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Chester County Press

Uncle Irv: State government is a fraud and a joke

01/13/2015 12:35PM ● By Richard Gaw
The Oxford Area School District has released the first public look at the 2015-2016 budget year that begins July 1, 2015.

You need not look at any expense other than the $1,000,000, or 22 percent increase, in the state-mandated Public School Retirement System. It is, and has been for 15 years, grossly underfunded because of increases voted in by Gov. Tom Ridge and the General Assembly.

Defeated Gov. Tom Corbett wanted the General Assembly to do something about this massive, underfunded school teacher pension fund for his entire four-year term. The General Assembly, concerned only about re-election to their juicy part-time jobs, continued to "kick the can down the road."

Will anything be different under Democrat Governor Jim Wolf, who is dealing with a General Assembly that is led by Republicans? I don't think anything significant will be done, except perhaps some chicanery in bookkeeping, until the fund runs out of money and the double-digit annual increases for public school districts is paid for by YOUR ever-increasing property taxes will continue.