Growls

An online story in today’s Sun Gazette says that Arlington County’s efforts to resurrect a 0.25 percent surtax on hotel bills “looks dead.” Here’s Scott McCaffrey’s report:

“County economic-development officials appear to have abandoned their effort to win back taxing authority to fund tourism promotion in Arlington.

“No bills have been introduced this legislative session to return to Arlington officials the ability to levy a 0.25-percent surtax on hotel stays, with the funds (about $1 million a year) supporting efforts at targeting both business and leisure travelers.

“Arlington had levied the tax for decades, but the General Assembly last year stripped the taxing authority away, after Republicans and some Democrats were infuriated by the County Board’s lawsuit against state and federal officials over high-occupancy-toll (HOT lanes) on I-395 and I-95.

“County Board members seemed disinterested in pursuing the matter in this year’s General Assembly session, and efforts by county staff to convince the hotel community to financially support a lobbying effort in support of the tax hit a dead end."

Looks like the poohbahs on the County Board will have to decide this year just how much they really need those tourism bureaucrats. Or will the Arlington County Board finally admit they were just throwing away all those millions of dollars for all those years?

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 05:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We’ve growled four separate times now (November 20, November 22, December 4, and January 5, 2012) about Arlington County’s efforts, including the possible use of eminent domain, “to acquire a seven-story commercial building, 2020 14th Street North, the county hopes to use for staff offices and “a year-round homeless-services center,” according to an online report in today’s Arlington Sun Times Gazette. (Apologies to the good people at the Arlington Sun Gazette. El Growler Grande)

Here is how the newspaper reported the latest news:

“County Board Chairman Mary Hynes on Jan. 21 said the county government had made a final offer to the owner of the building, and expected to hear back in the “next few days.” When queried a few days later, both sides declined to shed light on the status of negotiations.

“Brookfield has no comment at this time,” said Andrew Willis, senior vice president of communications and media for Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management, which owns the building at 2020 14th Street North that county officials covet.

“County officials have made a number of offers to the building’s owner, but have so far been rebuffed. Officials have taken the highly unusual step of publicly threatening to use their power of eminent domain to acquire the building, whose value was pegged by an appraiser at $25 million.

“Mary Curtius, a spokesman for the county government, also declined to comment on the status of negotiations.”

The newspaper’s Scott McCaffrey closed by saying:

“County officials may be playing a game of beat the clock, as the General Assembly is likely to send to voters a constitutional amendment that, if approved, would make it more complicated and potentially much more expensive for local governments to use their powers of eminent domain to acquire property. If approved by the legislature, that measure would go to state voters in November.”

What a way to run a local government!

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 06:36 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is a a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

In their press release announcing the February 2012 Porker of the Month, CAGW’s says that “in commemoration/lamentation of the 1,000th day since the United States Senate Budget Committee last performed its most significant task, which is to pass a budget resolution, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) its January Porker of the Month.” The last time the Senate approved a budget was April 29, 2009. The House has voted in favor of two budget resolutions during the past two years.” CAGW then goes on to explain why they named Senator Conrad its February 2012 Porker of the Month: (emphasis added)

“Today marks an important milestone in fiscal ineptitude and mindless brinksmanship,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “When the Senate last passed a budget, the national debt was an already appalling $11.15 trillion. In 2011, House Republicans drafted and passed a budget plan that would dramatically reduce America’s deficit and debt. The only Senate actions on budget resolutions last year were to vote 97-0 against President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget and 40-57 against House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (D-Wis.) Roadmap for America’s Future.

“Since April 2009, the budget deficit has exceeded $1 trillion for three straight years, and the national debt has climbed by more than $4 trillion to $15.27 trillion,” added Schatz. “Chairman Conrad’s bewildering reputation as a budget hawk makes his legislative catatonia all the more frustrating.”

“The lack of activity by Chairman Conrad has not gone unnoticed. In June 2011, Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.) introduced the “Just Do Your Job” Act, which would prohibit further transfer of funds to the House or Senate Budget Committees and the corresponding Office of the Majority Leader if that body of Congress failed to approve a budget resolution for FY 2012. As Rep. Buerkle pointed out at the time, “Even the Libyan government, in the middle of a civil war, passed a budget on June 15, 2011.”

“However, Chairman Conrad and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have made it clear that their decision to not enact a budget resolution is conscious, unified, and partisan. In a May 23, 2011 article in The Washington Examiner, Majority Leader Reid said, “There’s no need to have a Democratic budget, in my opinion. It would be foolish for us to do a budget at this stage.” The Examiner article also noted Chairman Conrad’s intent to “defer” work on the fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget indefinitely.

“Consequently, for being the Kim Kardashian of the Senate budget entourage and cashing a hefty paycheck for doing nothing in the last 1,000 days, CAGW names Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad its January 2011 Porker of the Month.”

Express your outrage. Call Senator Conrad on Capitol Hill at (202) 224-2043, or you can send him an e-mail.

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 09:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Writing at Big Government today, Joel Pollak says that any “reports of (economic) recovery have been greatly exaggerated.” According to Pollak:

“As President Barack Obama prepares for his State of the Union address in Congress, where he will no doubt claim credit for signs of economic recovery, new analyses by economists suggest that growth will slow and unemployment will remain virtually unchanged by year’s end.”

Pollak links to a USA Today story today that says:

“The U.S. economy's growth will slow this year after a blast of stronger growth in late 2011, leaving the 8.5% unemployment rate about where it is now on Election Day, according to USA TODAY's quarterly survey of economists.

“The economy will grow at an 2.2% annual rate the first half of 2012 after an estimated 3.1% gain in fourth-quarter gross domestic product, according to the median forecast of the 48 economists surveyed. The government reports on fourth-quarter GDP Friday.

“The biggest reason for slower growth is that a late-2011 bounce back from the effects of the Japanese earthquake last March won't last, according to Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. Slower growth will help keep unemployment at 8.4% or higher through year's end, economists predict.”

The USA Today article cites several good pieces of news, e.g., the decreasing risk of a U.S. recession. On the other hand, USA Today presents such bad news as employment not returning “to what’s considered a healthy level until 2014 or later.” The newspaper added the following piece in their “not-so-good” category:

“Job growth will slow to a monthly pace of 144,000 new jobs early this year, after an estimated rise of 165,000 a month in the fourth quarter, the panel predicted. In fact, the economy produced an average of 137,000 new jobs a month in the fourth quarter, driven by December's better-than-expected gain of 200,000 new jobs.”

Great news considering that taxes are expected to rise in 2012 not to mention the taxes that will be implemented as ObamaCare goes into effect. Not!

Reference. The non-member summary of the National Association for Business Economics survey is here. Only NABE members can read the full survey.

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 08:03 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The American Spectator posted a great essay yesterday by William Tucker, which explains that in turning down the application for the Keystone XL pipeline this week, for the second time, President Obama has:

“uncovered an ugly little secret that has always lurked beneath the surface of environmentalism. Its basic appeal is to the affluent. Despite all the professions of being "liberal" and "against big business," environmentalism's main appeal is that it promises to slow the progress of industrial progress. People who are already comfortable with the present state of affairs -- who are established in the environment, so to speak -- are happy to go along with this. It is not that they have any greater insight into the mysteries and workings of nature. They are happier with the way things are. In fact, environmentalism works to their advantage. The main danger to the affluent is not that they will be denied from improving their estate but that too many other people will achieve what they already have. As the Forest Service used to say, the person who built his mountain cabin last year is an environmentalist. The person who wants to build one this year is a developer.”

Tucker explains further that “(E)nvironmentalism has spent thtree decades trying to hide this simple truth . . .It has spent decades trying to pretend it has common cause with the working people. With the defeat of the Keystone Pipeline, this is no longer possible. Too many blue-collar and middle-class jobs have been sacrificed on the altar of carbon emissions and global warming.”

How did Tucker determine the connection of environmentalism and the leisure class? He explains it this way, and includes a Thorstein Veblen quote:

“What finally focused my attention on the aristocratic roots of environmentalism, however, was a chapter in Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. Although the book is justly famous for coining "conspicuous consumption" and "conspicuous waste," there is a lesser-known chapter entitled "Industrial Exemption" that perfectly describes the environmental zeitgeist. Veblen posed the question, why is it that people who are the greatest beneficiaries of industrial society are often the most passionate in condemning it? He provided a simple answer. People in the leisure class have become so accustomed affluence as the natural state of things that they no longer feel compelled to embrace any further industrial progress:

“The leisure class is in great measure sheltered from the stress of those economic exigencies which prevail in any modern, highly organized industrial community.… [A]s a consequence of this privileged position we should expect to find it one of the least responsive of the classes of society to the demands which the situation makes for a further growth of institutions and a readjustment to an altered industrial situation. The leisure class is the conservative class.”

Before the enviros run off yelling that your conservative scribe doesn't care a twit about the environment, Tucker makes this important point:

“It is not that the average person is not concerned about the environment. Everyone weighs the balance of economic gain against a respect for nature. It is only the truly affluent, however, who can be concerned about the environment to the exclusion of everything else. Most people see the benefits of pipelines and power plants and admit they have to be built somewhere. Only in the highest echelons do we hear people say, "We don't need to build any pipelines. We've already got enough energy. We can all sit around awaiting the day we live off wind and sunshine."

A great analysis, Mr. Tucker!

UPDATE (1/21/12): John Hinderaker blogs at Power Line takes note of an "open rift that has now developed between the laborers' union and the environmental movement, writes:

"It is hard to understand how any union can explain to its members why it supports Obama’s job-destroying energy policies, but it is has been a long time since many union leaders have taken their members’ interests seriously."

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 08:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Effective January 1, 2012, the value of the average residential property increased 1.8% while commercial properties, including office and apartments, increased 13.5%, according to a an Arlington County press release today. The value of the proverbial average residential property increased from $510,200 to $519,400.”

Although the overall single-family assessment was up 1.8%, that number depends on where you live in Arlington County. In the far west corner (area 1 on this map of Arlington County trend areas), assessments were up 3.6%. In the north (area 3, which is east of North Glebe Road and north and west of I-66), the average assessment increased 1.0%. In south Arlington, the average assessment in area 11 (east of I-395 and north of South Glebe Road) dropped 1.0%.

The press release adds that “46% of residential owners will see no change in their assessment; 22% will see declines of varying amounts. Of the 32% with increased values, the amount also will vary.”

You can look-up your property assessment here. Assessments are due to be mailed on January 20, 2012.

The press release provided this additional information about real estate assessments:

“Real estate assessments are appraisals -- the County's opinions of value for each parcel of real property in Arlington. Assessments are made according to accepted methods, techniques, and standards of the real estate appraisal and assessment profession. The 2012 assessment is an estimate of the fair market value as of January 1, 2012.

“Residential assessments were based primarily on neighborhood sales occurring July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. The real estate tax rate determines the amount of tax that is levied on the property. A uniform tax rate for all real property is set by the Arlington County Board; state code requires the County Board to use a uniform tax rate. In addition, Arlington levies additional taxes on commercial and industrial properties dedicated to transportation investments, as well as taxes for business improvement and sanitary sewer needs.

“For more information, visit the County website.”

The Arlington Sun Gazette has stories on the commercial sector fueling assessments and on the mail-out of updated property assessments. The ARLnow.com online news outlet also reports on the updated assessments.

If you disagree with your 2012 property assessment, you may do so between January 20 and March 1, 2012. Procedures are available at the above county website.

Finally, it looks as if the Arlington County Board gets about a 3% windfall profit from the 2012 assessments. How, Assuming inflation is less than or equal to 3%, the Board gets to spend several million dollars (equal to about 3% of total real estate taxes) without having to raise the real estate tax rate. (Paragraph added 1/21/12).

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 10:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

At the National Taxpayers Union blog, Government Bytes, Doug Kellogg reports on the work of “a number of intrepid Bloomberg reporters” who published stories of “just how extensive our government's pension promises are, and some of the potential impacts on taxpayers.” According to Kellogg:

“The big finding of the report is that the federal system faces a $674 billion shortfall, primarily from one of its older components. Further findings include: one of every 125 retired federal civilian workers collects more than $100,000 in benefits annually, The U.S. Treasury pays about $4.9 billion every month for about 1.8 million retirees, an average of $31,633 annually, at least 48,500 retirees are making more now than they did on the federal payroll, and much more.

“These figures will likely raise eyebrows among private industry employees, only about one-fifth of whom have access to a pension plan (at least a larger percentage than this can access 401(K)-type plans). Meanwhile, Social Security's fiscal time-bomb keeps on ticking, threatening private-sector taxpayers (and some public-sector employees) with major collateral damage.”

Kellogg provides links to two Bloomberg articles which provide the gruesome details.

Kudos to the Bloomberg reporters and to NTU’s Douglas Kellogg.for the blog post.

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 07:45 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)