General updates
The renovations to the downstairs of the house are almost complete. Sunday we moved the fridge back into the kitchen after I completed tiling the floor and repairing the holes in the wall behind it. There is a little more finish work to be done, such as painting the floor trim.
Our next move is to relocate more of the junk we are keeping to storage, and move the studio on the second floor to the newly painted attic. Then we will sand and refinish the yellow pine floor, and move our bedroom to the back of the house. Then we will begin the front bedroom floor.
We are reserving tables at the U-Sell flea market in Vineland for Saturday May 15. We will have bargains galore – EVERYTHING MUST GO! Write down that date. Anything not sold will be destroyed and trashed, or donated to the Salvation Army.
Liz and I are gearing up for the Annual Memorial Day Weekend Margarita Bash! Write down Sunday, May 30 – you do not want to miss this event. If the weather holds out, the pool should be open.
I confirmed the book signing at Bogart’s Book for 3rd Friday in July – many of the regular contributors will be there to sign your very own copy! More on this to come! That’s about all that is news for now.
On a more political note, Bob Tesoroni of Me Millville First wrote a letter commending our grossly underpaid city commissioners for voluntarily eliminating their health benefits. That leaves some of them with absolutely no insurance. Bob lauded their sacrifice, which they only felt was right in this economic crisis. he then demanded that they pass an ordinance to ever allow future commissioners to benefit from an insurance plan.
Good idea Bob, and I have another idea that will save taxpayer’s money. How about you lead by example, fine upstanding citizen that you are, and voluntarily take a 10% cut on your pension? Your puppet master Paul Porreca could do the same. Heck, NaPauleon Porreca should take a 20% cut, since he never even contributed to his pension.
Then, if Millville First truly cared about Millville taxpayers, Paul could voluntarily pay his share of property taxes and forgo his $40,000 a year tax abatement on his make-believe farm. yes, Millville taxpayers subside Porreca like a welfare cheat so that he can play Oliver on his tractor and pretend to be a farmer. Funny, I don’t recall any produce going to market from his farm. I don’t see any jobs created – only a huge hole in the tax collections of the city as every Millvillian subsidizes him on this bizarre form of welfare.
That any commissioner doesn’t have any health insurance is not a particular concern of mine. I totally agree with Mr. Tesoroni when he called for the Commission to pass an ordinance that precludes future commissioners from receiving health insurance from the taxpayers. That is good politics.
So Bob, how much do you pay towards YOUR health insurance, and how much do the taxpayers pay?
The legislature is determining my healthcare contribution right now. It looks like it’ll come in at 1.5%. I am not a part time elected official.
Some sage wrote this on 4 March 2010:
Okay, maybe not a sage, but it is sound nonetheless.
Precluding part-timers in the future of not grabbing health benefits is good public policy. As Tesoroni noted, it can always be repealed.
I know it hurts when someone who is not liked offers a sound idea, but a sound idea is one that should be enacted regardless of whose it was.
I used to work for a major company in the private sector – and dating back to 1997 they were taking $3,600 a year out of my salary for health insurance. I only WISH that that was 1.5% of my salary. Not even close!
I can only imagine how much the employee’s share is today, I know it must be much higher. This was a multinational corporation, and we were happy (well maybe not ecstatic) to have the coverage we had for the price.
Afterward I worked at Radio Shack, and I got what passes for insurance through them at $90 a week (family) – fortunately I never had to use it because it didn’t really cover squat. I got my teeth cleaned once a year for a $65 co-pay, I think. Again, was top sales rep for the region, but my deduction for insurance was a hell of a lot more than 1.5% of my salary.
So when people go crying the blues about how unfair it is that they actually have to pay into their health plan, sorry if I don’t lend a sympathetic ear.
Currently, I am self employed. I cannot afford ANY insurance. Period. Insurance would cost me around $10,000 a year for minimal (catastrophic) coverage.
The state of New Jersey dictated that a group of artists (we tried) could not qualify as a group for a group rate. We were not employed under one company. We were not allowed to buy across state lines, or else we could join a PA artists cooperative that does offer affordable insurance.
So again, sorry, but you don’t have my shoulder to cry on. I wonder if Tesoroni is still voluntarily covered under a state program? I wonder if the judge still gets state funded health care?
Oh, and by the way – you will note that I DID SAY that it was a good idea (no benefits of any sort for part-timers). I have been an advocate of that on Magazzu Watch, and will continue to advocate it.
I just have this quirk that I point out hypocrisy such as the judge demanding that the city do away with all “Tax Abatement”… all except for his own that costs city taxpayers $42,000 (could be $47,000 – I don’t have the info at my fingertips right now) a year!
Carl, you have missed the point of my post.
I do not think that part-time elected officials should have health benefits. Tesoroni believes that. You stated that.
The rest of your treatise in the comments section is much ado about nothing. My health benefits, what you paid, that you lack health insurance now, tax abatements, farm subsidies, Paul Porreca, etc. have nothing to do with part-time elected officials.
Tesoroni has called for these part-time elected officials to take a step forward and pass a resolution that would preclude future part-time elected officials in Millville from having health benefits. I say that is good policy. I think you agree with that if I have read your posts correctly.
FWIW, no one in this conversation is crying about paying into the benefits package. I have made even bolder claims as to what I should have to pay as a public employee.
So you claim that Paul Porreca NOT PAYING $42,000 a year in taxes, and Millville taxpayers including yourself SUBSIDIZING him so that he can pretend at being Farmer John is a good thing? Much ado about nothing?
Porreca employs nobody at his farm. He brings no produce to market, no meat to a butcher. No, he found a great tax dodge, a loophole that he merrily exploits by selling a little bit of hay to other horse owners and he calls it a farm, and each year Millville LOSES $42,000 in property taxes, his fair share that he refuses to pay.
I think $225,000 in tax abatements every five-years to ONE MAN, when the city realizes absolutely no benefit is wrong. Paul Porreca could in one moment fix this problem, but chooses to live like a welfare cheat on the backs of the taxpayers.
I am amazed that you have a real problem with a one time $5,000 RAD grant to help homeowners restore the facades of their homes, increasing curb appeal and benefiting neighborhoods, but have absolutely no problem with 8itimes that amount being forgiven one person indefinitely.
Carl, do you truly believe that is the point I made above? I am dismayed.
Well – I was quite clear on my ORIGINAL post – I said I agreed with gun-toting Testosteroni, and added my own suggestions as to how he and his hypocritical posse could save even more money for the overburdened taxpayers of Millville.
Mr. Testosteroni has never had an original thought in his head – he is spoon fed by his hero and height-challenged former judge, NaPauleon Porreca. I merely suggested that the judge, who never paid one dime into his pension fund, give some back to the taxpayers.
I also am curious about his $42,000 a year tax abatement -and would like to see him pay HIS fair share.
Bob, I think I was quite clear in my INITIAL post. So please don’t try to derail that discussion to fit your agenda – for that you have your own blog!
If you think that people deserve pensions they never paid into, please write about it on eCache (http://blog.rdowens.net). See – I gave you a plug!!!
And by the way, I wish I could carry a gun concealed in my waistband like Tesoroni does. He scares me, because I do not think he is stable. But he is allowed to carry a gun! He has stalked my girlfriend – I have proof. Tell me you would be secure knowing that a person that has a personal vendetta against you is allowed to carry a loaded weapon, and is allowed to stalk you.
Okay . . . I agreed with something you wrote, but from now on I will curtail my comments to my site and not participate here. No problem, Carl.
Well, you don’t have to pick up and ball and go home just because I want’s to get into a good discussion – you never replied as to how you would feel knowing that a person is allowed to carry concealed (when virtually nobody in NJ can do that except cops and ex-cops) when that person has a public vendetta against you.
[...] in case you were interested . . . I was asked: you never replied as to how you would feel knowing that a person is allowed to carry concealed [...]