Can tell you don't have a State job .

You do understand that it is more expensive to contract with a non-governmental agency for services than it is for the services to be performed by the state? You do understand that all contracts with non-governmental agencies are reviewed by the legislature to reduce the number of them.

No, I do not understand that. Private companies are run much more efficiently than state government. They do far more with far less.

Why require 2/3 to raise taxes? When it is appropriate it is appropriate.

So that one party with a narrow majority cannot use the other party as a scapegoat, take the education budget hostage, and raise taxes on a whim. If a real emergency exists, then both parties should be able to agree on a temporary tax hike to deal with it.

Parking the helicopter will make up an 850 million dollar shortfall?

Never said it would, but it would be a good place to start.

 

State goverment cannot merge counties and cities or counties. That is local initiative. What work have you been doing to merge your county with a neighboring one. If you think it is a good idea, it has to come from the citizens - state goverment does not have that authority.

I believe that the state government does have that authority or could create that authority because counties did not form themselves and will not merge themselves out of existence.

No, I do not understand that. Private companies are run much more efficiently than state government. They do far more with far less.

So that one party with a narrow majority cannot use the other party as a scapegoat, take the education budget hostage, and raise taxes on a whim. If a real emergency exists, then both parties should be able to agree on a temporary tax hike to deal with it.

Never said it would, but it would be a good place to start.

 

I believe that the state government does have that authority or could create that authority because counties did not form themselves and will not merge themselves out of existence.

 

You are wrong on the first count, completely. Private attorneys are paid much more than state attorneys so when they farm legal work out it costs the state more money. Same is true of accounting and construction and street cleaning and whatever you want to discuss. "they do far more with far less" what does that suppose to mean and what data do you have to support it.

 

On a whim?? You have got to be kidding me. Do just a little bit of research on the state budget, a little, and tell me we haven't been borrowing money to keep basic services going. We are generally so backward that we think all taxes are bad, yet when a service that we need is slow or awkward or doesn't respond to my needs then we complain. We forget that we don't want to increase revenue so services are going to diminish.

My view is simply, the government is having to take over and run costly programs that they shouldn't have to run or fund. Not-for-profit and churches should be the ones supporting so many social programs to help society instead of relying on the government to run them.

My view is simply, the government is having to take over and run costly programs that they shouldn't have to run or fund. Not-for-profit and churches should be the ones supporting so many social programs to help society instead of relying on the government to run them.

 

Amen to that.

A Democratic Kentucky governor breaking a promise to not raise taxes!? I am shocked I tell ya, shocked!

 

Don't worry, Beshear currently plans to tax only "the other guy," so feel free to defend this tax hike as unavoidable and for the good of smokers and all Kentuckians.

 

:laugh::laugh::laugh::thumb:

Speaking as a formal local county employee, I feel I know just a bit about what could save some money.

 

1) Stop giving medical cards to women who come from Mexico without legal reasons to be here. Just cause they can't speak english and just "happen" to drive into Kentucky that morning, big with child, doesn't mean we have to provide them with a medical card. They don't have to prove who they are, where they live, or their income. So why should we, as taxpayers, provide them with this service and then turn down our own taxpayers for the same help?

 

2) It has never made any sense to me why the state government feels the need to have so many meetings. They tell you that you have to drive all the way to Frankfort or to some state park for a meeting when all they really had to do was send an e-mail telling you what they take 2 days to tell you. There are people from all over the state driving miles and miles and charging hotel rooms and food for some meeting that didn't need to be anyway. I've always felt that this was just a way for the "higher ups" in Frankfort and the "higher ups" in local government to get together to party. So why should our tax money pay for their fun.

 

3) They finally did stop double dipping but I think they need to go back and release everyone who is double dipping from their jobs, and if those jobs are really needed, when some truly aren't, then hire someone who will actually be contributing to the retirement system. You have people out there in local and state government who are pulling in hugh retirement checks and are also pulling in hugh paychecks. I know this is being done, I used to work with two people who are currently doing this.

 

4) If you are going to hit smokers with high taxes then hit the people who drink. As one poster said, smoking is a choice and drinking is also. So, IMO, if you want to tax one, then tax the other also.

You are wrong on the first count, completely. Private attorneys are paid much more than state attorneys so when they farm legal work out it costs the state more money.

A former UK Law professor who was an alternate Kentucky Supreme Court justice and one of the top corporate lawyers in the state once told me that winning ethics cases against state employed attorneys were the easiest cases to win. He said that he often got charges dismissed and won wrongful termination cases against doctors, engineers, teachers, and other professionals who should have been nailed. He said the state uses the most inexperienced and/or incompetent lawyers available to pursue ethics cases.

Same is true of accounting and construction and street cleaning and whatever you want to discuss. "they do far more with far less" what does that suppose to mean and what data do you have to support it.

No doubt that state salaries for its employees are below those for private employees (federal salaries are much higher, on average) - mismanagement is the area in which the state shines. It more than offsets the lower wages of state employees. The last time that I checked the numbers, Kentucky had a larger ratio of state employees per capita than any of the states along its border except for West Virginia. Maybe governor Beshear could contract out state services to Indiana Missouri.:lol:

On a whim?? You have got to be kidding me. Do just a little bit of research on the state budget, a little, and tell me we haven't been borrowing money to keep basic services going. We are generally so backward that we think all taxes are bad, yet when a service that we need is slow or awkward or doesn't respond to my needs then we complain. We forget that we don't want to increase revenue so services are going to diminish.

State government spending increases in good times and in bad times. Private companies adapt to the available revenue stream or they go out of business. The state raises its prices when times get tough. Revenue is not the problem - spending is- and it should not be so easy for the state to raise taxes on any group, including those despicable people who have the audacity of engaging in the legal activity of smoking tobacco.

Sounds to me like the Gov. is pouting. Things are not going his way with Casino Gambling, so he wants to take it out on somebody. (the smokers)

 

Someone should get him a box of tissues and tell him to get over gambling and do his job of running the state.

My view is simply, the government is having to take over and run costly programs that they shouldn't have to run or fund. Not-for-profit and churches should be the ones supporting so many social programs to help society instead of relying on the government to run them.

 

Examples????

A former UK Law professor who was an alternate Kentucky Supreme Court justice and one of the top corporate lawyers in the state once told me that winning ethics cases against state employed attorneys were the easiest cases to win. He said that he often got charges dismissed and won wrongful termination cases against doctors, engineers, teachers, and other professionals who should have been nailed. He said the state uses the most inexperienced and/or incompetent lawyers available to pursue ethics cases.

No doubt that state salaries for its employees are below those for private employees (federal salaries are much higher, on average) - mismanagement is the area in which the state shines. It more than offsets the lower wages of state employees. The last time that I checked the numbers, Kentucky had a larger ratio of state employees per capita than any of the states along its border except for West Virginia. Maybe governor Beshear could contract out state services to Indiana Missouri.:lol:

State government spending increases in good times and in bad times. Private companies adapt to the available revenue stream or they go out of business. The state raises its prices when times get tough. Revenue is not the problem - spending is- and it should not be so easy for the state to raise taxes on any group, including those despicable people who have the audacity of engaging in the legal activity of smoking tobacco.

 

 

Why did your professor not become a state attorney??? Couldn't pay him enough. The question wasn't whether or not the state attorneys were good, BTW my wife is an attorney for the state, but whether they perform the work at a higher or lower rate. I am sure your law professor made twice what my wife makes and many of the other attorneys in the state. I am also sure that he got to focus on winning those cases and not also on managing a cabinet and being sure that all state regs were followed and acting as legislative liason and securing state contracts.

 

The problem with your public v private sphere comments is that kids don't quit coming to school when the economy is doing bad and roads and bridges don't quit needing to be repaired and police officers need to keep coming to work.

 

Give me an example of mismanagement when it didn't involve not having enough employees to handle the case loads, i.e. the state social workers? But of course we should reduce the number of people we have investigating child abuse b/c they should double and triple up since nobody suffers but a couple of kids.

Why did your professor not become a state attorney??? Couldn't pay him enough. The question wasn't whether or not the state attorneys were good, BTW my wife is an attorney for the state, but whether they perform the work at a higher or lower rate. I am sure your law professor made twice what my wife makes and many of the other attorneys in the state. I am also sure that he got to focus on winning those cases and not also on managing a cabinet and being sure that all state regs were followed and acting as legislative liason and securing state contracts.

He was not my law professor - I was a corporate client not his student. You are correct that our corporate lawyer was not too busy dealing with the politics of state government to win important cases. Your point supports my position that mismanagement is the biggest reason that Kentucky state government does less with more than private enterprises.

The problem with your public v private sphere comments is that kids don't quit coming to school when the economy is doing bad and roads and bridges don't quit needing to be repaired and police officers need to keep coming to work.

You are right and this is the reason that the size of government should not be expanded when the economy is performing well. Government expands in good times but it does not shrink in bad times, which results in repeated tax increases. That is why I believe that it should be much more difficult to raise taxes than to cut spending.

tGive me an example of mismanagement when it didn't involve not having enough employees to handle the case loads, i.e. the state social workers? But of course we should reduce the number of people we have investigating child abuse b/c they should double and triple up since nobody suffers but a couple of kids.

Former Governor Patton's sex for lax enforcement of nursing home regulations had nothing to do with the number of available state inspectors, did it?

Speaking as a formal local county employee, I feel I know just a bit about what could save some money.

 

1) Stop giving medical cards to women who come from Mexico without legal reasons to be here. Just cause they can't speak english and just "happen" to drive into Kentucky that morning, big with child, doesn't mean we have to provide them with a medical card. They don't have to prove who they are, where they live, or their income. So why should we, as taxpayers, provide them with this service and then turn down our own taxpayers for the same help?

 

2) It has never made any sense to me why the state government feels the need to have so many meetings. They tell you that you have to drive all the way to Frankfort or to some state park for a meeting when all they really had to do was send an e-mail telling you what they take 2 days to tell you. There are people from all over the state driving miles and miles and charging hotel rooms and food for some meeting that didn't need to be anyway. I've always felt that this was just a way for the "higher ups" in Frankfort and the "higher ups" in local government to get together to party. So why should our tax money pay for their fun.

 

3) They finally did stop double dipping but I think they need to go back and release everyone who is double dipping from their jobs, and if those jobs are really needed, when some truly aren't, then hire someone who will actually be contributing to the retirement system. You have people out there in local and state government who are pulling in hugh retirement checks and are also pulling in hugh paychecks. I know this is being done, I used to work with two people who are currently doing this.

 

4) If you are going to hit smokers with high taxes then hit the people who drink. As one poster said, smoking is a choice and drinking is also. So, IMO, if you want to tax one, then tax the other also.

 

I, too, think these are great ideas.:thumb:

He was not my law professor - I was a corporate client not his student. You are correct that our corporate lawyer was not too busy dealing with the politics of state government to win important cases. Your point supports my position that mismanagement is the biggest reason that Kentucky state government does less with more than private enterprises.

You are right and this is the reason that the size of government should not be expanded when the economy is performing well. Government expands in good times but it does not shrink in bad times, which results in repeated tax increases. That is why I believe that it should be much more difficult to raise taxes than to cut spending.

Former Governor Patton's sex for lax enforcement of nursing home regulations had nothing to do with the number of available state inspectors, did it?

 

State attorneys would not have to deal with management issues if we had not cut many of those middle management positions through attrition - just as we are planning on doing now.

 

Bash Patton all you want, I won't defend him, but that is not an example of a government policy and procedure. That is an example of someone working outside set parameters. Much like Enron. I would assume that you would not use Enron as the example of all business models?

On branch of state government the I'm very familiar with has been cut drastically. The more experienced employees have been removed and now their operating on a "bare bones" staff with no experience in this particular field. They have the final say on any upgrades or projects we propose to improve processes and or quality. In the past we would submit our proposals and await their approval, which would take 30-45 days. Now, it takes every bit of 3+ months. Which is very difficult when you operate fiscally on a annual budget. Now, I spend almost twice as much time in Frankfort educating the staff thats suppose to be "experts" to get them to approve submittals. They have no idea what they're putting their stamp of approval one anymore. Needless to say, I'm no fan of Beshear.