Do You Have Any Cost Cutting Ideas?
Governor-elect Markell wants to know about them.
Governor-elect Markell Seeks Cost-Cutting Ideas from Delawareans Growing budget shortfall requires bold, innovative money-saving solutions
DOVER – Governor-elect Jack Markell announced Friday that he will hold two public town hall-style meetings this month to discuss ways his administration can make Delaware’s state government more efficient and effective.
I’m not sure I’d be able to endure two public town hall-style meetings in which wingnuts claim that thier taxes are too high and completly miss the point of the meetings, but I commend the Governor-elect for doing it.
Markell will hold the first meeting in Dover on Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Felton/Farmington Room of the Department of Transportation’s headquarters on 800 Bay Road (U.S. 113). The second will be held Tuesday, Dec. 16, at the Delaware Transit Corporation/DART auditorium from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The auditorium is located at 119 Lower Beech Street in the Wilmington Riverfront area.
Those are the dates, and as I read on I have to say I am warming up to the idea a bit.
“We are facing one of the toughest budget situations in Delaware’s history,” Markell said. “Getting the state’s fiscal house in order and protecting taxpayers are top priorities for my administration, but we do not have a monopoly on good ideas. I know from my experience in government and the private sector that if you want to know how things really work, you need to talk to people on the front lines. It’s critical to hear from state employees and Delawareans who regularly deal with the state government. We cannot move our state forward during these difficult times unless we come together to harness the power of thought-provoking, outside-the-box ideas.”
Emphasis added. Even if only a few good ideas come out of this, it would be worth it. Can’t make it?
Interested individuals unable to attend the two meetings are invited to share their cost-cutting ideas by submitting the suggestions to www.markelltransition.com.
Tags: Delaware, Jack Markell
workers will be more productive if they can’t listen to DTR during the day
Scribble a line between DEN & REC. That should save us a few bucks.
Additionally, my taxes are too high!
Charlie move to Claymont – we’d love to have you as a neighbor.
They could cease supplying paper or plastic cups to any & all agencies. Each employee would bring their own cup/glass, wash & re-use. Never buy small bottles of water for functions or offices. Water should be dispensed from bubblers with filters in all schools & offices. This should be mandated.
Remember, stuff we see happening in California (not necessarily my cup & water idea), while we may think it is wacky now, sometimes makes lots of sense later and may save money and the planet.
There’s a myriad of good ideas out there.
The simple fact that he’s TALKING about cutting costs is a vast improvement over the two administrations that preceded him.
The first step is open government.
Who can offer an intelligent thought on how to save money, unless we first know where the money is going?
We need an online searchable database of agency expenditures, and we need online roll call votes for the GA so we can hold members accountable.
i’m skeptical if Dave is starting to praise a Democrat
“We need an online searchable database of agency expenditures”
The Governor could do this by executive order.
(1) Sell Woodburn and all its contents.
(2) Close the Wilmington satellite offices of the insurance commissioner, governor, etc., and have them work entirely out of Dover.
(3) Cut state employee mileage reimbursement.
(4) Auction off the official state portraits, and don’t commission any more.
(5) Cut legislators’ pay by five percent a year over the next four years.
Cut the DENREC job that they gave to Leann Walling and do the same for all the other crony positions created by the Miner Administration.
(1) Sell Woodburn and all its contents.
Into this market?
(2) Close the Wilmington satellite offices of the insurance commissioner, governor, etc., and have them work entirely out of Dover.
Great!
(3) Cut state employee mileage reimbursement.
Aren’t they are the fed’s rate?
(4) Auction off the official state portraits, and don’t commission any more.
I bid $5.00 for RAM’s.
(5) Cut legislators’ pay by five percent a year over the next four years
WRONG! – make it a full time job so regular people could run for office. We have too many double dippers already.
State Contracts!
The large majority are a totally inefficient waste of taxpayers money. Years ago I suggested that, if a local vendor could beat the contract price by … say… 10%, the agency should be permitted to go off contract for the purchase. This would encourage the bidders to be more realistic and competitive, and could potentially be of benefit our local (in-state) businesses and economy.
Another suggestion was to reward employees for money saving or revenue generating, proposals. The military has been successfully doing this for years. If an employee can document that a procedure, or practice, is wasting money, and suggest an alternative that would improve efficiency, said employee would receive a percentage of the savings to the state.
Finally, a productive thread.
(1) Sell Woodburn and all its contents.
Into this market?
C’mon. I know I’d bid a tenner for a spoon once used by the Great Pete. Wouldn’t you do the same for one of Castle’s old pillows?
Put the Indian River bridge contract out to a local Boy Scout troop. A bridge of ropes and logs would be a lot more stable than what we have currently.
One of the terrible ideas I am hearing is that Markells transition team are considering cutting agency heads…like DHSS…now that would be disasterous. Gov. Minn in her last days on the scene is calling on agency heads to deliver a 10-15% cut across the aboard in every agency. The hardest hit is DHSS, and the Division of Developmental Disabilities. Yeah ole Ruthie who hasn’t given a cost of living increase in years, she slashed and burned contracted providers caring for the most vulnerable, mentally ill, retarded and autistics, who will again take huge cuts. Providers are already meeting, some say, they are at bare bones now, if cut further, they will have to cut staff. They have fixed costs and can’t change those numbers. So instead of having 3 qualified trained staff on duty they would have to go down to one or 2. They are not taking any new clients from the Del. Autistic Program next year or any new retarded, mentally ill or other disabilities, hanging these very needy kids and their families out to dry. In a two parent family where both are working, one will have to quit their job to take care of the child.
These dimwits will cut the hell out of services instead of holding hearings on single payer health care, cover everyone and save the State $4m. Medicaid is being cut. Delaware is one of the states who do not take advantage of federal monies available for services, because the funds come with a 50/50 match. Delaware has never wanted to put up their share of the 50%.
All we hear is, “we are not going to cut any State employees”, oh no God forbid many of the slackers in the States employ should be cut. I thought Markell was going to do a complete audit of State personell to determine if there were duplications in jobs?
Why don’t they start by ending all those millions given to legislators in “street fund monies”? Put that money back in the treasury or use it to help the most vulnerable…oh but the legislature would never give up their private cash cow.
Wow, a good idea from Liz – cutting the legislators’ slush funds.
But I’m confused – what’s the deal with cutting “agency heads”? Which agencies? What does decapitation have to do with agency funding?
The word is that want to combine some agencies heads to save money. Imagine cutting DHSS who did such a great job of handling Del. Psych Center and all the problems with disabled. Is this what their great transtion( Del. State Chamber of Commerce and Delaware Public Policy Institute) comes up with?Jack is a corporate man, with a few progressive ideas. Lets see what he actually does. I think the left will be offended and yet the progressives havent gotten that point, yet.
Markell a Democrat in name only (DINO)!
Yes instead of food stamps just give them the cash. No one would trade cash for cash like they do with food stamps to by drugs and we would stop the store keepers from buying food stamps at a discount from drug dealers. just think of all the crime we could eliminate and the cost of printing the stamps and the thousands of folks that are employed by the government who are involved in the system.
Hey Truth Teller,
The USDA did away with food stamps and went to a card that works like an ATM:
___________________________
As of Oct. 1, 2008, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the new name for the federal Food Stamp Program. The new name reflects the changes we’ve made to meet the needs of our clients, including a focus on nutrition and an increase in benefit amounts. SNAP is the federal name for the program. State programs may have different names.
SNAP helps put food on the table for some 18 million people per month . It provides low-income households with electronic benefits they can use like cash at most grocery stores. SNAP is the cornerstone of the Federal food assistance programs, and provides crucial support to needy households and to those making the transition from welfare to work.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/faqs.htm#1
John, in order to qualify for food stamps dont you have to prove you have a stove? Leaves out the homeless! Are there not some foods you can’t buy? I understand there are certain restrictions. You cant purchase soap, laundry powder, shampoo, diapers and such. People should be able to use their food stamps for what their needs are if you can buy it in a grocery store.
How about cutting out all those State owned vehicles and pay staff mileage for driving their own cars.
Cut the salary of the University Presidents none of them deserve those huge salaries.
Cut the WHYY $600,000, since the Pres makes a six figure salary. Delaware doesn’t get our monies worth.
Get rid of mandatory sentencing so Judges can make decisions on a case by case basis. All non violent criminals, i.e. those in jail for non payment of child care, marijuana, etc. should pay fines in lieu of jail. Send drug addicts to drug treatment not jails. Cut the number of people in jail for non violent crimes. Each person costs tax payers a minimum of $35,000 a year.
Open up more group homes for mentally ill, get them out of DPC. Its cheaper and better quality of life.
No pay raises for anyone including Judges and Legislators! Make legislators pay for their own health care! They work part time yet receive full benefits for the whole family. That will drive them to take the issue of single payer seriously.
No pensions for legislators. Most have full time jobs, let them get their pensions from their primary job.
Liz
Cuts to the most vulnerable people and families seem inevitable. I’ve learned recently that special education graduates with the most severe disabilities and difficult behavioral challenges will most likely not be receiving residential services, except in cases where they or their families are in clear physical danger. It’s very bad.
Exactly. Marianne Smith, Dir. of Developmental Disabilities is retiring. She was great for us, lobbyied for us and did everything she could to help in spite of the fact that asshole Merconi was her boss. I havent spoken with her yet, but knowing her she is not going to deal with what she knows will be an impossible situation.
State is not going to take on any new special ed kids in the after 21 programs. I feel so sorry for these families, hanging on by a thread as it it is. If they do this, a court case would occur as it would violate federal law and mandates.
The State is only providing new clients with case management…whopdedo! Its terrible. Minner is asking these providers to “cut”…..there is nothing more to cut….except staff. The last time she did this…the Ex. Director provider of my sons program had to leave the state, they closed the office and worked from New Jersey. Thats when all hell broke loose, abuse and neglect went rampant.
They always cut the disabled first. The families are stressed out and fearful of speaking up, afraid they will loose even more. There are only a handful of us who do fight like hell, and we are getting together in the next two weeks to make our case straight to the Joint Finance Committee.
We have what are called ICAP’s, its an evaluation of each disabled person. Its a bare bones needs assessment and then a formula determines the amount of money to care for the person. We thought once this evaluation was done (its done by an outside group skilled in the area) that the money which is supposed to follow the client, was set in stone. Nope!
We just found out they created a method to get around the evaluation and can actually take money away from the client. Providers hire staff according to those evaluations. Some homes who have the most severe need 3 or 4 staff to 4 clients! If they cut the staff, it means they would only have one or two staff on duty at critical times. This is an abomination. Clearly a bunch of “numbers men” are again looking at where they can cut with the least amount of resistance. We plan to be very vocal, rallies, protests, organizing and will not accept these outright life threatening cuts to the services.
That is a great question Liz, but you don’t need a stove or a permanent residence to get food stamps . My understanding is the certification period may be shorter for people without a permanent address, but that is primarily to make sure they still reside in the State.
Your point is well taken that people who need food also need soap ,paper products, etc, but that would require the political will to fund such additional services which is unlikely in the near-term while the states and the federal government seem to be cutting back.
Below is from the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=9688bd065767fc3fb885c8310b6ffc1f&rgn=div8&view=text&node=7:4.1.1.3.21.0.1.3&idno=7
Title 7: Agriculture
§ 273.3 Residency.
(a) A household shall live in the State in which it files an application for participation. The State agency may also require a household to file an application for participation in a specified project area (as defined in §271.2 of this chapter) or office within the State. No individual may participate as a member of more than one household or in more than one project area, in any month, unless an individual is a resident of a shelter for battered women and children as defined in §271.2 and was a member of a household containing the person who had abused him or her. Residents of shelters for battered women and children shall be handled in accordance with §273.11(g). The State agency shall not impose any durational residency requirements. The State agency shall not require an otherwise eligible household to reside in a permanent dwelling or have a fixed mailing address as a condition of eligibility. Nor shall residency require an intent to reside permanently in the State or project area. Persons in a project area solely for vacation purposes shall not be considered residents.
WRONG! – make it a full time job so regular people could run for office. We have too many double dippers already.
Delaware does not need a full time legislature. Maryland has a 90 day session and I have no idea why Delaware (with the population of Baltimore) needs a full time legislature. Address the double dippers, but no need to make the job bigger than it needs to be.
And in that vein — what does the Legislative support staff look like? A part time job should not need a full time staff — but if you do want to make the legislators into a full-time gig, then they can do alot of their own clerical and research work, since they won’t be completely occupies all year long.
You are right Cassandra. That was crazy. good thing nobody reads this blog 😉
Cassandra: WRONG! You have your opinion dear, which doesnt mean you are right and everyone else wrong. No we don’t need full time legislators…part time is good nuff. If they were full time it means we have to pay for pensions, health care etc. They currently work part time and receive pensions from both the legislature and their regular job. Let them get their “perks” from their primary job, I don’t want to pay for them full time with higher salaries and full bennies.
Most are making a much better salary in the primary job than the legislature…legislature is just pudding on the pie!
Double dippers are working two jobs (mostly in some other state job, agency etc) and get bennies from both. End the double dipping by not paying for the pensions, and health care for the whole family and keep salaries low.
We all know the house wants to increase their terms….no! We need to clean house every two years in the house and every 4 in the Senate. Talk about incumbents sticking around forever, that concept is ludicrous.
We need term limits! Who is going to give up their primary job, and in 2 or 4 years chance loosing their election?
Allow families to opt out of bus service to/from school, since so many kids/parents drive them anyway because of sports etc.. Drives me nuts, the MANY high school buses we contract, and are essentially empty at per pupil rate, and the kid never rides a day.
I’m not telling you anymore ideas until the team hires me!
John: Thanks for the info. I was told that by a homeless guy at one of the shelters, he said, ” I can’t get food stamps cuz I don’t have a stove for cooking”. It is true they cant buy food already cooked?
Liz,
It is true hot food can’t be bought with food stamps. My understanding is you can’t buy a roasted chicken that is hot, but you could buy a package of sliced roasted chicken from a refrigerated deli case, for example.
The other thing that might be good for the USDA (which funds the program) to take another look at is that food stamps can not be used to buy vitamins.
Below is from the USDA website:
“10. What foods are eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits?
Households CAN use SNAP benefits to buy:
Foods for the household to eat, such as:
— breads and cereals– fruits and vegetables– meats, fish and poultry; and– dairy products
Seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.
Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:
Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco
Any nonfood items, such as:
— pet foods;– soaps, paper products; and– household supplies.
Vitamins and medicines.
Food that will be eaten in the store.
Hot foods ”
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/faqs.htm#10
All I know gang is the lady ahead of me bought 3 large subs, a large bag of chips, and a container from the take-out olive bar, and food stamps were accepted.
Doesn’t the Governor and the Lt. Governor have black license plates 1 and 2?
Why not auction them off for a four years lease?
I KNOW there will be some rich jackass who would kill to have that license plate, if anything, just for the bragging rights.
Cut the SEED program? *ducks and hides* It is causing DelTech to outgrow their facilities, costing more than expected. DelTech stupidly asked for a budget increase in this environment, specifically because the SEED program made the college bust at the seams. If anything, trim back the UD and DelState qualifications.
Make people with state cars ride the DART bus.
Force state police officers to leave the cars at the barracks overnight instead of driving them home. You won’t need as many cars and the maintenance costs will drop.
Surprised noone has said the words “Inspector General” or “Auditor General” or something to that nature.
Markell a DINO? He gave us a Blueprint (book) to measure him against, at least.
This is a smart move by Markell, exactly the kind of moves I would expect from a good corporate project manager.
He is getting everybody invested in creating solutions. First bringing in some GOPers, then bringing in the voters right at the beginning – if Markell’s plans fail, at least nobody can say they didn’t have a hand in it.
Eliminate employee cell phones, beepers, laptops and blackberrys.
Eliminate out of state travel except to destinations that can be accessed in the course of one day. Conferences requiring travel/hotels/meals are not necessary in the age of computers.
Eliminate education reembursements. If employees want to improve themselves, let them do it on their own dime.
Recall LeeAnn Wallig’s newly created postion to supervise nobody.
Eliminate ‘extra duty pay’ for Legislators to serve in leadership positions. The kick to their collective egos should be adequate compensation.
No take home cars.
Re-structure the health benefits package.
Write Nancy Wagoner’s husband out of the epilogue and let him get a job on his own.
Review every job of every family member related to a Legislator and decide if they would meet the minimum qualifications for the job if they hadn’t been related to said Legislator.
Review every state job held by a Legislator and make sure he/she meets the minimum qualifications. I suggest many don’t.
Why only think about cost-cutting? Where is the discussion of revenue-increasing (other than promoting “economic development”)??
Hey liberals: Maybe the greatly increased inequality of income distribution indicates that the taxes should be made more progressive? Soak the rich just a little?
am
“Where is the discussion of revenue-increasing”
Revenue ain’t the problem. And the legislature will take care of the tax increases just fine. They don’t have the spine to cut costs.
“Soak the rich just a little?”
It’s nice that at least someone on here just comes out and says it.
65%. I’ve been saying it.
On all income too, by the way. No more tax shelters for rental and dividend income.
I think there are some good ideas here. It’s hard to know where all the waste/fraud/abuse is located.
1) Cut travel, change to teleconferencing where possible.
2) I certainly agree that the legislature should lead the way, if they want others to sacrifice. Cutting extra pay for committees is a good start. Cutting “double dipping” of benefits is also a good idea.
3) No pay raises or bonuses next year.
4) No state-paid dinners. Brown bag it, or use the cafeteria.
This is what I can think of without knowing the specifics of what money goes where.
OK, I’ve been looking at the DNREC (environmental regulation, parks, etc).
Their total “general fund” budget is around 40 million out of a total of maybe 3.2 billion.
The agency has other, mostly Federal, source of money, but this is a good indicator of how much the people of Delaware are spending of their own money to protect their environment. Peanuts.
I guess it is a lot more than the contributions Green Delaware gets (!) but does anybody think our environment is getting protected??
Yeah, there is waste and incompetence (here’s an example: http://greendel.org/item.xhtml?name=alert_0620) , but the need is so much greater than the funding that looking for significant cost savings *within* seems beside the point to me.
The only real savings available are to make the agency start doing its job so we would all suffer less illness and so on from the pollution.
Mostly, the people wanting to cut the DNREC budget are polluters wanting to reduce the already-feeble regulation.
Where will Markell be on this, when “economic development” types constantly claim that environmental protection damages the economy?
Revenue ain’t the problem.
This is Clown Shoes.
The state’s income is falling off of a cliff and you want people to believe that revenue is not the problem? More importantly, how credible do you think you can be discussion any possible solutions if you can’t locate the real problem here?
And Liz — if you learned to read what people actually write, you might be on your way to a clue. In lieu of that, I’ve asked Santa to bring you a clue this year.
Revenues per capita – Delaware is #4 in the nation.
“More importantly, how credible do you think you can be discussion any possible solutions if you can’t locate the real problem here?”
We won’t know the real problem until all state expenditures are online and people can see where their money is being spent. But I have plenty of educated guesses.
Environmental protection = Economic Development.
Too many of the regulated have been able to sell any effort for environmental compliance as killers of economic development. The fact is, that whether you are doing real cleanup of a facility (or area) or if you are installing the latest scrubbers to an emissions stack, you are adding value to the economy. Cleanup of a plant or waste disposal area gets cleanup obligations off of a company’s books AND helps to increase property values (and desirability) of the proximate area. Installation of cleanup technologies or the re-engineering of processes for cleaner operations not only hire scientists and engineers to design and install these, but also needs a couple around to keep them operating. Environmental protection is not a net negative business — especially here where we all live, work and ask people to pay money to come play is all too close to this stuff.
Revenues per capita – Delaware is #4 in the nation.
So you aren’t going to be surprised if I don’t trust this number until you can show how you got there — but even better that still doesn’t address the original point. Revenues are disappearing now — you can be #4 per capita, but if the entire pie is shrinking rapidly you still have a revenue problem.
Take a new look at the financial center act of the duPont years. Should it be updated or changed to reflect modern times?
Jack up the realty transfer tax rate. It’ll bring in more money AND slow down development at the same time.
Second homes for out-of-staters (yes I’m talkin’ to the beach), should be taxed higher.
“Jack up the realty transfer tax rate.”
The realty transfer tax is in the top 3 in the nation. Plus, people will pay the transfer tax in exchange for the low property taxes. For your desired effect to take place, you’d have to reassess and jack property taxes instead.
End the SEED program. It was a costly mistake and deep down we all know it.
The most effective method to promote environmental concerns, is to charge for them.
Make them part of the cost factor..
For instance “free mineral rights” on federal lands, aren’t really free. We pay money for their environmental impacts.
Likewise, to stop development, proper charges for schools, roads, sewers, go a long way to promote smart growth. Ignoring those costs are the core of our current overdevelopment problem. For instance, charging 100 dollars for every tree destroyed, naturally would save trees..
This principal actually utilizes the market economy espoused by all Republicans, except that here it includes ALL COSTS, instead of dismissing some of those necessary residual costs as being unimportant…….
Cassandra: get a clue…your opinion is not the only opinion…and just who died and left you the Opinion Queen! Take a break your overbearing demeanor is too obvious.
Joanne – foodstamps can be used for all foods that you can buy in a store that accepts foodstamps with the exception of HOT FOODS. You can not go to the deli and purchase a hot chicken noodle soup, but you can buy that same chicken noodle soup from the deli’s refrigerated section.
You can not a hot philly cheesesteak sub, but you can buy the italian cold-cut. Crazy, isn’t it?
cost cutting ideas:
retirement for state employees is based on their three HIGHEST YEARS EARNINGs. So if I make 30K a year, but work over-time like hell the last 3 years before retirement and make 60K each of those three years, my retirement will be based on those years.
They may have just changed that, I am not sure – but if they haven’t , then retirement for all state employees should be based on their base for the three years worked prior to retirement. That should save some money.
the sate could also save money by having purchases combined even more then they are right now. I know that some legislators have brought that up during the campaign, but buying schoolbooks in bulk for he entire state would ave a lot of money. I also think that bottled water needs to stop (bring your own, everybody else has to) and have brown bag lunches rather then catered lunches for in-house seminars.
I really think that there are too many upper level position in State Agencies. They need to cut positions or lower pay grades.
“For instance, charging 100 dollars for every tree destroyed, naturally would save trees..”
A bit too simplistic a view, IMHO. You’d have to make it really not worth it – start with a grand or more for each tree – for it to make an impact on a developer’s wallet.
You’re onto something Kavips. Maybe you would side with me then on the impervious surface tax other states have in areas being so highly developed?
impervious surface tax…
I like the sound of that.
Well good. Much as I believe in private land ownership, your kingdom is not to disregard the impact on your neighbor. A finite, prescriptive amount of development is tolerable, over and above raises serious environmental concerns.
Flooding, absorption, nitrate run-off etc., are all consequences that must be dealt with, and appropriate accountability assigned. I’m not talking barking tree frogs here and displaced habitat, but real consequences of the concreting of America. Rather Solomnic heh? We can’t continue to develop in a vacuum model.
A stormwater utility (in effect, an impervious surface tax) charges homes, businesses and Wal-Marts based on their paved and covered surfaces — parking lots, rooftops, driveways, lined stormwater ponds, etc. They get a break if they use “green” best-management practices. Those revenues are used to finance everything from flood control to buffers to helping communities maintain their stormwater facilities. Such a utility is already enabled in Delaware Code – DNREC has worked with New Castle County to develop one but they won’t pull the trigger on it. They operate in hundreds of other jurisdictions across the country. Why should the state be bailing out local governments (a la Glenville) for drainage problems caused by overdevelopment? That’s millions in the bond bill every year that could be diverted for schools, land acquisition, and other more noble purposes.
DNREC has worked with New Castle County to develop one but they won’t pull the trigger on it
The more I learn about NCC the less I like it.
Who won’t pull the trigger – DNREC or NCCo?
New Castle County, if you’re still out there.
Sorry, my life got in the way of my blogging. I can’t keep up!!
Keep with it. Your priorities will change.
Thanks!
Any way to make the recent-comments listing on the lefthand side longer? Or the local posts section?
If the State is so dependent on corporations incorporating in Delaware, so they can hide all their money, and their shareholders. names, why not tax them more. We have the Court of Chancery which the corporations enjoy so much…give some tax hikes to these corporations and increase franchise taxes. Some of these Corporations have only a mailbox with an address…tax the hell out of it. They get all the benefits of the Courts while we get to pay for everything.
Make Sussex and Kent get their own police forces and end the use of State police in those counties.
Am still stuck on all those millions in street funds…legislators walking around with all that taxpayer voter bribe money!
One School Adminstration for each county.
Single Payer, we could save millions just by buying prescription drugs in bulk. Obama is looking into single payer, as he was a supporter of it while a State Senator. PNHP.org is urging everyone to write to the transition team to get r done, and not let Kennedy and Max Bacus have anything to do with it as they want to keep the for profit system.
Here’s one for you: The state levies a transfer tax when your house gets sold, but not when Motiva is sold to Premcor and the plant changes hands. Think of the millions, in light of all the corporate name-changing, not to mention the fairness of charging the Big Guys along with Mom and Pop.
Hey I’ve got a million of them. But what do I know? I’m just a crony.
This isn’t Lee Ann Walling, is it? Or someone pretending to be her?
I think my gullibility meter just pegged out.
Lee Ann: thats part of it.Remember when Enron was incorporated here in Delaware. One of the worst most corrupt corporations on the planet. Investigators were having trouble finding out who the “shareholders” were because there is NO transparency in Delaware Corporate law. Its called “laundering money”, all that dough re moola coming through this State disguised as corporate funds, some of it has to be drug money and other dirty money which never gets taxed. It goes through Delaware on tothe Cayman Islands and oila…comes out clean. The Chicago Tribune here in Court of Chancery today, taking advantage of the corporate court, but who pays for all those judges, the staff, the electric etc, etc?
Yes, it’s me. The crony. The one who publicly supported Jack Markell while still on the Governor’s payroll, gave him $1400, served as his first deputy treasurer (1999-2000) and contributed to his policy manifesto. If you knew me, you’d know I am not a crony at all. Maybe after January 20, I will offer Confessions of a “Crony.” Not an apologia. Not a tell-all. Not an “If only they’d listened to me.” Just my perspective. It could be cathartic. For me, anyway.
With all the focus on the state, the county should be following suit on these ideas.
NCC County Council pays for a catered meal a few days a month when their day committee meetings squeeze up to Council time. This smorgasborg is free to council, council aides, Chris Coons and his staffers and any committee guests who feel like sticking around.
The public has to sit and watch the feasting from their seats while further county business is discussed amid the chattering of the aides.
The more I learn about NCC the less I like it.
*
Jason’s instincts are good. I hope that LG or another Dellie picks back up on the Workforce Housing boondoggle and helps the people taking their case to Chancery. Why the silence, geek?