From Margaret Gibbons at the Times Herald:
COURTHOUSE - Montgomery County officials appear to have little political stomach for the enactment, or even a discussion, of a county sales tax.Leave it to King James to once again resort to heaving insults at Republican Commissioner Bruce L. Castor, Jr., especially when he is at a loss to defend his own shaky position. I guess James Rex III doesn't think that Mr. Castor is allowed to voice an opinion? Feh! King James is a lot like Barack Obama in that sense...if they speak out against him, he uses his position to make your life miserable.
County Commissioners' Chairman James R. Matthews and Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel III held the issue at arm's length, stating that a proposal for a sales tax has not yet reached their level.
Instead, they said, it is only one of the options that the county planning commission is studying as a method of bankrolling a transportation funding program for local roadways and bridges.
However, much to Matthews' chagrin, Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. left no doubt on where he stands.
"I will not support a sales tax," said Castor.
Matthews called Castor's comment "gratuitous."
News Flash, El rey Diego la Mierda...It ain't working. And "gratuitous"? isn't that kind of like how your lips are always firmly planted on Joe Hoeffel's behind like some low-level sycophant? It's quite unbecoming, Jimbo.
Anyway, read the rest of the article, click the link below:
The issue of levying a one-cent county sales tax was first raised at a transportation summit held earlier this month by the county. Some 260 county decision-makers, including municipal, school and business leaders, attended the morning-long session in which the discussion centered on whether the county should develop a transportation program to fund local projects designed to relieve traffic congestion or at least to keep it from worsening.
The answer to that question was an overwhelming "yes," but then the discussion shifted to how the county should fund such a program.
Until the summit, county officials had focused on funding the program through a bond borrowing. However, several summit participants suggested that the county implement a county sales tax.
The county planning commission, which at the request of the county commissioners is looking into the need and support for a transportation program, subsequently decided to explore the option of a sales tax as an alternative to a bond borrowing if the county decides to move forward with the program.
Residents and businesspersons, responding to news accounts that the planning commission was researching a sales tax option, deluged county officials with phone calls, letters and e-mails to express opposition to a county sales tax.
County Transportation Planning Chief Leo Bagley told the commissioners he did not believe there was much support on the planning commission for a sales tax but, because it was suggested at the summit and was not previously considered, it had to be addressed.
The planning commission and staff will be working on their recommendations to the commissioners over the next month and should present the commissioners with their finalized recommendations in December.
Among the issues those recommendations will address: Whether a transportation funding program should be created; how much county funding there should be for such a program; how the county will pay for the program; and what types of projects should be included in it.
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