BIG TAB: A reader had an acerbic observation about the current
budget of the Bradford Area School District:

“The current school budget matched against the school year
approximates ,1,000,000 per week. How long can a community pay
wages and benefits to its employees totally out of relation to the
area wage base? About the only thing the administrators aren’t
compensated for is a per-breath reimbursement,” he tells us.

THIS, TOO: Does it seem like our state legislators have been
talking about property tax reform for a really long time?

Lois A. Lundeen of Kane recently passed along a clipping from
The Era of April 30, 1998: “Senate approves property tax relief,”
according to the headline.

The story, with a Harrisburg dateline, said, “The House was
debating late into the night Wednesday on a plan that would reduce
property taxes and shift the burden to a broader base of
Pennsylvanians, following the Senate’s passage of the measure
earlier in the day.”

That 1998 story went on to discuss subject matters familiar to
voters prior to the May 2007 primary election – earned-income
taxes, “back-end” referendum, homestead exemption etc. Tom Ridge
was the governor at that time.

Lois also included the 2007 headline, “School districts’
property tax option fell flat statewide.”

With the exception of only a handful of school districts, voters
rejected the so-called tax reform on this year’s ballot. We all
know what that means. Back to Square One.

Lois, who has the fortune (or misfortune depending on your point
of view) of living in one of the few school districts to opt for a
new taxing plan, had her own comment about the two clippings.

“I had to laugh. Same old, same old,” she writes.

BEAR VISIT: This seems to be a hallmark year for bear visits,
and scarcely a day goes by without a report of their marauding in
one neighborhood or another.

Earl Flickinger of Hazel Hurst called Friday to tell us about a
Thursday night visit from a bear, and to remind readers that these
creatures are not tame and can be dangerous.

Earl’s “visitor” grabbed his garbage can – a heavy metal
container with a tightly shut lid – and ripped it open to spill its
goodies, probably only potato peels.

Earl says bears are hitting the neighborhoods because of a
dearth of certain foods in the forest at this time of year.