I will say from the bottom of my Soul and Heart that I did not want to do this. I thought about it from the time I received the response to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA); read it three times and was so disgusted that once again the same music; different lyrics. So, after several weeks of additional thought I went and filed. It is unbelievable that Mr. Rapp refuses to learn to obey the FOIA Law? Once again, I; the Residents of Vienna and the Law got the infamous double middle digits. And he wants to be re-elected? Not convicted; not indicted, but charged in my Court of Lawlessness. Morals, Ethics and Integrity to me are NOT idle words. Nor is a person's Constitutional Oath.
Based on the openness of admitting along with Mr. Columbo on how much Sales Tax money the two Cities received, I would not be at all surprised at his knowing possibly before I even got up the elevator from the Circuit Court Clerk's Office that I had filed again? He is being well protected and informed by the Establishment is my suspicious observation?
Many years ago, as a puppy, I was told and it still holds true today; that if one has dug oneself into a hole over their head that one should quit digging. Some do not seem to have learned that lesson?
WOW, gas back down to $1.74. I had to stop Tuesday and fill up even if tomorrow is $1.00. A bird in the hand is better than two birds in the bush. That is that Oil is under $30./ barrel starting to show up at the pumps, I think? For sure the knowledge that there is a one huge glut and the Iranians are back in the game. Saw one place Tuesday that it could go down and not bottom out until it hits $20s?
And it starts, Ms. Ford in Williamstown has floated the idea of a pay raise for their City Council. Now as this is played through and it will be, expect the same to happen here. With one very, very notable difference. There is going to be a very sizable increase for Mr. Rapp. This has been building for the past two years with the huge pay increases for the staff (right on $8K in 30 months), which of course becomes larger as one moves up the food chain. With at least two department heads bouncing at $60- 65K a year not including the benefits can we pay our Leader any less? P'burg as we know just did a very substantial raise for Mr. Columbo's job and now the other end of the spectrum comes out.
As I noted when Mr. Columbo's job got a raise, if we used his to prorate to Vienna, it would equate to about $27K/ year. One third the population equals one third the pay. Now I knew that was never going to get past go. Said then and would say again "at least $10K". Remember, it is again in the works to give the $728 longevity raise to the rank and file in the City. There are raises coming for some of the more "deserving" Department heads. And I still smell the efforts to push up pensions for some with the increasing of the salaries just before they retire. Business as usual? Not even close. Some of these folks are shod like octopuses and the other shoe(s) will continue to hit the floor.
And the article on the loss of B&O Tax money is just now being met by the Sales Tax payments? It seems a little odd also as the $.10 on the $100.00 reduction = $451K. It was to be about $1.8Million for a whole year. And it is still referred too as the "20%" reduction by Mr. Rapp. Does sound better than the $.10 on the $100.00 which it was until I noted in earlier? It is all about the play on words. Yes, life is good in Vienna for those who can call it home. Not so much so for those who can say they pay all the different taxes. Now to give the Devil its due, there was supposed to be "only" a $500K increase in receipts to the City once the decreases and the increases were ironed out.
So we can in fairness wait for the dust to settle in another quarter? But as always, the Devil is in the Details. In spite of the News saying it is x,y and z for the first "half" of the Fiscal Year, one must pay attention. It is ONLY five months, not six. So there is still a sixth month. Now being the infamous December and the Holiday Season will be a banner month by itself. But and I repeat BUT what January and February show could be a big difference? I would guess that December will be a spike to around a $350- 400K month? The next two and we know things are going downhill could be nasty? Remember, the brick and mortar are already complaining at only an 8% increase over last year when the expectation was for double digits. Now that would indicate a bad season. Than comes the fact that 8% increase for most of us would be pretty good. And the online sales were said to be really, really good. So who really knows the winners and losers? Guess any firm without on line sales ability? And Since the City is not able to say what it has, where it is documented and what is planned for it, we have many gray (very gray), areas to work through. By listening to Mr. Rapp a couple of times, I was able to pick up on the semantic deceptions put out.
Will be another round of Budget requests for the 2016- 2017 year on 1 July, so the game does go on. And as noted before, the Dept., heads all the time ask for the moon, so the Budget will be out of whack for awhile as the Truth comes out. Fact: there is a LOT of money floating around, no matter where it is put to keep it out of sight.
It is a bit sad when the WV Supreme Court asks some of the litigants in the who will replace Mr. Hall case it they will abide by the Court's decision? Do the Justices already smell the disaster that will loom no matter who gets the win in the Court? Politics in this State are truly sad for the people.
The Repubs say the people in that District were okay with the switch. How do they know as there were for sure no notice until it happened? It was done in the infamous "smoke filled room/ back room". And I would bet there was only ONE Democrat going in and none came out? So when did those voters get a chance to speak? A very sad and sorry argument to say the least.
As an update (4:00 P.M. 20 Jan 2016), on the Zikas disease; Brazil has reported almost 3500 cases since it began its investigation last October. Warnings are being put out that pregnant women should avoid going there or several other Countries where it is known to be.
And this has just showed up:
Zika virus has begun cropping up in the U.S., public health officials say, with three new confirmed cases in Florida and two others in Illinois.
Texas and Hawaii have also reported cases, including one linked to a baby born in Oahu with microcephaly, a condition involving a malformed skull and brain. The Hawaiian newborn was the first in the U.S. to be born with the Zika-associated congenital defect, cases of which have exploded in Brazil since May. More than 3,500 cases of microcephaly have been reported in the South American country, and 46 babies have died.
"The mother likely had Zika infection when she was residing in Brazil in May 2015 and her newborn acquired the infection in the womb. Neither the baby nor the mother are infectious, and there was never a risk of transmission in Hawaii," Hawaii health officials said in statement.
All of those diagnosed with Zika in the U.S. were reportedly infected in countries overseas where Zika has begun circulating, health officials say. Two of the Florida cases occurred in Miami-Dade County residents who traveled to Colombia in December; the third case is a resident from the Tampa-St. Petersburg area who traveled to Venezuela in December. Blood tests were confirmed by the state public health laboratory in Tampa.
The real problem is not who is traveling where so much as the march North by the infected mosquitoes. You ladies out there need pay attention to warnings on any infected bugs in our area. This is for sure some bad stuff. 'nuff said