PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 14, 2017
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Budgetary frustrations
Keizer’s government is getting
ready for budget committee meetings
that will commence next month. The
budget committee, comprised of all
seven city councilors and
seven citizens, will discuss
and debate the budget
as presented by the city
manager and the fi nance
director. After a series of
public meetings the com-
mittee will vote on the
budget recommendations
they will forward to the
city council for fi nal approval in June.
Every year in recent times, the
city’s budget has resulted in frustration
all around from committee members
to councilors to residents. By its very
nature a budget will disappoint peo-
ple—pet projects won’t be funded.
For years now, additional and needed
police offi cers have not been funded
because the city’s PERS and health
insurance fi nancial obligations take
precedence.
The same is true for the city’s 19
parks. Keizer’s parks receive a mere
$300,000 out of the city’s budget
each year. Park supporters are doing
something about it; they just fi nished
a citizen survey to see if homeowners
would get behind a surcharge to their
water/sewer bills to be used solely for
parks. The results were released earlier
this month; the council will schedule
a special meeting to look at what the
next steps might be. No decision will
be made on adding a surcharge with-
out lots of input from residents via
public hearings.
Is this a route police supporters can
travel as well? We think it would be
heavy lifting to ask homeowners to
be enthusiastic about adding a second
surcharge to water bills to augment
current budget levels for the Keizer
Police Department.
We can all be frustrated that there
is not enough money to pay for the
things we want. Any serious,
civic-minded government
will always fund what is
needed fi rst before funding
what is wanted.
It is no longer a matter
of living within one’s means.
The city’s means are con-
stantly chipped away with
yearly increases in PERS
and health insurance expenses.
The decision was made decades
ago to change the tax system in Or-
egon, that included freezing city tax
rates where they were. Our city of
37,000 operates on $2.08 per every
$1,000 of property valuation. It used
to be a right of bragging that Keizer
had the lowest tax rate of any full ser-
vice in Oregon. No one’s bragging
now.
No one likes taxes. But, at the same
time no one likes potholes or over-
grown parks or high crime. Our taxes
pay for the services we depend upon.
The city of Ontario, at the far east-
ern end of the state, has its own fi nan-
cial problems. Leaders there are taking
the extraordinary step of considering
adding a sales tax. Desperate times call
for desperate measures. A sales tax may
be a bridge too far, but we must get
creative.
It would be unfortunate if the only
choice left to us was to lay off city
employees or close city parks or raise
fees the city charges. Barring a change
in the ability to raise the city’s tax rate,
we’ll have to fi nance city operations
the old fashioned way—levies and
bonds.
—LAZ
Support for
Mark Bateman
To the Editor:
Mark Bateman is an ex-
cellent candidate for the
Salem-Keizer School Board.
I have observed him in pub-
lic meetings which had complex is-
sues, emotional overtones and multiple
points of view.
He is respectful, a great listener and
asks questions that go to the heart of
the matter. Further, he is analytical
and clearly looks at the “big picture.”
I cannot think of a more important
issue than the education of our chil-
dren and grandchildren.
As the S-K School Board makes
policy decisions, it needs members like
Mark Bateman.
Dave Smedema
Keizer
tive individuals I have ever
known. His education, his
life experience, his knowl-
edge of the Salem-Keizer
schools, his faith, his com-
mitment as a parent with
children in the school dis-
trict—all qualify him as a
person to bring insight, wisdom and
character to major decisions facing our
educational system in the upcoming
decade. A man of vision, he also has a
clear understanding of fi scal issues and
will seek ways to creatively fund the
vital programs needed by our children
in this global economy.
Persons with such a background
often shun public service, but Mark is
offering himself to serve and we need
to see that he has that opportunity.
Vote for Mark Bateman!
Joe Scahill
Keizer
To the Editor:
I write to encourage persons in the
Keizer area to support Mark Bateman
for the Salem-Keizer School Board.
Mark is one of the most percep-
Email a letter to the editor (300
words) by noon Tuesday.
Email to:
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Advisers who have military ties
By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS
Before he was elected president,
Donald Trump told biographer Mi-
chael D’Antonio that his attendance
at a military boarding school gave
him “more training mili-
tarily than a lot of guys
that go into the military.”
As president, he has
stacked his top echelon
with guys who went into
the military -- and they
are among those who ad-
vised the new president
before he ordered 59 cruise missiles
be launched into a Syrian air base.
When Trump compared his years
at New York Military Academy to
military service, some veterans were
quick to point out that Trump re-
ceived multiple draft deferments
during the Vietnam War -- as did
former Vice Presidents Joe Biden and
Dick Cheney. And yet Trump has an
ardor for surrounding himself with
former military men and appointing
a considerable number of veterans to
his Cabinet. One-third -- or eight
out of 24 -- of Trump’s Cabinet-level
picks have served in the military.
The list includes departments --
Defense, Homeland Security, Na-
tional Intelligence and CIA -- where
defense expertise would be expected.
But Trump also has found veterans to
head other agencies.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke
was a Navy SEAL. Energy Secretary
Rick Perry fl ew C-130 cargo planes
in the Air Force. Attorney General
Jeff Sessions served in the Army Re-
serves. Trump’s would-be Agricul-
ture Secretary Sonny Perdue -- who
along with Trump’s picks as labor
secretary and U.S. trade representa-
tive has not been confi rmed -- was
an Air Force captain.
“It’s huge,” said Veterans of For-
eign Wars spokesman Joe Davis, who
fi gures that 7 percent of the U.S.
population -- a fraction of Trump’s
Cabinet -- has worn the uniform.
He added that four top-level advis-
ers have close family members with
strong ties to the service. The brother
of Education Secretary
Betsy DeVos was a Navy
SEAL. Small Business
Association head Linda
McMahon grew up on a
military base. So did Vet-
erans Affairs Secretary
David Shulkin -- who
happens to be the fi rst
VA secretary not to have served in
the military.
“My father was an Army psychia-
trist, both grandfathers were Army
veterans, and my paternal grandfather
served as chief pharmacist at the VA
hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. As a
young doctor, I trained in VA hospi-
tals,” Shulkin said in a statement.
“One thing we have found is that
you don’t have to be a veteran to love
veterans,” said Davis, “and that’s Dr.
Shulkin.”
Vice President Mike Pence is not
a veteran, but he is a Blue Star father;
his son Michael is a Marine.
The ratio of veterans in the Trump
administration represents a big bump
from President Barack Obama’s fi rst
Cabinet, which included only two
veterans -- Defense Secretary Robert
Gates and VA Secretary Eric Shin-
seki. Obama’s fi rst Cabinet members
were three times more likely to have
graduated from law school than boot
camp.
Veteran Legal Institute CEO
Dwight Stirling believes demograph-
ics play a role. Obama is 55; Trump
is 70. “I think the reason there were
so few veterans in the Obama ad-
ministration was largely generational.
Between the end of the Vietnam War
and the Gulf War in the ‘90s, very few
white-collar professionals decided to
serve in the military.”
other
views
The fi rst cabinet of President
George W. Bush claimed six veterans,
seven after Bush named Tom Ridge
as secretary of homeland security.
Stirling expects Trump to hire
veterans who “have a viewpoint con-
sistent with his ideology.”
There also could be a lifestyle
match. Trump picked people who
were highly successful in their fi elds
-- in the military or on Wall Street.
Of Trump’s 24 advisers, nine, includ-
ing Pence, have law degrees. Three of
the eight Cabinet-level veterans also
have law degrees. There are three
doctors, including an acclaimed neu-
rosurgeon and a veterinarian, nomi-
nated for Trump’s Cabinet.
“He’s surrounding himself with
military people so he can be their
commander in chief,” scoffed Bob
Mulholland, California Democratic
Party spokesman and a Vietnam vet.
“The president ran on a platform
of supporting the military and sup-
porting our veterans. It is very en-
couraging to see that he surrounded
himself with career military veterans
and one-term military veterans, and
military family members,” countered
Davis.
Zinke has said he believes his ser-
vice in the Navy SEALs uniquely in-
forms, for example, his take on coal.
“It is, from a SEAL perspective, it
is better to make sure we’re not held
hostage on our energy needs in this
country. And like you, I don’t want
my kids -- sons and daughters -- to
have to fi ght a war for energy re-
sources we have here,” Zinke said at a
recent White House briefi ng.
“And look, the world is safer when
America is stronger, and America
stronger is not being dependent on
foreign services for energy,” he said.
“We can do it here right, and we
will.”
(Creators Syndicate)
Don’t let Washington cut Medicare
By GENE H. McINTYRE
Any U.S. “senior” who’s been
on Medicare long enough to use
it, already knows how
vital to saving one’s per-
sonal solvency it truly
is. What amazes is that
there are actually persons
elected to represent the
American people in
their respective districts
who plan now to change
Medicare so that it will increase its
cost in premiums thousands of dol-
lars per year, rendering its cover-
age unaffordable to many Ameri-
cans who have already paid for it
throughout their working lives.
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan
would jeopardize the current guar-
anteed level of Medicare coverage.
In its place would be “vouchers” or
“premium supports” which seniors
could try to buy from the private
sector, meaning from profi t seek-
ers who are known to care little to
none about ability to pay. Further,
Ryan and GOP leadership in Wash-
ington, D.C. argue —on behalf of
what they want to accomplish—
that Medicare is “going broke.”
Meanwhile, according to a Con-
gressional Budget Offi ce report,
Medicare’s not going broke; in fact,
the CBO report discloses that Medi-
care’s fi scal strength has improved in
recent years while the Part A trust
fund is fully funded for at least an-
other eleven years. Then, too, im-
mediate revenues are projected to
pay 87 percent of costs, declining to
79 percent by 2040.
President Trump cam-
paigned on a promise not
to “touch” the benefi ts
seniors have earned, say-
ing “I am going to pro-
tect and save your Social
Security and Medicare”
as “you made a deal a
long time ago.” Trump has not al-
ways stood by his statements while
this one, if not observed, will direly,
even devastatingly, impact mil-
lions of older Americans should he
take back his promise and proceed
guest
opinion
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to stand with Ryan and others.
As a “Blue Dog” or conserva-
tive Democrat, I don’t know where
Kurt Schrader, our 5th District
Congressman, stands on Medicare.
Handy to us, Congress is on a cur-
rent two-week break and he’s got an
offi ce in Salem. If Schrader votes
with the Republicans against Medi-
care and those members of Con-
gress have their way, every Medicare
recipient in need of medical services
will soon fi nd himself in a world of
fi nancial hurt. Readers who want
Medicare preserved as is, may want
to fi nd the time to contact Schrader.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)