Current Issues:
Vectren Gas Company and what they mean to PUCO:
If you didn’t know already, the gas company Vectren is trying to tax you on conservations that you have made to your house. New windows, new roof, insulation, siding, and the like, would all be considered new conservations. If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t it the gas companies that told us that we should conserve on our heat in the first place? Well, this is just another classic case of a utility company going back on their word and trying to cover their profits. After all, this has been a mild winter in comparison to last year’s winter. You should know that gas companies do not make any money on the gas itself. However, they do make money on the delivery of gas. A mild winter coupled with the conservations that people have made to their houses has left Vectren to be down a whole 5% in their profits. You might be saying to yourself that you don’t have Vectren. This might be true, but more than likely you will have either Dominion or Columbia Gas. They are both overseen by PUCO and they are going to have a meeting to see whether they should embark on the same scheme that Vectren is. You should also know that the top five people in Dominion make a combined income of 45 million dollars a year. The top five people in Columbia Gas make 15 million. However, these numbers do not accurately reflect the extra bonuses or privileges such as use of company cars, jets, and etc. that they recieve. So if you didn’t like what you read, than you should call up PUCO and voice your opinion.
Unemployment Rate for Ohio:
The unemployment rate for Ohio was 5.9% seasonally adjusted as of December 2005. The national rate was 4.9%. However, there are counties in Ohio that are as high as 10.6%. There is also a problem with our current legislation that says a person that works 35 hours a week earning minimum wage is not eligible for unemployment. A person that works 20 hours a week for 9 dollars an hour is also not eligible. It is obvious that there is a problem with keeping jobs in Ohio. Yes, it is true that Bush has created many more jobs in our economy. Unfortunately, the flipside is that most of those jobs are low paying, and pale in comparison to the old jobs that were lost. It is hard from the standpoint of the representatives because Ohio was competing with other states. The problem was that we were using tax abatements and tax breaks to attract and keep companies in Ohio. Well, that does not go without a price. Every time Ohio did this, we lost revenue from taxes. Consequently, the taxpayers had to pick up the slack with paying more in sin tax, property tax and other taxes like these. Nonetheless, 100 million dollars in school cuts and other program funding cuts, we are still hurting. Legislation needs to be created that would accurately promote business growth and better job creation in Ohio, while requiring responsible government spending of tax money.
