Taxpayers around these parts are getting a deal (really)

By the time you read this and if you’re a law-abiding citizen you will have paid your 2011 property taxes.

If you live in Tuscarawas or Holmes counties, or one of the mostly rural nearby counties, you should be happy to know that you got a pretty good deal.

I know what you’re thinking: Farrell is a crazy man to think property taxes are a bargain.

Well, if you compare our property taxes to those in the suburban districts in the Cleveland and Columbus areas, they are at the very least under-appreciated.

Here’s a breakdown on effective tax rates for Tuscarawas and Holmes school districts:

Dover 37.96

Garaway 28.93

Indian Valley 30.90

New Philadelphia 30.00

Newcomerstown 29.91

Strasburg-Franklin 33.53

Tuscarawas Valley 30.26

East Holmes 22.94

West Holmes 31.44

Here are tax rates for a few of the suburban districts around Cleveland and Columbus:

Bay Village 52.97

Euclid 53.31

Fairview Park 56.83

Lakewood 56.69

Shaker Heights 86.45

Bexley 51.85

Dublin 50.16

Hilliard 57.30

New Albany-Plain 55.84

Reynoldsburg 47.56

Consider that Dover School District’s effective 2011 tax rate will generate less than $1,800 annually on a home worth $150,000. Put that same house in Lakewood at the same value (which is unlikely) and it will generate about $2,700 in tax revenue for the school district.

If you want to check my math, find the taxable value of your home (35 percent of market value). Calculate the number of mills – there are 52.5 mills on a home worth $150,000 with a taxable value of $52,500.

Multiply the number of mills by the effective tax rate listed above. Then multiply that number by the rollback amount of 12.5 percent (to which most homeowners are entitled) and subtract that figure from the previous total.

Don’t forget that the schools’ tax bills, while they represent most of the money you owe, are not all of it. Property taxes also help fund cities and villages, libraries, health departments, county government, and other government entities. And $6 goes to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District as a special assessment.

***

Back in 1995, I wrote a piece – basically a primer on property taxes – in response to a widespread rumor that tax bills were going to skyrocket the next year because of a healthy increase in real estate value.

Remember the good old days when your house was worth more than you paid for it?

Well, that was the case in 1995 and people were understandably worried that tax bills also would increase accordingly.

I explained in the piece that only “inside” millage, which represents a small fraction of your taxes, would increase the tax bills and not “outside” millage, which is millage approved by voters in the form of levies and bond issues.

For example, if a school district needs an extra $1 million to operate annually, it would ask for approval of a levy that would raise that amount of money. Years down the road, that levy still will only generate $1 million annually no matter what happens to property values.

The number of mills – a mill is $1 for every $1,000 of taxable property value – on the levy could go up or down depending on what property values do.

I know that all this is about as clear as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I suggest reading this commentary at least twice, maybe three times.

If you have a tax bill question, leave it underneath this commentary on the Bargain Hunter’s website and I’ll get an answer for you. That might be easier than contacting your favorite county auditor or treasurer during this busy time of year.

***

I’m curious whether any Penn State fans who initially were supportive of Joe Paterno when news of the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke still are. At the time I said Paterno was hardly a father figure by ignoring his duty to inform law enforcement authorities of Sandusky’s criminal behavior. One Penn State fan took me to task over my statement in no uncertain terms.

“…I do not agree with your comment about Paterno not being a father figure,” he wrote. “I grew up in Pennsylvania and know the unbelievable amount of good Joe Paterno has done for the state, Penn State students, faculty, staff as well as student athletes he has coached and molded into productive citizens.

“He has donated millions of dollars to the university and the last time I checked, the university figures that Coach Paterno and his wife have helped raise $3.5 billion for the university. You, as well as the rest of the media, have condemned Coach Paterno before any official facts have been brought to light…”

***

I’m not sure everyone is aware that this is the first election since World War II in which neither major presidential candidate is a military veteran.

Given the fact that presidents send young people to war, I’d like to see military service on a presidential candidate’s resume.

Dwight Eisenhower, who commanded the Allies’ D-Day invasion, spoke eloquently during his presidency about the high cost of war and warned citizens of the “military industrial complex.”

The man knew what he was talking about.

In a letter following the Korean War, he wrote this:

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

“The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children...

“This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense.

“Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from an iron cross.”

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Dover's Tom Kane: A gem among us

From my back porch, I could see Tom Kane regularly tend to his beloved backyard, which lies across the creek a couple hundred feet or so away.

A few years ago, Mr. Kane’s backyard looked into farmland, which I’m sure pleased him a lot more than the collection of little boxes that sits on that property now.

But no matter. At the first sign of spring and in the twilight of his life, Mr. Kane, along with his wife, Virginia, grabbed their rakes and shovels, clearing their yard of winter’s debris and preparing the soil for the planting of flowers and vegetables.

I could see him directing landscapers and carpenters (and probably friends and family members) as he dealt with the issues of melding meadow and garden into city lot. There was grass to cut, bushes to trim and arbors to build.

That was Tom Kane – always doing, always working.

Mr. Kane, 92, of Dover died July 3 after a lifetime of achievement and giving that deserves at least some mention beyond his obituary. I think Mr. Kane’s body of work, along with his ability to change directions, is inspirational and textbook material.

He could have written “How to Reinvent Yourself.”

Think it’s too late to change careers? Think again. Look to Tom Kane.

Mr. Kane was born in 1920 in Elyria. He attended Hudson Academy and then earned his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Antioch College in Yellow Springs.

From 1943 to 1946, he served as an engineering officer in the Army’s Southern Training Command and the European Theater.

After the war, he joined his father as partner in Black Bird Coal Mines, a position he held until 1956 when he became president of Better Value Homes, constructing homes and commercial buildings until 1958. He also served as president of Dover Cable Television from 1954-56.

After his homebuilding and TV cable career, he enrolled in Muskingum College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and mathematics. Then he enrolled at Ohio State, earning a master’s degree in guidance and counseling.

In 1960 he launched yet another reinvention of himself, becoming a teacher at Dover High and ultimately undertaking a guidance counselor role at the school. He retired from education in 1978, but then joined Personal and Family Counseling as a therapist. He worked there until 1983.

According to his obituary, Mr. Kane “was a man of strong religious and spiritual beliefs. With his faith he found a perfect union between science and Christianity. He believed that science is the search for relationships between matter and energy in the physical world we live in. Faith helps us see our relationship to other people and to the power beyond ours.

“Just as God moved over the earth and began creation from darkness of chaos, we are challenged to continue to create and improve upon His creation. This credo was the basis of his unwavering sense of civic responsibility at all levels of involvement – community, national and global.”

Mr. Kane was an active member of Dover’s First United Methodist Church, serving as an adult Sunday school teacher, chairing numerous financial drives and leading the church when it moved to its present site on N. Wooster Ave.

He was active in numerous community organizations, including the Tuscarawas County Council for Church and Community, Stark Wilderness Center, Family and Children First Council of Tuscarawas County, and the Dover Kiwanis Club.

And, of course, he was the recipient of many awards and recognitions.

Not mentioned in his obituary was the fact that he authored more than a few letters to the editor on various issues of the day. While I can’t recall specific details of those letters, I can tell you that Mr. Kane thought it was very important that we take care of the planet we inhabit and the children we bring onto it.

One would have to believe that God is pretty impressed with Tom Kane’s resume. I know I am.

To read Tom Kane’s obituary, visit www.tolandherzig.com.

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For the 4th of July, just a few bullet points

This being a holiday week, it’s a good time for some quick hitters…

–A young TV reporter out of Cleveland was on the scene of a tree downed by a storm. Turning momentarily to look at the tree, which had fallen on a house, the reporter turned back toward the camera and proclaimed: “This tree literally fell on this house.” Apparently up to that point trees only fell on houses in her dreams.

–Bill Simmons, the prolific sportswriter for ESPN, commenting on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ curious draft pick of  Syracuse guard and bench player Dion Waiters, offered this joke: “Anytime you can take the Big East’s ‘Sixth Man of the Year’ with the fourth pick in an NBA draft, you have to do it … The lesson as always: God hates Cleveland.” Yes, it seems He does.

–This being the 4th of July, it’s a good time to watch a patriotic film or miniseries. I would recommend starting with “John Adams,” the HBO production that details the founding of our country; “Gettysburg,” one of the better Civil War films; and then “Saving Private Ryan,” which is the most explicit and what experts call the most accurate rendering of the D-Day invasion ever offered. If you have any time left, try “The Deer Hunter” to get a feel for the Vietnam War era. Watch all four productions and you will have a fairly decent idea of where this country’s been in a little more than 235 years, which is a relatively short time when you consider that I’ve been alive for roughly 25 percent of that span.

–I checked to see if any of those films/productions were available for streaming via Netflix. They are not. This is a good reason for not investing in Netflix.

–Count me among those who do not feel sorry for Ann Curry, who got bounced from NBC’s “Today” show because, among other things I’m sure, she’s a stiff. Curry is getting her own reporting crew for special global assignments, will fill in on “Nightly News” and is being given a $10 million severance/bonus. And she goes all weepy? You’re kidding, right? Hey, Ann, try signing up for unemployment compensation while trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage like millions of Americans have had to do over the last four years. My goodness, then you can cry. Get a grip, Ann. And nice of you, NBC, to have Curry announce her own execution. Who’s running that network anyway?

–News flash: Katie Holmes is divorcing Tom Cruise. I just knew it wouldn’t work. Can’t wait to get my hands on next week’s Us magazine. They are promising extensive coverage. Yes, I’m kidding, but not about the coverage.

–Apple has really started to market Suri, the invisible woman embedded in the iPhone who tells jokes and is supposed to become a better friend to you than anyone you know on Facebook. My experience with Suri is that she doesn’t understand half of what I tell her, that she tells the same joke over and over and that she is only as good as her source material. She does work better with one- or two-word commands. Bottom line: The iPhone is a wonderful device, but Suri is overrated.

–If memory serves me correctly, the all-star youth league season is under way. My kids are grown and my grandchildren are too young, so I don’t have any connection to the game right now. Note to all-star coaches: If a kid is good enough to make the team, he’s good enough to play – even at the expense of your own kid. Don’t forget that.

–It would be really cool if every home in America displayed the flag on national holidays. I saw a 3-by-5 flag kit advertised for $8, which seems to be affordable. This is a good week to consider such purchases, don’t you think?

Happy birthday, America.

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Let's have a party -- the boys are here!

For the last two months, our nowhere-near-identical twin grandchildren – 3-year-old boys – all boys – along with their mother have been our houseguests while their dad tended to his job in Cleveland and a new house under construction.

All good and stressful things really do come to an end.

This week, the boys – Ben and Brendan – and their parents moved into their new house, big enough to accommodate the family now and hopefully some growth later.

As the taillights grew dim in the distance, it was clear that Dover, or at least the Farrell household, will never be the same.

What I learned:

–Even perfect toddlers – like our boys – have periodic meltdowns for no apparent reason. It’s kind of like the explanation so many people use to explain why oil companies raise the price of gasoline: Because they can. Once you realize that you will never understand and accept these meltdowns, it is much easier to slip into another room while their mother deals with them.

–There is nothing better in the morning than to be greeted by your grandchildren, who say something profound upon seeing you such as, “Hi Papa.” That’s what they call me – Papa. I like that.

–There is nothing better in the evening than a willing goodnight kiss from both of the boys, who have totally underscored the definition of unconditional love without realizing it.

–No matter how hard you try, you can’t make a person into someone he’s not. Our boys are as different as anyone. They eat, sleep and play differently. They are their own persons. I like that. It makes the future unpredictable. What will they be?

–You probably have never heard of the “Fresh Beat Band,” “Team Umizoomi” and “Bubble Guppies.” I have. (Brendan actually was able to high-five bandmember Shout at the group’s concert in Akron. How cool is that?)

–The best movies ever made were “Toy Story” and “Cars” – at least they would be if the rating system were based on the number of times I’ve had to watch them over the last two months.

Some things I’ve taught them:

–Always wave at passing watercraft when you’re on Papa’s aging pontoon boat. This is very important, and it shows people how nice you are. It also buys good will and potential assistance if Papa’s boat dies in the water.

–When the boys encounter their favorite comfort food, like a hot, soft pretzel, they will proclaim “Outstanding!” Hey, it gets a laugh.

–The boys now can sing the refrain (“I fill you up … let’s have a party”) from Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup.” I wanted to teach them some other songs, but their mother put a stop to it. Yes, they can also sing the “Alphabet Song” and “Old McDonald.” Big deal.

–They can identify Toyota and Honda logos. I’m working on Ford now. I’m not sure why I’ve spent so much time on this exercise, but I have.

Of course I want to teach them a lot of other things, but they need to get a little older. They are far too young to trust with a real golf club or baseball bat. For some reason they like to throw all sorts of things that are not meant to be thrown, and I could see Papa getting injured very easily. I’ll bring out the big-boy equipment when the time is right.

One other thing I’ve learned is that stay-at-home moms have a much harder job than go-to-the-office dads. I will have a long talk with my son-in-law about this fact. (Just kidding, Kate.) Given my daughter’s patience, love and devotion to her boys, I am buoyed by the fact that her parents did something right back when she was a toddler.

Our house is oddly quiet again now that the boys and their parents have moved into their new house. Perhaps a little nap is in order.

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Mandel takes politics to an old low

There you go again, Josh Mandel. 

Readers will remember that Mandel, Ohio’s current elected treasurer and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, was the first recipient of my “Arrogant Twit” award a couple of months ago for claiming that Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown was responsible for Ohio losing jobs to China.

PolitiFact Ohio found no evidence to support that claim and gave Mandel a “pants on fire” rating.

I think long and hard before I give out an “Arrogant Twit” award.

Mandel is the only recipient.

When asked by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for examples of Brown selling out jobs to the Chinese, Mandel couldn’t come up with any.

“If that’s the level of specificity you’re looking for, you’re the reporters – you go do the grunt work,” he said. “Any reporter who doesn’t believe Sherrod Brown is responsible for jobs going to China is simply out of touch.”

So, you think Mandel would learn. But, no…

Earlier this month, Mandel dipped into the gutter in an attempt to drag his opponent Brown through 26-year-old mud.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Mandel brought up Brown’s alleged spousal abuse of two and a half decades ago during a radio interview.

"He’s a real hypocrite when it comes to issues in respect to domestic violence and women’s issues,” Mandel was quoted as saying by the PD.

“You can probably read about that all over the Internet.”

The PD story confirmed Mandel’s assertion.

“A simple Google search with those terms takes readers to the heart of the 1986 charges,” the PD said.

Apparently, it doesn’t matter to Mandel that all the parties involved in that 1986 divorce have made peace with one another, including the children who are now adults. Brown and his wife, Connie Schultz (a former Plain Dealer columnist), are in fact friends with Brown’s ex-wife, Larke, and her husband, Joe Recchie.

The PD reported that Larke, who signed the affidavit against Brown in 1986, hosted a fund-raising event recently for her ex-husband.

In addition, she issued this statement: “I understand that in campaigns you often have to go after your opponent, but Josh Mandel should know better than to go after our family. I ask that he immediately put a stop to this kind of politics. I was proud to support Sherrod in 2006 and I’m proud to support him again this time around against Josh Mandel. Josh Mandel should immediately stop this kind of dirty campaigning.”

Let me speak to you personally, Josh.

You have an impressive background. And I thank you for your service to our country during your years in the Marines. But you have to rid the gutter nonsense from your political life. It makes you very unlikable.

OK, let me put it another way.

If this kind of politicking continues, no one with any kind of an intellect who has something to give back to their communities will run for public office because probably during the course of their lives some things didn’t work out like they had hoped and, you know, they had errors in judgment and made bad decisions.

When they decide not to run for public office to save their families emotional pain from the fear of renewed interest in those errors in judgment, perhaps some pundit will point his finger at Josh Mandel.

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Teenagers plus cars plus speed equals tragedy

What happened in Chardon last winter – when a gunslinging student ended the lives of three of his classmates and wounded another – was a terrible tragedy that seemed to make no sense.

And last weekend near Brunswick, four young people ultimately lost their lives in a one-car accident that could have been prevented if only the young driver had slowed down.

I’m not going to waste a lot of time on this. I could devote an entire column to the subject, having written too many times about young people in our community who have lost their lives in preventable automobile accidents.

Speed kills, Mom and Dad. And if you don’t get that message across to the teenage drivers in your home, you, too, could receive the dreaded late-night telephone call from a first-responder:

“Your son/daughter (blank) died in an accident.”

Speed kills. Write it on their foreheads.

***

Write negatively about one aspect of fracking – in my case when I wrote last week about the list of chemicals in fracking water – and you get labeled “anti-fracking.”

I am not anti-fracking. I’m anti-secret lists. And I think the list of chemicals in fracking water ought to be made available to the public.

I’m also a firm believer in developing our own supply of fossil fuel because, for the most part, that’s all we have right now.

I have nothing against wind or solar power, but they don’t seem to be the immediate answer. I mean seriously how many windmills would have to rotate 24/7 to provide power to the city of Dover? Thousands? Millions?

And, people, what do we do on a calm, windless day?

My carbon footprint is reasonable. I don’t live in a big house; I drive a fuel-efficient automobile (by my standards); and I have employed some of those ugly, but efficient light bulbs that are supposed to last five years (but don’t) and use gobs less energy.

***

I was skipping through the channels the other day and came across “The View,” which is the Barbara Walters-produced show that pits liberal women against a conservative, Fox News-type blonde (OK, that’s not the network description of the show) and which makes for some good TV viewing when they all get into it.

On this particular day, the blonde, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, was commenting on the case of the helicopter mother who took on her daughter’s bully up close and personal and now faces assault charges.

Elisabeth thought the schools needed to become more involved to prevent this kind of stuff.

Liberal Whoopi Goldberg called out Elisabeth.

Schools have enough going on, Whoopi said. You can’t expect schools to police everything.

Right on, Whoopi.

More and more I hear the schools ought to teach that, or fix that, or feed them that, or counsel them this way or that way (and make sure the bus stops in front of my house) all while folks are saying no to new taxes that would help schools deal with the socio-economic-parental stress their students bring to school every day.

Ever see the pictures on the Internet of the characters shopping at Wal-Mart? They have children, folks.

The public tends to criticize even well-managed districts for any number of things because we all know that any member of the public could run a school district because they’ve told us so on many occasions and certainly just before they cast a “no” vote on the levy ballot.

***

A few months ago, I might have written this:

“I think this country is on the wrong track by allowing the private sector to take over the process of delivering space-travel vehicles. At this point, we have to rely on the Russians to get us to the International Space Station, or some half-baked private sector rocket ship that may or may not get there. Oh, boy.”

I would have been wrong. Really wrong.

Of Space X’s Dragon spaceship which returned safely to Earth last week, the Los Angeles Times said: “After the two spacecraft connected in space May 25, astronauts aboard the space station unloaded half a ton of cargo, water and clothes.

“The Dragon spent six days attached to the station and was refilled with 1,455 pounds of cargo for the trip back to Earth. The cargo will be delivered to NASA.”

I stand corrected.

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List of fracking chemicals ought to be made public

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post had their “Deep Throat” source who pointed them in the right direction during their investigation into the Watergate break-in, which was part of an “elaborate plot” – the Post’s term – to bug the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

Ultimately and with some thanks to “Deep Throat,” the “Woodstein” probe resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

So, despite my personal aversion to using off-the-record material or keeping whistleblowers anonymous, I’m going to make an exception and quote from a source who has expertise and hands-on knowledge of science and geology and who seems to understand the why of the risks of the hydraulic fracking process.

The danger in fracking is primarily to potable, underground water supplies, which lie on top of the rock formations that hold the gas and oil, which are collected after chemical-laced water is injected into the well.

The little picture – whether you’re for or against fracking in Ohio – is that Senate Bill 315, which is presumed to update Ohio’s Energy and Natural Resources laws, allows drillers to keep the list of those chemicals to themselves because of proprietary concerns.

Now, I’d like to see Ohio contribute to our country’s ability to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I’d like jobs created in our area that aren’t connected to retail outlets or fast food restaurants. I’d like this part of the state to enjoy some prosperity the likes of which it has never seen.

That’s all big picture stuff. It’s that little picture that bothers me.

Why keep the list of chemicals secret? What public good can come from keeping the chemical list secret?

My source – I’ll call him “Big Injun” in honor of the large underground water reservoir that supplies drinking water to thousands in our area – is concerned about the little picture, too. And he implies those “crazy” environmentalists worried about our water supply aren’t so crazy.

Big Injun provided me a generalized geographic profile of the various subterranean rock and stone formations in East Central Ohio. The graphic, by the Division of Mineral Resources of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, shows a prototype method of triple casing a Utica shale well.

“As shown, the innermost casing passes through the Clinton sandstone and is embedded in the shale below,” Big Injun said. “This is good, but if there are faults or old wells acting as conduits, the movement of oil, gas or fracturing fluids could cause potable ground water to be contaminated by the upward movement of fluids during fracking and later by gas.”

The standard refrain of the ODNR is that the chemicals represent less than 1 percent of the fracking water.

“Depending upon the chemical, drinking water standards are written in terms of parts per million, not percentages which are 1 part per 100 (or 10,000 times what the limit should be),” Big Injun continued. “We need to request that the (state) factually disclose the chemicals in terms of the PPM limit of the chemicals allowed for drinking water.

“In summary, our water supplies could be in extreme peril from the unknowns that are being released into our environment through the fracking process.

“Extreme thoroughness in the consideration of SB 315 should be undertaken to ensure that all caveats and exceptions are understood and vetted. Communications to the public regarding the use of any chemicals should be made and thoroughly understood by all of those impacted.

“The water supplies within rural areas are most at risk, where the potential introduction of toxins with loose regulations could adversely affect us, our livestock and future generations.”

Big Injun said that Ohio has more than 274,000 existing wells of which 64,000 are currently producing oil and/or gas.

“Eastern Ohio looks like a pincushion,” he said. “That leaves 210,000 wells either abandoned or closed. Many of these are uncased or marginally plugged.

“During World War II, many casings were pulled from non-producing wells because steel was in short supply. Stories are told that plugging was often done haphazardly. Further, many of these older wells are not accurately recorded as to exact location and plugging procedure.”

By the time you read this, it’s possible that S.B. 315 will be signed into law. That would be a shame. It would also underscore why so many members of the public have such contempt for government.

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