Pagp 18

TTie Herald and The Lantern

Sand & Glass We took a family hike the other day alonR the tranquil shoreline and amid the majestic dunes of Hi/ibee Beach. Now that the state is taking over preservation of fhe area, there is a lot less litter; sadly though it still continues. And there is a danger as well that should he pointed out Broken bottles, some of recent shattering, and even some old rusty areosol cans are often encountered in the shifting and eroding sa rids. ... We are not talking about "sea glass; we re talking sharp, jagged litter from thousands of thoughtless people-over the years. Perhaps the next time wr walk Highee's we’ll take a sack with us andTlean up as much of this “selfish glass" as we can in one outing. Corp. Conscience A news story in this week's paper on Senator Bill Bradley s proposed legislation designed to increase the fuel efficiency of American made motor vehicles points up another need for many corporations — increased community conscience. The New Jersey lawmaker points to the current "intolerable" situation in this country where auto-makers continue to turn out gas guzzlers whose fuel efficiency is one-third to i>ne half that of the imports, while the A merican consumer is buying one put of every four of five new cars from overseas. TIIK DEMAND FOR better fuel economy^ exists now. as does the need. Yet Detroit not" only seems oblivious, but is actually laying off thomands of auto workers because demand /orflie American product is falling off sharply It is cleqrjy a rase where the American consumer is trying to do his or her part to conserve while the corporate kingpins continue their old wasteful ways. At the some time, we have candidates for public office, spouting off how much governmenl inler/erence there is in the free market plot e lint almost simultaneously we continue to hem nightly TV news reports of auto recalls from Detroit and how some of the motor moguls have allegedly tried to hide defects in their products, some which proved fatal WHILE IT IS obvious that every business is out to make a profit, there is a need for many of the giants in the American corporate structure to place national and community conscience and morality right up there alongside the profit motive. If the average small town merchant sold •some of the products and acted the way many of the hirge corporations are. they would quickly find themselves out of business. It is truly sad that the government, on behalf of the people, has been forced into exerting such tight controls over manufacturing and business activities If some of the leading corporate giants would just practice some good old fashiirn small town business ethics, o lot of government interference wouldn’t be necessary. And the cost of doing business could be reduced

John H. Andrus II

William J. Adams

N»w« or Advertising Information

Now* A Photo* Advertising Ctestified Advertising

OUR HOCKEY TEAM BEAT THEM . . SO VYE MIGHT NOT HAVE TO HAVE THE DRAFT..." i J ‘79 Christmas Parade May , Be Last If Debts Not Paid Dear Parade Friends: The Christmas trees have long been removed and our bright cheery Christmas lights extinguished. Distant memories of floats, fire engines, large bands, laughter and cheer have drifted into memory lane. I know you all wonder why our thermometer has not been removed from the park It’s still there because we have not reached our goal. We are approximately 11.500 short. Therefore, some of the debts incurred have not been paid

Wednesday, February 27,1980 Strongly Oppose Beach Fee To the Editor: The Greater Wildwood Hotel-Motel Association is vehemently opposed to any type of beach fee for the Wildwoods. Such a bill has been reintroduced by the City of Wildwood. The Association will elaborate on its stance against the proposed beach fees after its regularly scheduled Board of Directors meeting in March. All interested v parties are urged to voice their opinions on this most important matter. Michael G. Saliba. Corresponding Secretary Greater Wildwood Hotel-Motel Association

Many nice items were written about our parade in the paper We are very pleased that many of you stopped by and said "Thanks" and expressed your appreciation Your rewarding comments encourage us to strive each year for a bigger and better parade. Last year, our 15th year, was one which will not be forgotten. Our Santa Claus suit was stolen right off the streets of Broadway. This creates an additional expense for this year. Last year some of our firemen requested a time change for the parade so that it wouldn't conflict with/ their Bingo Night. After taking many things into con-( sideration. I decided to continue with our Fifteenth Year Tradition and hold the parade on the same day we always do. As a result of my decision, the fire company cut its usually generous donation to our Christmas Parade to a bare minimum WE don’t get many large donations so this really hurt. I'm writing this letter because I know many of you do not know we haven’t met our financial goal for 1979. I pray this request brings in the needed donations to meet our needs, for if it falls short, you very ujell may have seen your last West Cape May Community Christmas Parade. ' Charlotte F. Daily The Parade Ijidy 732 Broadway W. Cape May. N.J. 0K2<M

politicus

an opinion on motion of government and state

Utility Tax Revision Needs Legislative Energy

Bv James Hurley TRENTON The Legislature is considering bills to revise the state utility gross receipts and franchise laws The revisions were introduced soon after the new legislature convened It is my hope 1 that these hills, indeed the whole issue of public utilities taxation, might receive careful scrutiny by the whole legislature The gross receipts and franchise taxes placed on public utilities have their origin in personal property Anxes which were collected from utilities early in this century In 1940. these personal properly taxes were changed and became the gross receipts and franchise taxes which we now have. INSTEAD OF each municipality in the state levying these taxes on the utilities, a state gross receipts tax was instituted with a mechanism to return the revenue to the municipalities by a formula based on the ratio of the value of ra utility’s property in a municipality to the total value of its property statewide A franchise tax was established in a similar way. returning revenue to a municipality on the basis of the value of utility property lin the public right-of-way These taxes have remained unchanged for 40 years, although there has been discussion from time to time concerning revisions

IN I97H the federal government eliminated antirecession aid to several of New Jersey’s municipalities which presented them with a serious hardship. The state appropriated emergency money in last year's budget to take up this slack and then turned to consider what other sources of income could be used to make up for this curtailment of federairfm The AdmitAjration, together wiih the Democrat majon^ in the Senate finally agreed that modification in the utility taxes would be used to fund a special, municipal aid program for those municipalities which had been receiving the federal anti recession money. The problem is that no action was taken on this issue for almost a year. During the very last days of the 1979 legislative session, a package of bills was pushed through the Senate, but died in the Assembly in the midst of the fight over the corporate, business tax increase and the personal professional services tax bills. A PACKAGE of bills was introduced in the newlegislative session which began in January, different from the 1979 proposal only slightly This package, which is currently before the Assembly Revenue. Finance and Appropriations Committee, after having passed the Senate Jan 29. would set a SfiOO per capita limit on the amount of money a

municipality could receive from utility taxes; a recent amendment provides that no municipality will receive less than 50 percent of their 1979amount This would leave a surplus of some $17 million that would be distributed to municipalities throughout the state which have high tax rates and low equalized valuations. T.IIE DIFFICULTY which I think the legislature faces at this point is the temptation to hastily pass a bill which will temporarily solve some urban financial problems. What is being neglected in this attempt to grab money currently going to some municipalities and deliver it to others is the fact that the whole issue of utility taxation must be reviewed. The time to reconsider what we are doing in this area is long over due. These taxes raise well over $400 million annually and it won’t be too long before it is half a billion. This is an awful lot of money. It doesn’t come out of thin air. it comes out of the pockets of the utility rate payers The utilities merely add 7 5 percent on to each of our bills and then give this money to various municipalities and the state Because the cost of oil and the other factors that go into generating power have skyrocketed — so have these taxes. TWO WEEKS AGO Assemblyman Walter Kavanaugh and the Republican members of

the Revenue. Finance and Appropriations Committee made a motion to call for a public hearing on this most important issue. They feel as 1 do that there are a lot of good ideas which have not been heard concerning

this topic.

They want to have the legislature sit down and listen to the municipalities, the utilities and members of th* public, those who are most affected by this tax. The Democrat majority voted the motion down, apparently indifferent to the alternatives which should be examined. Concrete proposals have been pul forward by Assemblymen Gallo. Edwards. Paollela and Hardwick. These need to be carefully reviewed. Time should be taken to solicit advice from concerned members of the public. The issue is too big to deal with only one aspect of the problem. Let’s think this through and do it right. James Hurley (R. CapeCumberland! is Assembly Minority Leader. -— Letters to the Editor The Herald welcomes letters of comment and opinion from its readers. All letters must be signed and accompanied by a full address. Names and addresses may be withheld upon request. The Herald reserves the right to edit letters for length without changing the intent or

emphasis

the SOVEREIGN STATE of AFFAIRS

BOYD

THIS CONFRONTATION IS REALLY TENSE All THE SABER RATTLING THE HOSTILE ACCUSATIONS

s <s\v.

Ill SAY ESPECIALLY WHEN IT S BETWEEN TWO POWERS LIKE

THE U S AND RUSSIA' \

'j /v^' Ill * V ^ v k J* ‘M ^,41

I WAS TALKING ABOUT CARTER AND KENNEDY.