Sound Off: WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
SOUND OFF was transcribed from our Sound Off line during the past month. Sound Off is a monthly editorial feature of Gilbert Sun News. We encourage you to participate. As long as it's not profane or libelous we will print it in our next issue. Calls are limited to one minute. Please leave your name only if you'd like it printed. Come on, get it off your chest!
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Happy New Year everybody in Arizona! Happy New Year, but there’s nothing more pitiful than healthy, well-managed, intelligent children who later become ignorant, rude judgmental adults. Remember when cursing words were a sign of immaturity and ignorance? Well they still are and children are listening yet.
Hey all you cellphone junkies calling from a car and you wanted to talk to grandma on her landline: Forget it. It just doesn’t work. Learn to use the other systems as well as all your new toys.
A long, long time ago, our parents taught us the simple move of money management— never spend more per month for
housing than you earn per week. The other three weeks’ salaries will keep life better balanced. Try it; it works just fine.
Of course the first Republican solution to save money for the state is you take away the fast food out of the mouths of the poor, who have no home or stove to cook all those freebie healthy vegetables they are told to eat instead. It’s the usual no common sense for a new Legislature. Just take all the new perks away from them and see how they howl.
Thank you for bringing back civics to high school students. Now stop cutting the teachers out of the art departments. Maybe we’ll have a more informed community in the future.
THE MARKET GUIDE
If you did not see “America ReFramed” program “Trash Dance,” you missed a great picture of America’s workers’ true strengths. It’s really worthwhile to be proud to be an American.
Beware: If this storm Juno is like anything of the 1947 storm, when it leaves the United States it’s going to Europe again. Also, let your friends know if they’re anywhere over there.
Well it’s back on the job for TV news’ frantic pace Sunday morning busybodies. Now that the world’s Christian holidays have ended and Congress is back on the job, I say, “Lots of luck, Washington.”
I wish when companies have contests they would try to keep it to under $600, unless it’s something really good so we don’t get hit at tax time. At least be fair about the value. Value the prize at a realistic amount, not an exaggerated one. Don’t claim a prize is worth $700 when in all reality, if you were to buy it, you would only pay $550. Or if it is an “experience,” be realistic about it if it’s something you can’t normally buy. I don’t think “experiences” that can’t be normally bought should be taxed, but our government is our government and they love to try and squeeze every last dime out of us.
I’m complaining about the wives of football players who just set back women getting ahead at least 10 or 15 years. Of course it’s all about the money. Boo, boo, boo, bad, bad, bad. Take your money and go home with your football player husband. See how good he is after he quits playing football.
I’m just sitting down and reading the Sound Off page. There is a lot of really marginal stuff on there, stuff that is distasteful to me. You should make people say their name. I don’t see any names on here. Some of them are not very well thought-out and untrue.
Be fair, there was more than one police officer who took the 400-pound man down to the ground. Who was the officer who kept smashing his face into the sidewalk? What about those who held him down?
Stop blaming one policeman. They’re all guilty of too much violence.
Freedom of the press just went too far. The insatiable need for Americans to know everything about everything almost stopped my heart when I heard this most ignorant reporter ask a general, “Well, you had a rescue mission. How did you do that?” Should we send them a note? They ought to know when and where we’re coming. How stupid can some people on television be? It’s unfathomable how stupid some of these people are today.
Question: Where are our Peter, Paul and Mary generations to balance the crazies of today’s law breakers looking for sympathy? Those are the true Americans. Come on out again and sing the truth as we always did. Sing the truth and convert those stone throwers.
Well, it’s an interesting time of year when some of us learn who, under and over age 30, know how to write or use a U.S. postal office stamp. If you’re over 60 and not on someone’s social media or computer information, you might as well be dead and buried. Isn’t it wonderful to grow old and wiser and all these stupid people who are younger are trying to run a nation? They’re running it right into the ground.
Oh boy, another White House secret and all the critics will now rush to profit from it— secretly, of course. What else do you expect?
Why does Arizona continue to shoot itself in the foot? I work liquor events and due to “permitting issues” the 10 gigs that I had scheduled for the month had to be canceled because the store I was to do the events for was having too many issues. Now you just took away money from me, the company that I work for and the store that would have sold more alcohol to make a profit, the alcohol companies and not to mention
the taxes that would have been collected from sales to benefit Arizona. Dear Arizona, stop making everything so hard for everyone!
Like it or not, whether you agree or not, the first thought of the human brain is curiosity. The first job of news reporters is to sell the printed- or camera-caught situation. The first rule of politics is make them all believe it. What’s your opinion in 50 words or less?
Why is there so much obvious stupidity in charge all around the world in crime and politics? Because ignorance is free. Common sense, survival and education take effort. What are you doing today to make this world better?
What would happen if they held a protest and the media did not show up?
No landlines anymore? It’s supposed to help the deaf. They forget computer screens do not profit people who cannot read them. Pay attention to what you’re doing. You help one, you hurt the other. You don’t need to see to enjoy hearing a friendly voice.
A famous journalist once wrote, “A frontal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are ready to always defend their most precious possession—their ignorance.”
Regarding the mess in France: We’re going to give up on TV news. It’s apparent there is nothing but social media chatter. People do not pay attention to what the people are seeing, actually. They all forget the Cronkite rule of verify, verify, verify. There are a few true journalists on the job today. They’re all just chatterbox reporters. Disgusting.
To the dummy who wrote about tearing down Monti’s La Casa Vieja in Tempe, he/ she should read further. The building will be incorporated into the new development. The building is classified as historical and cannot just be torn down without special circumstances. It is one of the most nostalgic restaurants in the entire Valley. The auction for some of the restaurant’s contents has been held, allowing many faithfuls to obtain some keepsakes. My children worked at Lenny Monti’s on North 19th Avenue and were treated like family.
The relationship between the state and county
BY DENNY BARNEY
With the State of Arizona recently swearing in a new governor and a new legislative session in full swing, many may wonder how that has an impact here at Maricopa County. How do local and county governments interact with the state? While the states themselves are sovereign entities—according to Article 10 of the U.S. Constitution, the federal government derives only the powers and authority directly delegated to it by the states—the counties are the exact opposite. We are subdivisions of the state, and only have authorities directly given to us by the state.
As a county, those authorities include the responsibility to deliver a broad and diverse set of services including prosecution, public defense, law enforcement, flood control, planning and development, animal control, courts, elections, jails, etc. Fifty-one percent of the budget represents funding for public safety services. We are expected by the state and citizenry to deliver efficient and effective services to those citizens in our jurisdiction, with the accountability and transparency the taxpayers deserve. And, of course, the state requires we do all this with a balanced budget each year.
Every legislative session, lawmakers introduce around 1,200 bills, many of which have fiscal, administrative and/ or political effects upon the county. We monitor these and educate our legislators where possible to limit any negative impacts upon Maricopa County constituents. One such example is state shared revenues. The state collects from many revenue buckets, some of which are distributed to the counties. Such revenues include vehicle license taxes, state sales taxes of which approximately 40 percent are distributed to counties and Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF) of which 19 percent are distributed to counties. The distributions are based upon extremely complex formulas and the
state sets limitations on where the monies may be spent. It is well known that lawmakers are facing a deficit of about $1 billion this year, and yet they too are required by the constitution to balance their budget every session.
On occasion, the legislature has diverted state shared revenues they would have otherwise disbursed to the cities and counties. This has been an effort, in part, to solve the state’s budget dilemmas. However, this can make it very difficult for the county to budget appropriately, and, if left with a large shortfall, to find ways in which to cover expenses without raising taxes. Which is, of course, our goal.
I was excited to see Doug Ducey sworn in as the governor of Arizona. And I will be anticipating with
everyone else, how he and the legislature work together through this session to balance not only a budget, but the relationships with the cities and counties.
Barney is a Gilbert resident and member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
References: www.aztreasury.gov/local-govt/ revenue-distributions/revenuedistributions-list/#hurf www.azleg.gov/briefs/Senate/ STATE%20SHARED%20REVENUES.pdf www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/42/05029.htm www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/28/06538.htm www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/28/06540.htm
Denny
DENNY BARNEY: Gilbert resident and member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
