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The West End Voice

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Volume 15 No. 2 ©  October 26, 2006 -- Page 1


Donna Asure and Maureen Tatu Hiked Property Taxes!

By J.J. Publius

 Property taxes and preservation of farmlands and woodlands (open space if you like) are important issues in Monroe County  and in the  West End. Monroe County Commissioner Donna Asure claims she did not raise property taxes and that she works towards preserving open space. Humbug!   

Donna Asure is running against John Siptroth for a seat in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Are those claims about property taxes and open space in Donna Asure's state representative commercials true?    We think not!

In another Pennsylvania General Assembly race involving Mike Carroll and Chestnuthill Township Supervisor Maureen Tatu, Tatu claims to be for reducing property taxes. We believe Maureen Tatu is NOT being all that honest about property taxes either.

Donna Asure Hiked Property Taxes, Increased Spending, Screwed Farmers, and Hurt Open Space Preservation


Currently, Donna Asure is one of the three Monroe County Commissioners. In her State House campaign, Donna Asure claims no property-tax hikes in the last five years. However, despite her campaign claims Donna Asure hiked the Monroe County property tax levy from 11-mills in 2001 to 14.5-mills in 2002. That's a 32% property tax hike.

Donna Asure claims that she is bringing fiscal discipline to Monroe County government. Despite Asure's campaign claims, spending-wise Monroe County General Fund expenditures have increased from $29.5-million in 2001 to $43.5-million in the 2006 Monroe County budget.

That's a spending increase of nearly $14-million ($13,911,899) – about a 47% increase in Monroe County spending in just five years. Increasing Monroe County spending nearly 50% in only five years does not sound much like "fiscal discipline". It sounds more like a spending spree.

Don't try to blame that nearly 50% spending increase on population growth. During that same time frame, Monroe County population increased by only about 13%.

Sure, population might be a factor in Monroe County spending. However, Monroe County spending increased nearly four times as much as Monroe County population increased.   

Last year Donna Asure voted for a provision related to implementation of the Clean and Green Act in Monroe County that in effect increases property taxes for smaller, family farms and open space land in Monroe County. This hurts farmers. And it pushes farmers and open space landowners to sell and/or develop their properties. That hurts farmers, works against the preservation of Monroe County's rural character, and encourages development of open space in Monroe County.

Donna Asure's doing that hurts open-space preservation! So much for Donna Asure's claims about preserving open space.

Send Donna Asure a message that you do not like what she is doing. Let Donna Asure know that you do not like her hiking taxes, hurting farmers, and hurting open-space preservation. And let Donna Asure know that you do not like her misrepresenting her tax-hiking activities. Vote against Donna Asure on November 7, 2006.


About the Clean and Green Act and How Donna Asure Screwed Farmers and Open-Space Landowners

One of the best and most effective programs in Pennsylvania for preserving farmland and open-space is "Act 319", the Clean and Green Act. It encourages Pennsylvania farmers and open-space landowners to hold on to their farmland, woodland, and open-space land properties.  To do this, a preferential assessment for property tax purposes is given to land enrolled in the Clean and Green program.


Let Us Know

Do you have some thoughts about Donna Asure, Mike Carroll, John Siptroph, or Maureen Tatu and their qualifications for the Pennsylvania General Assembly that you would like to share with us? If so, you may send an e-mail to us at election2006 AT westendvoice DOT com

Would you like to report a road in Chestnuthill Township that is riddled with potholes and has been neglected by the Gould regime? If so, drop an e-mail to us.

If you want to send us a digital photo please use the .jpg format and make sure the photo file size does not exceed 25-KB. E-mail with anything larger will be trashed by our filters. Also, please do not use HTML e-mail -- send text-based e-mail only. HTML e-mail will be filtered out.

chestnuthill-potholes AT WestEndVoice DOT com

Do you think Chuck Gould, Maureen Tatu, and Leigh Kane should be fired -- or do you know anything else they screwed up? If so, please send us a text-only e-mail.

fire-gould AT WestEndVoice DOT com

Maureen Tatu Doubles Property Taxes, Expands Government, and Squanders Tax Money

IMaureen Tatu is running against Mike Carroll for a seat in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. She is one of three Chestnuthill Township Supervisors. In her State House campaign she lists "Reducing Property Taxes" as one of four planks in her platform. Look at what Maureen Tatu does rather than what she says she will do.

Maureen Tatu along with the help of the other two Chestnuthill Township Supervisors, Chuck Gould and Leigh Kane, doubled Chestnuthill's property tax millage from 2005 to 2006 – hiking it from two-mills to four-mills. So much for Maureen Tatu's false claims about reducing property taxes.             
In order to reduce taxes, government spending has to be controlled. But Tatu does not seem to get that. Chestnuthill Township had to borrow money in order to provide funds for Maureen Tatu's and Chuck Gould's spending sprees.

Chestnuthill Township is a cluster flop! Maureen Tatu and Chuck Gould have put Chestnuthill Township in debt to the tune of $5-million – just to support their spending sprees.                                       

Tatu and Chuck Gould blew $10,000 for a batting cage to be used in the Chestnuthill park. Chestnuthill Township should not have bought a $10,000 batting cage.

Even worse, Chestnuthill Township paid for the batting cage before it was shipped and delivered. The batting cage was never delivered, thus Chestnuthill Township lost its $10,000 purchase money.

Governments cannot reduce taxes by buying overpriced batting cages they do not need. More importantly Government units cannot reduce taxes by paying for goods and services they never actually receive.

Maureen Tatu along with the help of the other two Chestnuthill Township Supervisors, Chuck Gould and Leigh Kane, increased Chestnuthill spending from about $3.2-million in 2004 to about $4.3-million in 2006. That's a Chestnuthill Township increase in spending of about 35% – in only two years.

Potholes and bad road surfaces go unfixed for years in Chestnuthill Township. And Maureen Tatu, along with Chestnuthill Township Supervisors, Chuck Gould and Leigh Kane, has failed to alleviate the infamous Brodheadsville Bottleneck. In short, under Marueen Tatu's Supervisorship, Chestnuthill Township government has become a mess.                 

Another Maureen Tatu campaign claim is that she will "Serve ALL the People". Humbug!
                               
Anyone who attends Chestnuthill Township meetings and follows Chestnuthill Township Government knows darn well that Maureen Tatu does not serve or represent "ALL" the people of Chestnuthill. Rather, Maureen Tatu serves special interests – not "ALL" the people.

Maureen Tatu has shown herself to be a horrible Chestnuthill Township Supervisor. She would be a worse State Representative. And she could do lots more damage as a State Representative than she has done as merely a township supervisor. Vote against Maureen Tatu on November 7, 2006.                   
                               
Send Maureen Tatu a message that you do not like what she is doing. Let Maureen Tatu know that you do not like her hiking taxes, wasting taxpayers' money, expanding government, and hurting Chestnuthill Township. And let Maureen Tatu know that you do not like her misrepresenting her tax-hiking activities. Vote against Maureen Tatu on November 7, 2006.


For more about how bad a job Maureen Tatu is doing as a Chestnuthill Township Supervisor see:



Don't forget that Chuck Gould, Maureen Tatu, and Leigh Kane also have neglected to solve the Brodheadsville Bottleneck problem too. See Brodheadsville's Rt. 209 Traffic Bottleneck Can and Must Be Fixed in the West End Voice, Volume 14 No. 1 ©  May 9, 2005. 

For more about the sorry state of Chestnuthill Township Roads, See Chestnuthill Township Roads Neglected by Gould and Supervisors in the West End Voice, Volume 14 No. 2 ©  May 16, 2005. 



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Potholes on Lake Mineola Road
Section of Lake Mineola Road near its intersection with route 715 in Chestnuthill Township. It's visible from the Chestnuthill Township Building.

This road is so bad here that vehicle drivers have trampled out their own Northbound lane along the roadside in order to avoid all the potholes. (Photo left) Interestingly,  the makeshift dirt-road traffic has  trampled out is in better condition than the actual roadway.

Notice the destroyed and eroded shoulder and East edge of the road to the middle of the photo. Also notice all the deep pot holes on the East lane of the road (photo middle). And there are potholes in the West lane of the roadway too (photo right).

Here, the entire remaining road surface is alligatored and cracked indicating need of at least a seal-coating. However, Lake Mineola Road should have been completely resurfaced years ago. It should be resurfaced immediately!

However, Chuck Gould and Maureen Tatu have neglected the Lake Mineola Road for years. The Lake Mineola Road should be fixed immediately. It's time for a change!

(West End Voice Photo. 7 October 2006)



Check our national publication, The American Voice.

A simple plan to give Katrina refugees their own new homes and new lives
The American Voice, Volume 8 No. 2,  September 5, 2005
The American Voice, Volume 8 No. 3,  September 15, 2005