A half dozen or so people were in the gallery as council president Mike Beury rapped the gavel to start last night’s monthly council meeting at 7:02 pm. The full council, the mayor, the solicitor, the borough’s manager and finance director assembled to address the borough’s business outlined in the agenda. A recorder and newspaper correspondent also attended.
agenda – page one
agenda – page two
The councilors mostly breezed through the agenda items and the meeting was adjourned at 7:57 pm.
There was some discussion about borough issues, though most of these were inspired by non-agenda items. Some of the topics discussed at the meeting included:
HIGH PROPERTY TAXES – The mayor said he’d spoken with members of the school board after a recent meeting to tell them that high school taxes were impeding “economic development” in Columbia. He then went on to say that he’s been in contact with folks from the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations. He went on to extol the virtues of the organization’s premises: the abolishment of property taxes and the replacement of a broken school system.
“The PTCC and our statewide nonpartisan grassroots umbrella group, the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations (PCTA), are dedicated, through legislative reform, to eliminating school property taxes for all Pennsylvanians and to the equitable funding of all Pennsylvania schools from a broad-based, statewide funding source. Such a source would ultimately equalize disparities between wealthy and poorer school districts, ensuring a quality education for all Pennsylvania schoolchildren. The PTCC is a supporter of House Bill 76 and Senate Bill 76, The Property Tax Independence Act, a property tax elimination proposal that will abolish all school property taxes and provide equitable funding for all Pennsylvania schools.”
He told everyone the Website – www.ptcc.us – and encouraged the audience to look at it; he stated he’s going to try to talk with one of the leaders, David Baldinger.
What he did not say, though, is equally of interest.
At the Website, it states: the group “is an alliance of eighty-one nonpartisan grassroots Pennsylvania taxpayer advocacy groups that span the entire Commonwealth and represent tens of thousands of taxpayers. The PCTA is dedicated to the support of House Bill 76 and Senate Bill 76, the Property Tax Independence Act, legislation that will abolish school property taxes in Pennsylvania and will equitably replace a broken education finance system.“
Columbia news, views & reviews notes that “googling” the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations Website actually redirects to a Web page at the the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition. Take a look at the PCTA member groups; overwhelmingly they are “tea party” organizations.
Who is David Baldinger? Again, “googling” the name we found many references like this one: “David Baldinger, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Coalition of Taxpayer Associations (PCTA) and Coordinator of the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition (PTCC) will be speaking about HB 1776, the Property Tax Independence Act, on Thursday, March 8, at the meeting of the Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots of Central Montco.
In the Youtube video below, “David Baldinger explains the key points on HB/SB 76 for the elimination of school property taxes and the benefits to Pennsylvanians.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qle06alZcFA
Our take:
- Looking for ways to fix the American education system – great idea.
- Coming up with a more equitable system to support the educational system – great idea.
- Investigating some ideas – regionalization and consolidation were thrown into the conversation by the mayor – to make school systems more effective and accountable – great idea. [NOTE: The mayor even said, gulp, county school system. We think that is an idea worthy of discussion. As well as county-wide public safety resources!]
- Alignment with an an organization that’s mostly populated by “tea partiers” – not such a great idea.
Columbia news, views & reviews 
Why not eliminate property taxes? We are almost 2/3 home owner and 1/3 rental borough- why not spread the burden? Another idea whose time is quickly coming…. school consolidation. We have a $22,000,000 school budget for 1400 students. It is equally important to note our current school system is rated 473/498 for academic performance on the PSSA’s in Reading, Math, Science, and Writing (PA School District Rankings, 2011).
What are we doing that is not working? Where are the funds going? We need successful learners, transitioning to capable and knowledgeable citizens. I hear parents tell children, “we need to move by the time you get to middle school” because there is little for students at the middle and high school levels as it stands now.
can you please explain why ” Alignment with an an organization that’s mostly populated by “tea partiers” – not such a great idea ” ? I’ll align myself with any USA party if it means eliminating my school taxes !! Hat’s off to the Mayor !!!
While the Tea Party puts forth numerous platform planks that make sense and need serious debate; many are extremist. But the bigger problem we have with the “tea partiers” are the more vocal voices: “the radio ravers.” Just yesterday, the big one was crying because the US is not attacking Syria. According to one source: the “ravers” … “All are college dropouts who have no work experience except radio and TV, have never held public office, served in military, nor worked in government.” These are the voices of lunacy or “nitwittery.”
you make some some good points, but you say ” …….. ” the bigger problem we have with the “tea partiers” …………… , can you explain who “we” is. ? In other words, who exactly are you speaking for ? Are you making statements for a particular party or organization ? Just wondering if you are an independent news agency or pushing a particular agenda ?? – not that it matters !
If it appears that Columbia news, views & reviews is “pushing an agenda,” perhaps we are. When we voice an opinion, it tends to be in the arena of “government transparency, rule of law, equal treatment, human dignity, history and community development and opportunity” as stated in “About our site.” We also ask for transparency in those who claim “not-for-profit” status.
The use of the word “we” has been prevalent in journalism for a long, long time. Wikipedia says it this way: “The editorial we is a similar phenomenon, in which editorial columnists in newspapers and similar commentators in other media refer to themselves as we when giving their opinions. Here, the writer has once more cast himself or herself in the role of spokesman: either for the media institution who employs him, or more generally on behalf of the party or body of citizens who agree with the commentary.”
The FreeDictionary says it this way: “The first-person plural pronoun used by an editorialist in expressing the opinion or point of view of a publication’s management.”
Generally, we just are leery of extreme viewpoints on the left or right side of any point. We have a recollection of this point drilled into our head a long, long time ago by a teacher who cared. He reminded us then that the extreme left proponents and those of the extreme right were closer to one another (in proximity and ideology) than than those in the middle.
We’ll point readers to Wikipedia again for more on the topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left%E2%80%93right_politics
Interesting !, and thanks for the explanation. I imagine that “we”, (the people of the USA that are burdened by high property taxes) would take a hard look at supporting the Tea Party, or another party that has a plan to eliminate property taxes and fund government through another means. Part of the problem with property taxes is that when we are in this prolonged downward spiral of falling property values, the local governments are forced to raise the tax base to compensate for their losses.
Great point, C.G., one might wonder, though, why government, at any level, cannot look at reduced expenses when incomes are reduced.People do that; business, too.