Court says no referendum on Lexington water case
The Vote wasn’t just 4 to 2, it was 4 to 26,000 and the four carried.
FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a November referendum on the city of Lexington's proposal to take over the local water company.
In a 4-2 ruling, the court said there is no provision for a special election this year. It left unresolved whether there might be a referendum on the takeover during some regular election in the future.
What a mockery of democracy and justice.
Joseph Lambert, Donald Wintersheimer, William Cooper and Will Scott made the decision to deprive Lexington citizens of their right to vote on a local issue.
Anyone running against these guys send me a contribution envelope, they don't deserve to be on the bench.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Who Said Life Was Fair
Let’s talk health insurance for Kentucky State retirees and beneficiaries. This is the same health insurance plan Ernie Fletcher came up with in response to Kentucky’s teachers threatening to go out on strike.
I’m not going to get into the argument of state workers feeding at the public trough verses all the working people that don’t have any insurance.
Yes, it is wrong that our elected leaders fail so badly in providing universal health care for every citizen of this country. That’s a given, but I want to just do the numbers and make a couple of comments about this insurance plan that the tax payers of Kentucky are subsidizing
The bottom line:
The cheapest 2006 monthly premium for an individual retiree is $488.96.
If that person smokes the monthly premium is $503.96
The cheapest family plan costs $809.10 per month
And if anyone in the family smokes the cost is $839.10 per month.
Now if the retiree is fully vested, (worked 20 years) the state will pay $488.96 toward the insurance costs, a really good deal if you are single retiree. But if you are a retiree with a family the best you can hope for is paying $320.14 per month for health insurance out of your retirement check.
So under the best of circumstance the retiree trying to insure a family must pay $3,841.68 annually for family health insurance. Yes, compared to no health insurance this is a good deal.
A different bottom line:
However all these numbers change if the employee is considered a “Hazardous Retiree”, read that retired State Police and certain other selected classifications.
The costs remain the same. However there is no smoking penalty for the “Hazardous Retiree”. So if you were a social worker it’s going to cost you to smoke, if you were a state trooper you smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. I guess the cancer rate for retired troopers is less than for retired social workers.
But here is the real difference. The hazardous retiree gets a KRS (Kentucky Retirement Systems) contribution for dependent coverage. The dependent contribution for a vested hazardous retiree is $429.24 per month.
So here is the difference if you are non-hazardous retiree (i.e. social worker) you pay $3,841.68 a year to buy health insurance for your family. If you are hazardous retiree (i.e. state trooper) you pay $0.00 a year to insure your family, including the smokers.
Well we all know retired social workers are grossly over paid, right……..
I’m not going to get into the argument of state workers feeding at the public trough verses all the working people that don’t have any insurance.
Yes, it is wrong that our elected leaders fail so badly in providing universal health care for every citizen of this country. That’s a given, but I want to just do the numbers and make a couple of comments about this insurance plan that the tax payers of Kentucky are subsidizing
The bottom line:
The cheapest 2006 monthly premium for an individual retiree is $488.96.
If that person smokes the monthly premium is $503.96
The cheapest family plan costs $809.10 per month
And if anyone in the family smokes the cost is $839.10 per month.
Now if the retiree is fully vested, (worked 20 years) the state will pay $488.96 toward the insurance costs, a really good deal if you are single retiree. But if you are a retiree with a family the best you can hope for is paying $320.14 per month for health insurance out of your retirement check.
So under the best of circumstance the retiree trying to insure a family must pay $3,841.68 annually for family health insurance. Yes, compared to no health insurance this is a good deal.
A different bottom line:
However all these numbers change if the employee is considered a “Hazardous Retiree”, read that retired State Police and certain other selected classifications.
The costs remain the same. However there is no smoking penalty for the “Hazardous Retiree”. So if you were a social worker it’s going to cost you to smoke, if you were a state trooper you smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. I guess the cancer rate for retired troopers is less than for retired social workers.
But here is the real difference. The hazardous retiree gets a KRS (Kentucky Retirement Systems) contribution for dependent coverage. The dependent contribution for a vested hazardous retiree is $429.24 per month.
So here is the difference if you are non-hazardous retiree (i.e. social worker) you pay $3,841.68 a year to buy health insurance for your family. If you are hazardous retiree (i.e. state trooper) you pay $0.00 a year to insure your family, including the smokers.
Well we all know retired social workers are grossly over paid, right……..
Culture of Corruption – Labeling Department
The voting taxpayers of Kentucky have a right to expect transparency in the way their government operates.
On page 3 of the B section of today’s Herald-Leader there is an Associated Press story on secrecy in Kentucky state government.
FRANKFORT - Allowing the state to withhold records about the costs and manpower for a security detail would set a dangerous precedent for Kentucky's longstanding Open Records Act, a lawyer for The Associated Press argued yesterday.
Now I can understand how revealing tactics, strategy or logistical information might compromise a security operation. But I don’t see how knowing where my tax dollars are going compromises anything except maybe bad management decisions.
Bureaucrats from the national to the local level have had a free had to use the “Homeland Defense” label to subvert open records laws. The new mantra for self serving bureaucrats is slap a Homeland Defense label on anything you want to hide, its better that client/attorney privilege.
Now don’t get me wrong I am in awe of the job the Kentucky State Police does for the citizens of the Commonwealth. I believe we need to keep these people as safe as possible, but hiding the accounting numbers is just bureaucratic flim-flam even if the person doing it is in a gray uniform.
On page 3 of the B section of today’s Herald-Leader there is an Associated Press story on secrecy in Kentucky state government.
FRANKFORT - Allowing the state to withhold records about the costs and manpower for a security detail would set a dangerous precedent for Kentucky's longstanding Open Records Act, a lawyer for The Associated Press argued yesterday.
Now I can understand how revealing tactics, strategy or logistical information might compromise a security operation. But I don’t see how knowing where my tax dollars are going compromises anything except maybe bad management decisions.
Bureaucrats from the national to the local level have had a free had to use the “Homeland Defense” label to subvert open records laws. The new mantra for self serving bureaucrats is slap a Homeland Defense label on anything you want to hide, its better that client/attorney privilege.
Now don’t get me wrong I am in awe of the job the Kentucky State Police does for the citizens of the Commonwealth. I believe we need to keep these people as safe as possible, but hiding the accounting numbers is just bureaucratic flim-flam even if the person doing it is in a gray uniform.
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