If you're in the hospital, you would like to think that the head honcho for your malady, the chief of staff, is near by. Well, he or she is not, instead they're above the arena entrance, in Reilly's portion of the building. Floors 6 through 9 of the PPL Center is the official address for the LVHN administrators, and chiefs of staff. This maneuver allows J.B. Reilly to harvest the state income taxes from the highest paid employees of the hospital. Although this is a ruse to funnel even more money Reilly's way, I only hope that these doctors do in fact spend their time at the hospital, and not above the arena.
The owners of the PPL Plaza office building, now occupied by Talen Energy, have filed a federal lawsuit. They claim that the NIZ makes the playing field so uneven, that the NIZ is unconstitutional. Although I'll defer opinion on the constitutionality issue, it certainly can spawn corruption. It appears that the NIZ is so lucrative, that it can even subvert the integrity of a large tax-free, such as LVHN.
As I often say, Pennsylvania is a corrupt state, and you are represented in Harrisburg by nobody but moral midgets. Although, I have exposed many shenanigans on this blog, today's revelation even surprised a jaded blogger like myself.
Mike, what should have happened is that, with those tax dollars being funneled back to Reilly, that the the actual cash rent LVHN pays for the space should be very low. Whether that's the case I don't know.
ReplyDeleteAlso there's the question of whether LVHN needed that office space. But I'm sure with Reilly formerly on the LVHN board it was an open dialogue among staff and the board, and a decision was reached that was well-considered and above reproach.
I couldn't keep a straight face when I typed that.
The Banker
banker@5:23, i heard speculation that the "dialogue" may have played a part in the change that occurred at the very top of the organizational chart.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to read your impressions of the current challenge to the NIZ. I agree, the program will not be determined unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the NIZ is a flawed design. It slipped through under the cover of politician ignorance, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe NIZ plan DOES work against the interest of other business tax payers in the state by using their individual tax payments to create a situation that harms their own interest. Somehow, that MUST stop. The PPL Plaza folks have a legitimate beef.
I am hopeful some sort of injunction can be gained through this filing to prohibit future payments that increase the state's responsibility to fund the continuation of such unfair advantage afforded to one particular group of chosen winners. Besides, it seems careless to add even MORE obligations to a state that claims to be in fiscal stress.
New offers of NIZ assistance are too risky. The NIZ is still not covering current annual obligations, let alone make up the significant deficit already created. Frankly, even if I were one of the existing, 'anointed' developers, I would be cautious moving forward.
We are building a glass house here.
Fred Windish
The current income tax rate, 3.07 percent, would be $3,070 for each employee (assuming average salary of $100K) on each floor, right? So 40 employees at that tax rate would be well over $120K harvested to the NIZ. A million bucks plus over 10 years, and that's only to the most highly paid employees. How many employees work there?
ReplyDelete6:10 didn't address me. I don't know the answer to his question.
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, the ESSENTIAL component to determine success or failure in the NIZ effort lies within the amount of incoming tax revenue that wasn't ALREADY BEING COLLECTED in Pennsylvania. For example, if one was already a waiter at a restaurant in Bethlehem, becoming, instead, a waiter in the NIZ adds nothing new to our state's fiscal health.
AT THIS TIME, assuming even more NIZ construction payment obligations is not a good idea. Someone please explain why this IS a good idea! I sure don't understand, but I'm willing to learn.
Fred Windish
MM, What disturbs me is that these administrators almost certainly spend most of their time at the hospital campus, so it seems dishonest to locate their offices at the arena. This also could be depriving Salisbury of EIT.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that when any of these Gentlemen walk down the street together that they can keep in a straight line. That is a difficult task, when one hand is always in the pocket of the other.
ReplyDeleteTed Yost
The standard 1% local earned income tax goes to the place of residence of the employee. The exception is for the additional percentage (0.33% in 2015) that is Allentown's commuter earned income tax for persons working in Allentown.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, it doesn't affect Salisbury Twp. or Salisbury School District financially whether the official place of work of LVN employees is Allentown or Salisbury - what matters is how many live in Salisbury.
The source of this problem is that the owners of PPL Plaza can't rent out the building after Talen leaves.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure this will be settled by a gentleman's agreement outside of court.
There is too much money flowing though the pipe from Harrisburg to let this clog up the works.
Somewhere Charles D.Snelling is smiling.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere.......
The irony here is that those LVH employees living outside the city will be spared Pawlowski's huge EIT hike coming in 2016.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Allentown City Hall takes care of the politically-connected fat cats.
Medical 'Chief of Staff' gets a hellva lot more then $100,000
ReplyDeleteTHIS LINKsays. "The median annual Chief Medical Officer salary is $358,964 with a range usually between $314,612 - $416,746."
There's not a doctor working in any hospital that's not a millionaire+. GP's working outside the hospital for a salary, residents or interns no, but for doctors working in the hospital itself, each and every one is a millionaire+. Yeah the hospital (through creative accounting practices) may call itself a non-profit, but millions of dollars are flowing into the pockets of nearly all the doctors who work there. I'm not just some troll blowing smoke. I personally know this to be fact because I have first hand knowledge of which I will not further speak of.
Allowing these or where any other paychecks are issued from reeks of another example of how legal scams are allowed to operate by our state legislators' who know full well they are occurring. Outside of hospitals some of the wealthiest individuals are also employed in the so-called nonprofits dealing in education, churches, political organizations and charities. I think I'm not alone in expressing disgust.
LVHN has committed in excess of 40,000,000 to this project. Want an experience, spend a day in the waiting room of LVHN-CC on a Monday. See health care at it's best. Tax free status of these "Non-Profits" needs to be looked at, seriously.
ReplyDeleteLVHN has the worst run Emergency Departments I have personally and professionally ever borne witness to. I spent 20 years as a hospital based medical sales representative, in the Washington DC, Northern Virginia and Baltimore Maryland areas and when I moved here..I was astounded, frankly. 20 hour ED wait times before a patient is admitted is absurd. Filthy floors, walls, emptied IV bags in sinks..There's much more, but feel free to let your imagination run with it.
ReplyDelete