Property owners pay enough

Property owners pay enough

Once again candidates for public office tell us before the election how smart they are and how they will do our bidding, but when elected they only know one thing: raise taxes. Boardman Township trustees are placing a 3.85-mill levy on the May ballot for the police department to do what they deem fit with $3.7 million in anticipated revenue. Any doubts about everybody getting a raise?

The police chief was making $80,000 not long ago, but his replacement had to start at $93,000 (15 percent more than the captains were making) and the present police chief made $128,000 in 2010. My Social Security was frozen (no increase in 2010 and 2011) and yet I have to pay over $100 per year in property taxes to help a guy making 10 times my meager income. The rich get richer at the expense of the poor. I forgot to mention the police chief in Youngstown makes $80,000 a year.

In your editorial of Jan. 30 you called for the trustees to open the books to the township residents. Under the Freedom of Information Act why can’t you publish police department salaries?

Why not split future tax increases between sales tax, income tax and property tax and not burden the property owners exclusively? If this passes, how long before a levy for the fire department, then the road and township employees, then the teachers will get on the ballot? By then it will be time for another police levy. The tax increases never end.

We are dealt the hand that says “make do with what you have,” why can’t that apply to our government on a local, state and federal level?

Frank Greggo, Boardman

Making sense of tragedy

As a newcomer to the city, I would like to comment on Councilwoman Anne Gillam’s comment on the recent shootings and murder of a fine young man and other terrible injuries at a house near YSU. She said: “It’s hard to make sense of the tragedy. We need to find a way to make our young people value life.”

I’m sorry, but it’s not so hard to make sense of the tragedy that occurred Sunday at 3:40 am. How can we make young people value life when we live in a culture of death? Abortion. Don’t want the baby? Kill it. Old people who are a bother and infirm; we have passive euthanasia for that. Nasty gangsta thug rap extols hatred and death. Life has become a cheap commodity. The criminals have taken over.

I like Youngstown. The people are friendlier than any other place I’ve lived. Yet there is a glaring dichotomy here. You have Holy Scripture on your editorial page, which I think is great. A church on just about every corner, and the bells of Youngstown are magnificent to listen to.

So how does this happen? Real Christians, not the nominal church-pew warmers, need to pray for real and reject the hokey social gospel, feel-good thing because it’s obviously not working. Walk the talk. Reconnect with the Bible.

Christina Foltz, Youngstown

What matters most in long run

I applaud Gov. John Kasich’s visit to the city and Youngstown State University this past week to offer support to the community in dealing with the horrific loss of life and injuries to students and others in a shooting spree at a house on the North Side.

However, beyond the offer of the governor’s moral support, I don’t think the visit packed a lot of substance. What will matter more to YSU and other education communities across Ohio, both higher ed and K through 12, especially in the long term, is the level of funding for education that Gov. Kasich puts in the two-year budget that he will send to the Ohio Legislature by March 15. That is the date that we will learn a lot more about the manner of John Kasich.

Rightfully so, or wrongfully so, many educators across the state are worried that education will take a disproportionate hit in the budget when the governor attempts to fix an $8 billion plus deficit. The month of March could mark the beginning of some very unsettling months in our state and the nation as well. March is also the month that the U.S. Congress and White House will begin haggling over the federal budget and its huge deficit and whether a new debt limit should be established. Like it or not, as responsible citizens we must stay tuned.

Leon Stennis, Youngstown

Racetrack vs. industrial park

Whatever happened to the Austintown Centerpointe business park?

A few years ago, the Centerpointe property owners asked the Austintown zoning board to change the area from agricultural to business. After much discussion, arguing and some very hurt feelings, the Centerpointe change came about.

What the citizens of Austintown were promised was an area of well landscaped warehouses with business offices in front and a general park look.

Also, although large trucks would be going in and out of the area, the Austintown citizens were told, that by 5 p.m. all activity would cease and the area would be nice and quiet during the night hours.

The Austintown citizens accepted this zone change as recommended by the various governing agencies, but the business park never happened.

Now we hear Austintown may be getting a racetrack and possibly a casino in the Centerpointe area. The last time I checked, there was a big difference between a warehouse and a horse.

Ron Tofil, Austintown

Checking out nursing homes

I’m responding to earlier let- ters about concerns with nursing homes. I have some suggestions based on 10 years of experience as an advocate for nursing home residents.

First, take a simple notebook with you on visits to loved ones in nursing homes. Note the date and time when you visit. Write a short summary describing what you observe, such as, “Mother’s dinner tray brought in at 5:30 p.m. No staff assistance provided for feeding. Tray picked up virtually untouched at 6:05 p.m.”

Photocopies of these notes can be invaluable in resolving problems with the nursing staff or administrator. They can form the basis for a meeting to request a correction or they can be included in a more formal letter to the facility if an earlier meeting hasn’t resolved the problem. If you can’t resolve a problem yourself, the ombudsman office at the Agency on Aging and the Ohio Department of Health can be called in to help.

The Department of Health spends millions of dollars statewide to inspect nursing homes. Summaries of these reports are posted online at www.medicare.gov. Scroll down to “Resource Locator” near the bottom of the page and click on “nursing homes.” You can search by zip code or city and find a wealth of information.

Even better, when touring possible nursing homes for a loved one, ask for a photocopy of the home’s most recent annual survey. Examine the citations by the Department of Health as well as the underlying facts listed as evidence of a problem. Ask the home’s staff how the problem was corrected. You can decide if the response seems reasonable or adequate.

Finally, for those homes that provide extremely poor care there is a remedy that has been used in parts of the country with some success. The U.S. Attorney in the Philadelphia area has brought a number of False Claim actions successfully alleging that a nursing home’s failure to provide adequate care constitutes Medicare and Medicaid fraud. After all, the taxpayers have paid millions of dollars for the feeding, bathing, and exercise of residents and if those services aren’t provided then a fraud has been committed.

Very few know that anyone can bring a False Claims suit on behalf of the government. It’s a long and difficult process but just might be what’s needed in cases of extremely poor care. The group Taxpayers Against Fraud has an outstanding Web site for more information at www.taf.org.

Bill Adams, Austintown