Large contiguous tract of farmland in Lower Macungie Township
(Submitted as LTE to LMT Patch and an abbreviated version to EPP)
Preserving open space with a balanced land use approach reduces costs for infrastructure and services, therefore over the long term reducing the need for tax increases. Farmland and open space generate no traffic, create no crime, requires no additional fire protection and brings no new students into our school system.
Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? It’s where Bill Murray wakes up and relives the same day over and over. That’s basically life here in Pennsylvania waiting for legislators to act on meaningful reforms. Each election cycle “News conferences are held. Bills are introduced. Proposals are made. And what happens?” The answer is nothing.
I wanted to take a moment to share the link below. It’s a quick read and sums up broad themes why I’m running for State Representative. Items even more relevant now that we’re challenging an incumbent.
The time to shake the system loose is now. That’s what our campaign is about. Less about any one particular incumbent but rather incumbency and complacency in general. Our State legislature is the highest paid, but without question the lowest functioning in the nation. Status quo is so clearly not the answer.
Thank you,
Ron
Candidate for 134th State House
Or if you prefer you can mail contributions to:Friends & Neighbors,
I’ve written many times over the last few years that the entire Lehigh Valley in part rises or falls with the health of our city cores. So, it’s been sad that the Mayor of Allentown’s political corruption scandal has loomed over some otherwise good progress being made. He’s been an increasingly dark cloud and distraction last few years.
With a guilty on 47 counts verdict handed down yesterday and hopefully a quick resignation, the Valley as a whole and the City can finally move forward.
Bill White’s Morning Call column hits a number of important points. They relate to my stance on the importance of term limits for full time paid elected positions.
Clearly, The Mayor over time (or perhaps from the very beginning) let political ambition get the best of him which set the stage for a series of severe ethical lapses and numerous poor decisions.
When you see politics as a career, inevitably at some point you establish a career path, stop making decisions for constituents and start making political calculations for yourself. You stop being a public servant and become something else. One cannot serve two masters.
This is the main reason why I’ve always supported term limits. Ambition is a career politicians worse enemy. We defend against that by ensuring public service remains a calling and not a career.
This doesn’t end with the City of Allentown and hopefully this verdict sends a message across the entire Commonwealth. To see how deep the problem runs, spend some time reading “Keystone Corruption: A Pennsylvania Insider’s View of a State Gone Wrong“. The problem is systemic.
This is why we need structural change. That begins with term limits, resign to run legislation and yes, making districts fair and competitive. We need a return to a citizen legislature in Harrisburg. And all these items help to ensure that.
I prefer campaigning by focusing on what I need to do to get our message out by running on my own record as opposed to worrying about what others are doing. This blog is a 4 year record of ideas, conversation, positions and accomplishments.
However, I will briefly comment on someone else potentially getting into the race because I’ve been asked what it means since it’s been reported by the paper. The Morning Call this week posted that incumbent Ryan Mackenzie is apparently “hedging his election bet” (their words) and circulating petitions for both the 134th and the #PA15 Congressional seat.
I understand what he’s doing, but find it unfortunate someone sees representing us in Harrisburg as a backup plan if their more ambitious one doesn’t work out. No matter what he decides to do, it doesn’t change things for me. I am in this race to win and represent my hometown. To solve the problems that career politicians for whatever reasons have not been able or are unwilling to do.
5 essential State Government reforms.
I believe in term limits and I love being a small business owner, so I have no desire to become a career politician. (I will reject any state pension, lavish perks and per diems) I want the chance to serve and take my record of results to Harrisburg to improve our district and the state. Together in Lower Macungie we enacted residential property tax relief that lowered residential tax bills, we preserved farmland and open space, we reduced yearly spending, we proactively planned for our future and we made our local government the most transparent in the region. I delivered here and I know can do the same in Harrisburg.
Below is a link to the veterans ad the NFL won’t allow in the Super Bowl program.
I’m a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles Fan and will be watching the Super Bowl, cheering for my favorite team. I was proud when the Eagles did not organize any team wide kneeling during the season.
Working families ought to be able to afford insurance on the private markets. Today, unfortunately many can’t. Enter CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
What is CHIP?
CHIP is short for the Children’s Health Insurance Program – Pennsylvania’s program to provide health insurance to uninsured children and teens who are not eligible for Medical Assistance. CHIP covers kids whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but who can’t afford private insurance. This is increasingly a problem as healthcare costs continue to rise under Obamacare.
IMPORTANT TAX BILL INFO:
Lower Macungie Homeowners – Are you enrolled in Homestead? It’s a program the board enacted to further reduce your property taxes. The chart below shows your savings. The green column is the amount of your bill after homestead savings.
(*Note, school property tax bills are separate and set by the School Board)
Morning Call: Lower Mac Commissioners give homeowners tax break
Recently, Homestead and Farmstead exclusion applications have been mailed out to eligible households by Lehigh County who are NOT already enrolled.
Once again, the township has set the homestead rate to the maximum allowed by the state. Eligible homeowners deduct the median home value from the assessment used to calculate their property tax bill.
This year that increased to 121,200 since home values increased in the township. This means 1,329 Lower Mac homes assessed under that amount are eligible for full relief. All others get a reduced bill. The chart below shows your savings. Lower Mac has the lowest Township property tax of any suburban Lehigh County community.
Properties eligible for exclusion include primary owner occupied homes. To receive the discount you must be enrolled. Applications are due March 1st. You can check your enrollment status by calling the County at 610.782.3038.
Information on if your home qualifies here.
Chart above shows your homestead savings. The Green column is your bill after homestead.
Interested in the 2018 township budget? Click here:
The adopted 2018 budget – A snapshot.
Couple things here:
First, I support the initiatives of Fair Districts PA to address our severe gerrymandering problem. They propose appointing an impartial and independent citizens commission to direct redistricting — as opposed to what happens today, which is career politicians drawing their own district lines. I’ve written about the issue numerous times on this blog.
As a Commissioner, Lower Macungie unanimously adopted a resolution urging elected state officials to support independent commission legislation.
That being said – I don’t believe the solution to this is a judicial one. Maps should not be fixed by activist Judge’s.
Gerrymandering is a political problem with a political solution. In other words, we need elected officials to CHANGE the (bad) law(s). The Judge here rendered the right opinion based on the state Constitution, current law and (bad) policies. A Judge is tasked with rendering a decision based on the law, not his/her personal opinions. Whether they believe a law or consequences of a law are right or wrong is irrelevant. In this decision, while the Judge here made his personal opinion known – he can’t and didn’t let that influence answering the legal question. Read opinion here.
Clearly, the policies and law are flawed. Gerrymandering needs to be addressed, but not by an activist court. We need change in the halls of the State legislature. (State legislatures control the redistricting processes).
So, the work continues to address our severe problem we have in Pennsylvania. We do this by changing the problematic state law(s) and systems that undermine democratic elections. To that end, we need elected officials willing to take a stand. As a candidate for the State House I support legislation to establish an independent non-partisan commission and would serve as a co-sponsor AND vocal advocate to that end.
#SlaytheGerrymanderer – We will get there, but as a good government advocate it matters to me HOW we get there. Don’t rely on activist court, change the bad law.
I voted in favor of the 2018 budget this year. The 31.7 million dollar budget accomplished a number of important items on behalf of our 32,000 residents. First, it reduces general fund spending year over year, maintains the lowest suburban millage rate in the entire Lehigh Valley and continues the use of homestead and farmstead to reduce residential property tax bills including complete elimination of the township bill for 1,329 residents. While being a taxpayer friendly budget it also maintains the high level of municipal services that our residents expect and ensures continued capital investments in our community according to our adopted 5 year capital plan.
General Fund spending reduced:
2017 approved General Fund Spending: 14,702,900
2018 approved General Fund Spending: 13,682,385
This represents a 7% decrease in planned general fund (recurring) spending.
On the capital side of things major investments include:
-A new traffic light at Minesite and Cedar Crest tentatively planned for 2018.
-A new aerial truck and other apparatus’s for the Fire Dept.
-Incremental park improvements
-Purchase of more snow plow capable pickup trucks and 1 additional small dump.
-1.6 million set aside for farmland and open space preservation
Homestead Property Tax Relief.
The first column is your assessment, the second is what your tax bill would be without Homestead (the lowest Suburban millage in the County), the 3rd green column is what your bill is with homestead and finally the amount you save this year.
*2018 (for 2017 tax year) Homestead applications have been mailed out to homeowners by Lehigh County. Make sure you are enrolled! Call Lehigh County assessment office at 610.782.3038 if you aren’t sure.
Last year I voted “NO” on the 2017 budget. I explained that vote here. This year, I voted “YES” despite dissatisfaction with the scale of the community center expansion. My vote was primarily on the merit of reducing the planned overall general fund (recurring) spend year to year. This was a goal. I was not going to vote on any budget that increased general fund spending. We did one better, we actually reduced this year.
With the Community center project – I opposed at multiple points growing costs, including most recently voting against the addition of a $95k reception area front desk “add on” which was proposed very late in the game and added to project scope and costs. We were able to secure a stand alone vote on that item, but unfortunately we failed to remove it 3-2. While failing at removing that item, we were however able to remove by a 3-2 vote another 70k last minute addition of a sound proof ceiling in the 2nd gym. These last minute add ons represented luxuries not necessities. And if needed, things that should have been addressed in the initial design phase. Not cobbled together at the last minute and at great (in the case of the desk shockingly so) cost.
Also, I was again disappointed that the budget included another 15% sewer rate increase. But please note and understand, this is an unfunded mandate dictated by the EPA. I’ve talked about this at length here on this blog. Learn more about the EPA mandate here. The township must (and in fairness should) address the sewer infiltration issues or face significant fines from the EPA. While this year represented a right sizing of the quarterly bill relative to the mandate, I will not support any additional increases next year.
For 2018 I also have the following goals for the budget:
1.) It’s my intention to introduce a homestead rate that completely eliminates the township property tax for homestead qualifying residents. This was setup by the successful passage of the November homestead referendum. I’ve written about this many times on this blog over the last couple years why and how we accomplish this.
2.) I would like to propose a policy that future spending increases cannot surpass the rate of inflation without a referendum. This would be a companion to the fund balance policy we adopted a few years ago. It represents financial restraint as a matter of policy and would send major discretionary spending decisions directly to voters.
HERE IS A LINK TO THE AGENDA WITH DETAIL
All township BOC meetings are available on video online. (Budget workshops also)
You can also watch all our board meetings live on Channel 66 RCN cable.
Below, is your agenda preview for the Thursday Dec. 7th Lower Macungie Twp. meeting. Board of Commissioner meetings are the formal business meetings of the township and are held every 1st and 3rd Thursday at the municipal building located at 3400 Brookside Rd.
This week, we have very few action items. We do have two interesting ongoing conversations outlined below.
First, Commercial fire inspections:
We will first have a presentation by LMFD Chief Nosal about the Knox Box aspect of the commercial fire inspection ordinance. A few weeks ago, there was a WFMZ article on the topic. I do need to say that none of the business owners interviewed who voiced concerns approached the township BOC in a formal fashion prior to approaching the media. This despite personally encouraging one particular business owner to do so. Had they, they would have had a sympathetic ear at least from my part to taking another look at some aspects of the program. Also there was some factually incorrect misinformation in the article put forth by one of the business owners. This is, in part why I requested this agenda item. I felt it was important to push back on that.
Two things to note: First, the commercial inspection program was passed by a prior board. So I’ve never voted on this subject, however as a resident and small business owner myself I did comment at the public meeting it was adopted before I was a Commissioner. You can read about that here.
Second, while I believe it’s been clearly demonstrated that installation of a Knox Box system on a commercial building makes sense for both first-responders and business owners in the case of an emergency, I do think there should be a way for business owners to opt out if they are willing to completely absolve the township and fire dept. of any liability. Again, (as a business owner myself) I think that’s the wrong decision, but individuals should have the ability to each make that decision and opt out off they choose. This is what I would like to discuss Thursday.