Hunhoff(Bernie), Kirschman, Latterell, Miller, Novstrup(David), Peterson, Rasmussen, Rozum, Russell, Solum, Wick
OPPOSE
HB 1193 would raise the state’s portion of sales tax from 4% to 5%. It states no particular purpose. Sales tax is a regressive tax. We should raise it only for a very good purpose that allows the low-income households to come out ahead.
Special focus: House Taxation Committee – Rep’s Duvall, Erickson, Feinstein, Greenfield, Hunhoff(Bernie), Kirschman, Latterell, Miller, Novstrup(David), Peterson, Rasmussen, Rozum, Russell, Solum, Wick
OPPOSE, unless amended
SB 172 would raise the sales tax in June, July and August for “support of the state government”.  Unfortunately they did not exempt food or utilities. Summer is when families have the most expense for food for their faat-growing, physically active school-age children.  We can suggest that this bill be amended so that when this tax goes up for those summer months, at the same time, it could be dropped one percent or more on food.
Special focus: Senate Appropriations Committee – Senators Adelstein, Heineman (Phyllis), Jones, Novstrup (Al), Peters, Sutton, Tidemann, Van Gerpen, White
On healthcare:
SUPPORT
SB 140 would allow more low-income pregnant women to get medical coverage. It would allow enough funds to raise the income for eligibility a little higher. The payoff can be huge when pregnancy care prevents even one life-long disability and its expenses.
Special focus: Senate Appropriations Committee – Senators Adelstein, Heineman(Phyllis), Jones, Novstrup(Al), Peters, Sutton, Tidemann, Van Gerpen, White
SUPPORT
The Medicaid option in the Affordable Care Act. This would help 48,000 low-income adults get medical coverage. Most of them will not be eligible for the newly affordable policies that will be offered next year. Some of these adults are parents of children who have Medicaid. It is really important for children to have healthy parents. Adults with no children need coverage too. Some have health problems that could be solved making them more able to function in society. (On this topic, my hunch is that philosophy is more the issue than money. Most of the funds would be federal.)
Special focus: We would like to convince all legislators and the governor of the value of this.
On criminal justice reforms
SUPPORT helpful provisions in SB 70 that would allow out-of-penitentiary placement for crimes like drugs and alcohol, which can be monitored in home communities. This would mean more parents could be in the home with their children and also able to go to their jobs to support their families. Families could be less destitute and children more attended to.
I hope this is a helpful start at looking at some of this year’s bills and suggesting topics for the weekend public or private sessions with legislators. Other bills may yet show up as impacting low-income children and families especially. Don’t wait too long to make your contacts. The session goes fast. Thanks for being the voices people need.
Bread for the World members,

You and your friends are invited to First Lutheran Church next Sunday, Feb. 3, for the presentations by our Bread for the World staffer Tammy Walhof. (You don’t need to be a Lutheran to come, even to come to the worship service there.)

If you have been to her presentations before, you know how interesting they are. We are so blessed to be in her region.
Time:  adult education hours, 9:30am and 11:00 am, your choice.
Place: First Lutheran-Sioux Falls, 327 S. Dakota Ave, Friendship Room. When you come in the main doors off the parking lot, take a left and go downstairs. (I am sure there would be a wheelchair accessible way to get there too – just ask.)
Topic: “A place at the table: Ending hunger in God’s world”
Tremendous progress has been made in dramatically reducing hunger and poverty around the world. Churches play an important role in “serving our neighbor.”  Yet in our country, both poverty and hunger are on the rise. What’s been accomplished, and what still needs to be done? Bread for the World Senior Organizer Tammy Walhof answers those questions and more.
Food: Also there on Sunday, you can eat at the Belgian Waffle Breakfast, 9am-1pm, $6 ahead or $6.50 at the door. Children under 5 eat free.
I hope some BFW folks can come. Then come to Pierre with us for Bread Days if you can. Once again, here is the info about that:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/88418838/Bread%20Days%202013%20half-pg%20flier.pdf

Thune-Bag is concerned about govt spending? LMAO!

by

Yeah, this is from the guy who continues to support tax cuts for the rich, voted for two unneeded wars and asked for the biggest federal loan in the history of our country for a private RR company;

Thune told reporters Wednesday. “To me, the pledge isn’t the problem in Washington; the problem in Washington isn’t that we don’t tax enough, it’s that we spend too much.”

Yeah, and what is ironic Johnny going to do about it? NAFT as usual!

 

Is healthcare money being used to promote a Sales Tax increase?

by

Proponents of M15 hard at work

J-Ellis wrote a great column today about how the healthcare industry in SD is pushing to promote a sales tax increase that will pump up to $85 million into their coffers;

Well, the U.S. House advertising won’t win any awards. But on the horizon comes the long-awaited campaign from the people who hope you’re going to vote to raise your own taxes. According to documents collected by Argus Leader reporters and reporter David Montgomery’s account, the people running Moving South Dakota Forward are preparing to spend more than $250,000 in October on television ads.

We won’t know until the campaign reports donations, but it’s a safe bet that the effort will be bankrolled by the major nonprofit hospital systems in South Dakota. And by major nonprofit hospital systems, you can count those on one hand, even if that hand happened to lose a couple digits in a blender accident.

The two hospital goliaths in Sioux Falls spent a good chunk of change to help win voter approval of a new events center last November. One of them, and this is no place to name names, subsequently has spent more money to secure the partial naming rights for said facility. That same nonprofit hospital system is building a fancy sports complex of its own, thanks in part to a generous tax subsidy.

So let’s assume the hospitals are the major contributors to the IM 15 campaign. It won’t be lost on a lot of voters that the hospitals stand to make a lot of money if IM 15 passes. After all, they see a lot of Medicaid patients, and injecting $85 million a year into Medicaid certainly would mean higher reimbursement rates for the professionals and organizations that provide those services.

Few campaigns are perfect. IM 15 asks the state’s voters to sacrifice more of their money in the name of children, the poor and the elderly. That will be a tough sell.

But the sales job will only be tougher if voters think that by opening their wallets, they are only contributing more to the coffers of the nonprofit hospital systems.

Remember just a few years ago the same organizations pumped thousands of dollars into newspaper advertising to help kill Medical Marijuana Measure 13 which was polling well until the ads came out, crushing M13. Of course the healthcare industry had a lot to lose if M13 passed. They want you to use and buy their expensive narcotic painkillers instead of a natural, less expensive, more effective drug like marijuana. They will use the same tactics this time around to suck more money out of us. And they will probably use the tired old argument that if we don’t increase sales taxes there will be an income tax. Hogwash. As long as Republicans run Pierre (which will probably be for the next 1,000 years) there will be NO income tax in SD. Remember also, if this tax increase is approved by voters, this will just give the state the go ahead to spend the other 4 pennies on whatever they want, like refunds and bailouts to companies and corporations that want to locate here. Tune out there message as much as possible and vote NO on M15, unless of course you like subsidizing Sports Complexes and Entertainment facilities.