This clip is more of a “feel good” Friday. Enjoy!

The Vanderburgh County Health Department (VCHD) is pleased to announce the availability of their popular Resource Guide in electronic (e) format.

The VCHD eResource Guide functions as the local phone book’s yellow pages did years ago as the “go to” resource for contact information for desired services, in this case public health related service agencies. It includes telephone numbers, addresses and other information by service provided. The Table of Contents lists each service category alphabetically and agencies are listed alphabetically in each service category.

Production of the Resource Guide started some twenty (20) years ago by the receptionist for the VCHD Public Health Outreach Nurses. The simple, single page guide included a list of telephone numbers to referral and partner agencies commonly requested by individuals visiting the health department. Over time, the list grew and became the VCHD Resource Guide. The Resource Guide is continuously updated, and has been printed numerous times since 1998.

The electronic eResource Guide looks much like the “paper hard copy version”, and includes a hyperlinked table of contents, and clickable links to the websites of the listed agencies. Almost all agencies listed in the eResource Guide have established websites with detailed information about their agency: such as; service(s), location(s), eligibility requirement(s), cost(s) – if any, etc. The Resource Guide is in portable document format (.pdf that can be opened in Adobe Reader), and is attached to this e-mail media release.

Gary Heck, VCHD Administrator says of the eResource Guide: “This is another way the Vanderburgh County Health Department adapts to changing times and tools to provide an essential community service. When individuals and families seek services other than the services currently provided by the Health Department, then our Resource Guide is available to serve as a guide to other community resources. When you have a good, useful resource in paper format (free of charge) and you continue to provide that service, but at the same time provide (24/7/365) availability; and update content continuously; and you provide the ability not only to keep a copy yourself but shared it with the world – repeated and it remains free of charge – then the good, use resource becomes – a tremendously improved resource. A valuable community service (paper version) becomes an extremely valuable community service (both paper and electronic version).” A limited number of hard copies will continue to be available by request to individuals without internet access. Follow the link on the VCHD home page at www.vanderburghgov.org/health to the electronic eResource Guide

Notice is hereby given by the Water and Sewer Utility Board of the City of Evansville Indiana, that an Executive Session will be held on Tuesday, August 2, 2011, beginning at 12:45p.m. in the Conference Room of the Water & Sewer Utility, Room 100, Civic Center Complex, Evansville, Indiana 47708

THE PURPOSE OF THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION IS:
DISCUSSION OF
PERSONNEL AND
LITIGATION ISSUES

With one Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation school already in session and three more to start before the end of next week, Superintendent David Smith expressed a desire to have all students in school, on time, the first day of school.

“It may seem like a day or two doesn’t matter, but for students to truly succeed – even the minutes matter because they add up to entire days or weeks of lessons missed or work not learned,” Smith said during a news conference on July 28.

In an effort to help families think about school at this time, the EVSC has begun a mini campaign putting up bus transportation billboards and enrollment information on bus benches throughout the city, to remind families how and when to enroll and where to get bus information.

By early next week, each family that has enrolled will have received a Connect-ED phone call with bus number and bus stop information; as well as a postcard with the information. Postcards will be mailed Friday and a Connect-ED message, personalized for each student – will be sent out to all parents on next week.

Enrollment begins in most schools on Friday, as well. In addition to the regular daytime hours, special evening hours have been set to allow families flexibility in enrolling before the first day of school.
Enrollment times for Elementary and Middle School/K-8 School are as follows:

Daytime Enrollment Hours
July 29: 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.
Aug. 2: 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.
Aug. 3: 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.
Aug. 5: 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.
Aug. 9: 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m.

Evening Enrollment Hours
Aug. 1: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4-7 p.m.
Aug. 4: 11:30-2:30 and 4-7 p.m.

High School Enrollment
August 1-10: Call school to arrange appointment to enroll.

A new addition to the EVSC web services for parents is a new interface with Parent Access. In past years, families of students in grades 3-12 could go on EdEase Parent Access to monitor grades, assignments, absences and discipline. Now, all families will have the opportunity to update their emergency contact information on the Parent Access tab of EdEase, at any time day or night, and even on their Smart phone.

Custodial parents will receive a mailing before school starts with an access code. Families will go to the EdEase website at http://rdsteach.evsc.k12.in.us/rdsparentaccess/ and may update their contact information by clicking on their student’s name.

“This is such a helpful tool and will save families from having to fill out contact information forms year after year,” Smith said. “It also will help us contact families in the event of an emergency or school closing; or to share news about events happening at their school. Through this system, the EVSC has the ability to always have the most up-to-date contact information, to better serve our families.”

EVSC School Start Dates

-Most EVSC Schools: August 10
-Lincoln School: July 20
-McGary Middle School: August 1
-Delaware K-6 School: August 4
-Evans K-6 School: August 4
-Glenwood Leadership Academy K-8: August 8

For bus information, families may call 435-1BUS or email evsc.bus@evsc.k12.in.us

Time 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Subject DMD
Location 318
Reminder 15 minutes
LAURA @ 7806
Categories ROOM 318

IS IT TRUE? Part 2 July 29, 2011

IS IT TRUE that Mr. Tom Barnett, Director of the Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development is on record today as saying that there will not be another extension given to Centre City Properties LLC to get financing for the McCurdy Hotel project?…that the last business day for that financing to be secure is today?…that the official deadline is Sunday July 31, 2011 but that if the deal is not done by the close of business today that the deal will be in default when the doors are opened at the Civic Center on Monday morning?…that Mr. Barnett is exactly right in his position with respect to this project?…that it has been over 4 years since that Kodak moment when this project was announced?….that enough is enough?

IS IT TRUE that the new sidewalk work in downtown Evansville to prepare for the reversal of the streets and the opening of the Arena is looking pretty good?…that with ADA compliance at the corners and new traffic control fixtures that this is going to be a basis for being attractive?…that some banners on the light poles and some seriously beautiful flower pots will add some finishing touches to the ambiance?…that all we need will be 25 or 30 more businesses to fill up the empty storefronts and we may just be getting somewhere?

IS IT TRUE that we hear that the tab for all of these nice improvements is over $4 Million?…that we wonder if the Arena budget will be picking up that tab?…that we also wonder if the Arena budget will be picking up the tab for that geyser in the street yesterday that has compromised the water in the Civic Center?…that we heard a cool saying today about public works projects that we would like to share?…that it rhymes with an old saying about investments that says “it takes money to make money”?…that our contribution to that with a government spending twist is that “IT TAKES MONEY TO TAKE MONEY”?

IS IT TRUE that it has now been 1,550 days since the announcement was made on May 14, 2007 that the McCurdy Hotel was to be refurbished into luxury apartments?…that it has now been 1,403 days since the Evansville Redevelopment Commission at the request of Mayor Weinzapfel approved the spending of $603,000 to purchase the parking lot?…that City Centre Properties and Scott Kosene the developers of the McCurdy project are both listed as contributors to the Weinzapfel for Mayor committee for 2010?

IS IT TRUE that in a short 102 days we will all know whether it will be Lloyd Winnecke or Rick Davis who will become the Mayor that will assume responsibility for executing the decisions that are playing out right now?…that that there are 155 days remaining in the Weinzapfel Administration?…that the latest extension in the four year saga of the McCurdy start date expires Sunday?

IS IT TRUE that there are now 459 days remaining in the two years that the EPA had given the City of Evansville to present an acceptable solution to the Combined Sewer Overflow problem?…..that this plan is an expensive and complex endeavor that needs immediate attention to avoid the embarrassment and expense of another round of fines?

IS IT TRUE that we will be very interested in how much money is placed into the 2012 City of Evansville budget to do the design work that is required to design an acceptable solution that will get the blessing of the EPA that took Evansville to court to force the repair of the sewers so that the Combined Sewer Overflows are compliant with federal laws?

IS IT TRUE that a touch of sanity has finally come from the Evansville Redevelopment Commission with respect to the downtown Convention Hotel fiasco?…that yesterday’s special meeting ended with the right result but that the commission was in no mood for any public input or even input from elected officials?…that Mr. John Kish the project manager lawyered up for the meeting bringing a legal eagle from the Indianapolis firm of Bingham McHale?…that this legal eagle spent about 10 minutes giving instructions about the law and vetting as though he was addressing a bunch of first year law students?…that the ERC was eloquently told that they did not do their job and that it is now time to do it?…that the big money gun slinger was right?

IS IT TRUE that the end result was that there will be an outside firm hired to vet the two proposals?…that this is what the City County Observer has been calling for?…that we finally will complement the ERC for unanimously voting to do the right thing and get someone who knows what they are doing to complete the vetting task?…that rumblings were even coming from the lawyer table about vetting the construction plan, the ability of the chosen proposal to run a hotel, and of course the feasibility of the financing packages?…that both Prime Lodging and the Kunkel Group have submitted addendums to their packages?…that is just part of the process when businesses are asked to submit proposals on a two week timeframe?…that we are sure that there will be more addendums?

IS IT TRUE that the president of the ERC, Mr. Bob Goldman carefully confirmed that they were free to choose “none of the above” if the proposals turn out not to vet for any reason at all?…that Mr. Goldman’s level of interest in that answer was worth noting?…that the other revelation of the day was that after 30 days that the terms of the RFP are possible to alter through one on one negotiations?…that was a new wrinkle as we are only 20 days from the time that the RFP terms can be changed?…that before this piece of knowledge that the foregone conclusion was that it was an all or nothing proposition that could end up with nothing?

IS IT TRUE that the second line item of the agenda had to do with the antenna solution for the Arena?…that there was no public discussion allowed regarding this item?…that Councilman John Friend attempted to ask a question but that a motion was made, a vote was taken, and whatever that was and whatever it cost it was passed unanimously?…that I guess that we will find out what it is now that it was passed?…that our last memory of pass it then read it does not seem to have turned out so well?…that unintended consequences have turned many well meaning projects to dirt?…that we hope that is not the case with the cellular service in the Arena?…that we also hope that it is FREE like Mr. Kish said it would be in the May 9, 2011 meeting of the Evansville City Council?

By: Marty Sullivan

Tax reform will not be a part of the legislation that raises the debt limit. Congress and President Obama cannot even agree on the broad outlines of reform. And even if they could, the multitude of political problems and technical issues are too great and too complicated for legislation by August 2.

The fastest possible legislative path would involve circumvention of the taxwriting committees with direct floor action. After negotiators reached agreement on specific provisions for inclusion in the plan, staff would still have to hammer out non-trivial details, estimate revenue effects, and draft statutory language. Even with swift passage in the rule-constrained House, there would still be a contentious, time-consuming Senate fight with about 100 amendments. And subsequent to that, all the political problems postponed by cutting the taxwriting committees out of the process would ultimately manifest themselves in conference committee wrangling of unprecedented proportions. The last major tax reform took two years, and that was when Republicans and Democrats talked to each other. It is unrealistic to think we can do it now in two weeks or even two months.

Nobody knows what overall budget deal will emerge from the current debt limit talks. As of this writing, it is looking increasingly minimalist. To make up for the absence of substance, there will be much fluff. The final agreement will be light on actual deficit reduction and heavy on symbolic gestures. It will be a down payment. It will include Gramm-Rudman-like deficit targets that further postpone specific action. And there will be a vote on a balanced budget amendment — even though the magnitude of deficit reduction required to balance the budget, in the neighborhood of $1 trillion per year, is so out of reach it is laughable to even suggest it.

Finally, the debt limit deal could include a commitment to enacting major tax reform. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has recommended this approach. And so have Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Daniel Coats, R-Ind., authors of their own comprehensive tax reform plan. In a July 6 letter to Obama and congressional leaders, the senators wrote:

We recognize there is not enough time to pass comprehensive tax reform between now and the August 2 deadline for raising the debt limit, but there is no reason why any debt-reduction agreement should not include a timeline for enacting tax reform before the end of this year. Therefore, we believe it is vital that any debt-reduction plan you negotiate contain a commitment to comprehensive tax reform.

Both the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the senators want tax reform completed within a year. Even that timeline may be a little too compact.
Another promise of renewed efforts at tax reform may disappoint those who had high hopes for something Reaganesque. But to realists there will be no disappointment. In fact, under the right conditions, it could be a very positive development.

What conditions are necessary for a productive fresh start? To avoid just another toothless blue-ribbon panel like the Bowles-Simpson commission, Obama — like Reagan in 1984 — must put the prestige and the technical expertise of Treasury behind the effort. But hasn’t Treasury been doing tax reform since the president’s State of the Union address? Yes, but it is all behind closed doors, so most of what undoubtedly is first-class staff work just accumulates in the files. There is no progress without actual proposals to which citizens and Congress can respond. There is no leadership. Some secrecy must be sacrificed. Some political capital must be expended. As in 2004 and 2005, Treasury needs to share its tax reform findings with the public. After all, we are paying for it.

More importantly, negotiators must clear the ground and provide direction on the fundamental structure reform should take. Until now, negotiators have used tax reform as a smoke screen for their failings as budgeteers. This is getting us nowhere. They have put the cart before the horse and, as the analogy suggests, made only the most awkward progress. There’s no use debating the repeal of particular tax breaks unless the overall reform is put into a budget context. Much of the Democrats’ support for tax reform is conditioned on an increase in revenue. Many Republicans want revenue-neutral reform or no reform at all. Congress and the president need to reach an agreement about revenue first and then proceed with tax reform.

For the overall revenue target there is a spectrum of possibilities. At one end there is revenue-neutral reform, as in 1986. But 21st-century tax reform does not have to follow the Reagan precedent. There can also be revenue-raising reform. Republicans might agree to that in exchange for expenditure cuts two or three times the amount of the revenue increase. Revenue-raising reform would also need to include rate cuts so it could still plausibly be called tax reform. The important thing is that there is agreement first.

This is the task budget deal negotiators must complete if they want to set a productive tax reform project in motion. Once the parameters are established, Treasury and the taxwriting committees can get down to brass tacks. Otherwise we are back at square one.

On the Cutting-Room Floor

The need to give priority to setting budget targets is not the only thing we have learned about tax reform from the debt limit debate. It has caused habitually tight-lipped politicians to actually mention real revenue raisers. This gives us a glimpse of the future. Based on public statements (mostly from Democrats) and scattered press reports about recent negotiations, the following paragraphs list proposals that are likely to attract initial attention during the next round of tax reform.

Eliminate the LIFO method of accounting. Repeal of the last-in, first-out method was reportedly part of the $1 trillion tax increase proposed by Democrats during the week after the July Fourth holiday. It has also been included in the president’s budget. Senate Finance Committee ranking minority member Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, has excoriated the president for this proposal, complaining that “millions of Americans are out of work, and this White House is actually proposing an idea that would make things worse for our manufacturers.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates that repeal of LIFO (and another profit-cutting inventory accounting method known as “lower of cost or market”) would raise about $98 billion over 10 years. Most of this pickup is in the early years, because the proposal requires the recapture of LIFO reserves. The main beneficiaries of the availability of LIFO are the major oil companies.

Repeal oil company tax breaks. With gas prices at almost $4 a gallon, Obama and Democrats in Congress have been pushing hard to repeal many tax benefits for oil and gas producers. In addition to repealing LIFO, Obama’s most recent budget proposed repealing nine other tax benefits for oil companies. The largest of these include:

Percentage depletion. Under current law, percentage depletion is only available to independent producers, and the allowable deduction varies from 5 to 22 percent of gross income from a producing property. Percentage depletion costs the government about $1 billion annually.
Expensing of intangible drilling costs. Oil companies incur significant costs for preparing and drilling wells. These costs — mostly in the form of wages, fuel, supplies, and repairs — are investments that should be capitalized and deducted over the life of the well. But current law allows them to be written off immediately, except for bigger oil companies that must spread 30 percent of the costs over five years. Disallowing expensing of intangible drilling costs is estimated to raise $8.5 billion over 10 years.
Deduction for domestic production. The section 199 deduction is generally equal to 9 percent of profits, but for oil companies it is only 6 percent of profits. The repeal of the domestic manufacturing production deduction for oil companies is estimated to raise $15.9 billion over 10 years.

Limit the tax credits for foreign taxes on oil companies. The dividing line between royalties and creditable foreign taxes is a hotly contested issue. The administration proposes to limit creditable foreign taxes to taxes paid by all businesses in that country; special taxes on oil production would no longer be creditable. The proposal is estimated to raise $9.2 billion over 10 years.

On May 17 the Senate took up the issue of repealing these tax breaks for the five integrated majors — Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Shell, and BP. To prevent the legislation from being killed, supporters needed 60 votes, but they got only 52 — most of them from Democrats. During the debt limit negotiations, Obama has repeatedly called for raising taxes on oil companies.
Eliminate graduated corporate rates. Congress in 1936 put a graduated rate structure in place for corporate taxes. Graduated corporate tax rates have no economic justification except as a poorly targeted benefit for small businesses. Requiring all corporations to pay a flat 35 percent rate is part of the Wyden-Coats tax reform plan, and it regularly appears in the CBO’s annual list of possible revenue raisers. Requiring all corporate profits to be subject to the 35 percent rate would raise about $2.5 billion annually.

Eliminate capital gains treatment of carried interest for fund managers. There is no need to get into a philosophical debate about the difference between capital gain and incentive fees for investment services. It is a tribute to the skill of hedge fund lobbyists and the power of their clients that in the midst of a deficit crisis immediately following a financial crisis, and in a nation where the distribution of income is becoming increasingly skewed, Congress cannot raise tax rates on multimillionaire managers to levels paid by wage earners. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the proposal would raise $21 billion over 10 years.

Limiting the benefit of itemized deductions to 28 percent. In all three of his budgets, Obama has proposed limiting itemized deductions for high-bracket taxpayers so the tax benefit of those deductions does not exceed those available for taxpayers with a 28 percent rate. This proposal also has been reported to be part of a $1 trillion tax increase proposed by the president during recent negotiations. It is similar to the Pease phaseouts of itemized deductions. But it could return in 2013 if the Bush tax cuts are not further extended. The president’s proposal, like its predecessor, has the phony (yet politically attractive) virtue of increasing taxes on upper-income households without explicitly raising tax rates. It is vehemently opposed by the charitable sector and the housing industry. The JCT estimates the proposal would raise $293 billion over 10 years.

Close tax haven loopholes. Declaring that “people are sick and tired of tax dodgers using offshore trickery and abusive tax shelters to avoid paying their fair share,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., reintroduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Tax Act of 2011 on July 12. Levin’s prior versions of the bill were the foundation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act enacted in 2010. In a July 11 floor statement, Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the budget plan to be released by Senate Democrats will include proposals to crack down on tax havens. Levin and Conrad hint that $100 billion or more could be raised each year if tax haven loopholes are closed. But this is not an official estimate, and the actual figure is likely to be a fraction of the suggested amount. Still, there is no good reason why Obama and Democrats cannot add the proposals in this legislation to their list of populist tax increases.

Impose corporate tax on large passthrough entities. In its list of possible tax reform options, the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board in 2010 included proposals that would require publicly traded partnerships to pay corporate taxes and that would require businesses above a specific size to be subject to corporate tax. And in mid-2011, rumors abounded that Treasury, as part of its effort to lower corporate tax rates, would impose corporate tax on all businesses with more than $50 million of receipts. In 2007 Finance Chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Finance member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced legislation that would tax as corporations publicly traded partnerships that provide investment advice. Obama was one of the three cosponsors. And at a May 4 Finance hearing, Baucus chimed in: “We’re going to maybe have to look at passthroughs — say they’ve got to be treated as corporations if they earn above a certain income. It’s one possibility.”

Extend the depreciable life of corporate aircraft to seven years. Obama mentioned the tax benefit for corporate jet owners six times during his June 29 press conference. Presumably he is referring to the preferential treatment corporate aircraft receive relative to commercial aircraft. Under the modified accelerated cost recovery system enacted as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, aircraft used in the commercial carrying of freight or passengers are depreciated over a seven-year recovery period. If aircraft are used for other qualified business purposes, they are depreciated over a five-year recovery period. This is estimated to raise $3 billion over 10 years.

Repeal the 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit for corn ethanol. The Tea Party sees the ethanol tax break for what it really is: a subsidy from big government to special interests. Three cheers for them! This type of thinking is revolutionary for Republicans, and it is why the Senate on June 16 voted 72 to 23 to repeal the ethanol subsidy. This will raise about $6 billion a year.

Repeal the deduction for domestic production activities. In the world of big corporate tax breaks, the deduction for domestic production activities is the new kid on the block. Created in 2004, it is hardly simple. There are complex rules for determining the activities that qualify for domestic production. Income from roasting and packaging coffee beans qualifies, but income from sales of brewed coffee does not. On top of definitional issues like this, domestic manufacturing income that qualifies for the deduction must be distinguished from foreign manufacturing income that doesn’t qualify. Repeal would raise receipts by about $15 billion annually. Of all the big corporate tax benefits — the research credit, accelerated depreciation, tax-exempt interest, and the low-income housing credit — it would be the first to go.

None of these proposals is a shoe-in. Impossible, some will say. But if Congress ever is going to reform the tax code, these loopholes will likely be among the first to be closed.

Take That: July 29, 2011

IN RESPONSE TO: CVB Unanimously Rejects ECTA Funding Request for Tennis Courts

“Congratulations,” to all who have advocated for the protection of Wesselman Park Nature Center.“Thank You,” to those ECVB members who have heard the voice of the people.” Bubbageek

“People in this community tend to be so uninformed and maybe thats why everything we do is done in such a shoddy manner. Look at the downtown hotel debaucle.” TSTS

“We have a vast population of progressive, yes men, but I wouldn’t call them “informed”.
You can get funding from the parks board to build indoor tennis facilities, if you can.
We’ll remember that Weinzapfel shut down the park rangers.
We’ll remember the hypodermic needle incident.
We’ll remember the nun-chucks and condoms story.
We’ll remember the Davis proposal to have kids work the parks for min. wage.
We’ll remember the Republicans that called it wastefull.
If you ECTA members want to complain about shoddy. Why don’t you make it a policy that every person that spends 15 minutes playing free tennis on the taxpayers dime… Owes the park system an hour of mowing? (After all, isn’t your largesse to some degree, at others expense?)” Eville Taxpayer

“This is great news. We don’t need anymore pole barns.” Railoverauto

“Makes sense to me. The CVB took the “pie in the sky” numbers that ECTA GAVE THEM and ran the ROI. The numbers did not add up.” Does it make sense

“Public funds…private use. That is what we do not need. We are in an age of me too! I want my subsidy, a handout, a bailout. It was correct for the CVB to say no to this.” Rwtrax

IN RESPONSE TO: Please knock off the Xenophobic Bull and Vet the Proposals on their Merit

“I can’t believe this is even an issue.” Bowhunter72

“it’s a sad state of affairs that has brought us to this point where we have to have a hotel, it’s going to cost the tax base a huge some of money and we are not going to get the best value for our tax dollars, it will never be worth what it costs to build, the hotel will never be able to charge the amount needed to turn a profit and give the investors a reasonable ROI, but yet we have a smiling mayor that laughs and giggles at every photo op and would give the impression that he either doesn’t care, has no shame, or really does think he is smarter then everyone around him….is he really that stupid?” blanger

“The continuing Saga that is Evansville is such an unpleasent tale to tell,–or Sell. A life-long resident, my goal is to shake the dust of this city off my shoes in the near future, and only return to be buried along side family.” Crashlarue

“I forgot to comment on the color blindness of investment dollars. If someone has an interest in your project and is willing to put their money where their mouth is, how could a businessman possibly discriminate ? That sort of thinking is “foreign” to me ! Honestly, the notion that Kish’s comments were trying to portray foreign investment as bad did not occur to me . . . certainly glad that Kish is a Native American.” Beerguy