http://www.swfbuyersmarket.com
As mortgage foreclosure cases begin leveling out, court officials are worried their main source of state funding may level out as well and fall short of budget projections.

Last spring, Florida legislators passed a law raising filing fees for most civil cases, with the largest increase in foreclosure cases. Courts across the state are relying on those fees to produce 70 percent of the budget, a change from years past, with the other 30 percent of the budget coming from the state’s general revenue fund.

In Lee County, monthly foreclosures for 2009 peaked in March at 2,202. In the past three months, they have lingered around 1,600 filed per month, with 1,555 — the lowest so far this year — filed in October.

According to statistics from the Office of State Court Administrator, clerks across the state collected nearly $34 million in fees in June, then up to $40.5 million in July and between $35 and $36 million in August and September. After a conference Nov. 16, state officials now believe clerks will collect an average of $34 million per month even as foreclosures decline.

The State Courts Revenue Trust Fund has a surplus, but the state’s general revenue fund is $2.3 billion behind, said G. Keith Cary, the 20th Judicial Circuit’s chief judge.
The trust fund pays for administrative costs, while the general revenue fund pays for judge’s salaries. With foreclosure filings dipping, the amount of money that goes into the trust fund is falling with it.

Lee County Clerk Charlie Green said foreclosure cases are on the decline. But he also worries as unemployment lingers higher in Lee County than in past years, foreclosures could spike up again.

“We’re definitely on the downside,” he said. “The number of people who are paying who are upside down and still paying — they may start walking away. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen.”

The bill, which Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law on May 27, increased filing fees for several types of civil lawsuits. Circuit court civil cases increased $180, probate cases $115 and family cases by $80. Mortgage foreclosure cases increased depending on the amount of the claim. For those less than $50,000, the fee is $395; between $50,000 and $250,000, the fee is $900; and more than $250,000, the fee increased to $1,900.

“Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe joined me in studio on Wednesday to discuss third level funding, maintenance grants, the registration fee and of course tuition fees. During the interview Minister O’Keeffe reveals his reasons for opening the tuition fees debate, plans for the rate of the maintenance grant for the next academic year and explains the formulation of the registration fee …” (more, mp3)

[Tallyman, 26 November]

Since beginning this blog and deciding upon my candidacy for next year’s municipal election I have been sifting through the myriad of documents in existence on the City of Stratford website. Some very interesting pieces of digital paper there, which I will be discussing in future posts, including most immediately the degree to which the city is bicycle friendly, and my foray into the battleground that is the Big Box war.  Tonight however, I wish to post an interesting follow-up to Mr Gaffney’s comments as quoted by me from last week’s Gazette, in which Mr. Gaffney suggested that people pay for their own driveway widening. While I agree whole-heartedly, I pointed out that Mr. Gaffney himself does not, as he did not see fit to make the fee for the required surveying equal to the average cost of such work, but only for 18% of it.  I humbly suggest that at Mr. Gaffney’s rate, it would take 54 driveway widenings to cover his mileage and expense account from 2008, whereas were he instead to charge the full $552, it would take a mere 10 driveways.

My point is, while I applaud Mr. Gaffney’s words, they lack conviction and substance.  I admit I do not know what Mr. Gaffney’s $5420 in expenses relates to (51% above his councilman’s remuneration) but find it odd that his expenses account for 49% of all of the expenses of the ten councillors while the total of seven other councillors (including the deputy mayor) account for only $736, and two councillors had no expenses what-so-ever in 2008.

Just a little food for thought.

P.S. Mr. Gaffney’s expenses and mileage reimbursments would also purchase three very overpriced sheds and a nice bbq, for those who think in such economic terms.

Picture this: laughter, gaiety, pleasant company, delicious dinner on the floor, Nerf darts flying through the air, giant piles of bean bag-esque dealies to sit on—a generally lovely night all around. Queue temporary anoxic nightmare. Queue emergency room. Queue nothing. Somewhere a doctor at Edwards Hospital retreats to his/her office and admires his/her own face in a solid gold plate before delicately eating a decadent truffle off it. At least that’s how I picture it.

Alright, so you tell me where the money went.

I am having an evening with my darling male escort at the home of a few of his friends about two months back. His friend is cooking us a superb dinner (which we will then eat, charmingly, on the floor. Having grown up in a home that was additionally a daycare in the basement during my formative years, I have an affinity for floor-eating, so I am in my element). The food being prepared far outweighs my abilities in the kitchen, and so I volunteer triumphantly to take the little Pillsbury crescent rolls out of the tube and arrange them on the pan. The ones I do look like multi-layered and variously sized sticks. Huh. Not sure how I pulled that off, but at least it does not affect the taste. We eat, all is right with the world.

After about an hour and a half eyeing their cat, whose name is Tribute (as I’m told, he’s not the greatest cat in the world), my cat allergies begin to overtake my fragile little body. Massive asthma attack (oh yes—I am asthmatic too. My mother did not breed genetically superior progeny). No uses of my inhaler (17 puffs in about a half hour will give you the shakes, child) will take it down. I inform Darling Male Escort, who since dinner has been engaged in a lovely Nerf dart gun fight with others, that I’m just a touch out of stuff like oxygen and seem to be getting worse by even the minute. I am trying not to panic; I feel like possibly Pavarotti has popped a squat on my chest. Knowing that Pavarotti died recently, I can be reasonably certain that it’s an asthma issue and I need to go home. I pop a Benadryl that the lady of the house is wonderful to provide me with, and we are off.

Alright, strike that “home” business. We have now left the house 5 minutes ago, and I cannot catch a breath. I am panicked and coughing, and I’m concerned I’m going to lose oxygen and pass out. To the ER, Jeeves! Step lively, step lively.

So Darling Male Escort quickly gets me to an ER, where they promptly put the Swine Flu prevention mask over my mouth—my mouth which already cannot get a breath. Thanks, guys. One of those cruel to be kind things, I wager. Hack, hack, hack, cough, cough, wheeeeeze, as a mask sucks itself to my face like gauzy kidnapping gag tape.

I am then wheeled to an ER room and given a gown and a bed. I am already feeling a little better, breathing better, certain I won’t be passing out at least. Darling Male Escort and I wait for a doctor or a nurse or something. Someone to get my information. Someone to give me a nebulizer treatment, or even just half-assedly pretend to read my blood pressure. We wait for an hour.

An hour when you are unable to breathe due to environmental causes will accomplish one of two things—1.) you will die, or 2.) you will entirely recover. I’ll break the tension here: I did not die.

No, in an hour, I got entirely better. Apparently the Benadryl kicked in, and that was enough to stave off the allergy attack, which effectively released the stranglehold on my asthma issues. Let me tell you, gentle reader, one begins to feel a little silly lying pitifully on an ER table in a gown when the doctor comes in to find you a rather lovely shade of flesh-colored, no longer wheezing or coughing, and you tell him “Hey, um, so about that breathing. All better. Uh, thanks for all your negligence; how did you know it would be just the ticket? Amazing.” You feel silly because it’s actually the truth.

Ah well. I collect my humiliation up to use at a later date, reconstruct my previous outfit onto my newly oxygen-occupied body, returning my hour-long hospital gown to the bed, and Darling Male Escort and I ease on down, ease on down the road back to his place so’s I can sleep it off. And as I drift off to sleep in a happy haze of Tylenol PM and Xanax, a cynical thought occurs to me—I sat in an ER for an hour with no treatment whatsoever. I bet this is going to cost lots of money.

I had no idea. I received the bill this week in the mail. I got charged $22. I do not think I received $22 of service. I mean, I rented a gown that doesn’t close in back and a bed without a blanket from the hospital for an hour, but I’d probably only consider that to be worth about $10. And no tip! Bastards never checked up on me. Hey MD, you got other tables to serve here, guy.

But $22 was nothing compared to what my insurance company got billed. $850! Let me repeat that—they had to cover $850!! How do you people sleep at night? Aside from, clearly, on 1200 thread count Vera Wang Egyptian cotton sheets. With people fanning you and feeding you grapes. Goodness. For a bed, for an hour. Whores charge less, and they at least make sure you leave the bed smiling.

Jesus. I hope that ER bed is rent-to-own, or someone might have been screwed here…

‘Banks’, my idea about banks is save the money I earn in a safe place, but somehow that fact seems to be fading away, since recession the bank I deal with has been charging me unecessary fees and they give it a fancy name ’service fees’. Tell me what kind of service is being done if I don’t use my debit card for a month, but noooooooo apparently they put in sooo much hard work in to keeping my money which I desire not to spend and so they have to charge me a service fee and this happens every month hmmm now it feels like my bank is compelling me to spend rather than save wow ! ” you spend or we charge ya! ” and it’s not waiverable cause it’s not the banks mistake you didn’t spend … Really! Tell me again how is my bank helping me save!
The wall street has started feeding on us poor bastards cause we don’t want to argue with you and simply keep paying out our hard earned money for your stupid vacation in the Hamptons, while we cringe to go to wisconsin !
Eventhough I fuss, complain and write a long blog about how annoyed I am I still have my money there and still continue paying unecessary fees… So I continue living like this while some $#***#*# party’s the night in paris!

NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE/AMAZON!

So you have decided to challenge your servicer as to whether they really have the right to collect anything from you and whether they have been turning over payments to the “proper party” (the real lender) and whether they have any information regarding the securitization of your loan, and an accounting for ALL money exchanged or paid in connection with your loan.

You’ve decided to challenge the pretender lender on whether they really own your loan and whether they “represent” any other entity that might be the REAL LENDER. You want to know who the real lender is and whether they have any enforceable right to collect money, enforce the note or obligation, or enforce the mortgage or deed of trust.

You have decided to hire an attorney, but like all fields, there are attorneys that are good at one thing and not so much on others. You want an attorney who is a crusader, who is not looking for a single silver bullet like “produce the note.” You want someone who believes in you and believes in your case. You want someone you can trust and whom you like. Big retainers mean big bills generally speaking unless they charge you a project fee that is all inclusive.

Yes this is a lot of work to do, but hiring an attorney who is only halfheartedly representing you with the notion that you owe the money and anything he does for you is enough, even if it is a minor delay. Keep looking. Don’t expect the first one you meet to be THE ONE.

And remember it is YOUR case, they didn’t screw you (the securitization players did that) and they don’t owe you anything. They spent a lot of time getting educated and trained to practice law and they are entitled to substantial fees compared with other jobs.

Here are the the things you should want to know and to get CLEAR answers that are verifiable from any attorney you interview:

1. What type of practice do they have?
2. Have they litigated property matters before? How many times? With what results?
3. Have they litigated mortgage issues including foreclosures? How many times? with what results?
4. Do they have any specialization, certification or degrees in real property law, securities, contract law, Uniform Commercial Code, appraisals, real estate closings? What are those and when did they get it?
5. Do they have a working knowledge and experience litigating in Federal Court (bankruptcy preferred), State Court, jury trials, non-jury trials. How many trials have they been lead counsel? What is their record of success?
6. How would they rate themselves in proficiency in motion practice, discovery, trial, cross examination?
7. Can you get references from other clients?
8. Will they litigate to win or just delay the proceedings?
9. What are their personal views regarding the foreclosure crisis? Is their attitude one of outrage as to what has been done to homeowners, the national and world economy or complacency with a wink at the Judge that this is a real obligation that the “borrower” owes but wants to get out of because of some procedural sleight of hand?
10. What do they think of the financial bailout to Wall Street?
11. Do they agree that the homeowners were targeted victims of a vast scheme to drain homeowners and investors of as much wealth as possible or do they think borrowers were the greedy ones trying to buy houses they couldn’t afford?
12. What do they propose to do for you? Do they have experts with whom they maintain relationships? who are those experts? can you speak with them?
13. How much do they charge and how do they charge (by the hour, monthly, contingency fee, costs, expenses).
14. What is the total amount they expect that you will be charged for this litigation? (Ignorance would indicate they haven’t been doing this much or with much success).
15. Will you be provided with copies of all correspondence and notes to file?
16. Will you have telephone access tot he attorney? How often? For how long?
17. Will this attorney be representing you and working your file or an associate? If an associate, you want to ask the same questions regarding the above.

Listen carefully to the answers. Take notes. Go home and think it over even if it only for an hour. Don’t let “emergency” conditions dictate settling for an attorney who doesn’t understand securitized residential mortgages. It will only get worse that way.

Job-hunting students are being warned by universities against paying for services to help get them internships…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: children education. The blog is also related to: lessons.

Job-hunting students are being warned by universities against paying for services to help get them internships…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: tutoring. The blog is also related to: school charter.

Students from all UC’s (UCI, UCSD, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCD, UCSB, UCSC, UC Merced, UCR) gather to address the fee hikes induced to widen the education gap between the privileged and less so.
UC Regents Pass 32% Fee Increase on Students, Sparks Outrage

Daily Nexus
November 19, 2009

UCLA

UC Berkeley

What a week to start-up this blog. Three stories making the rounds in town this week.  We’ll address the first two, because I think they’re related enough to be packaged into one post.  If you read this past Thursday’s Gazette you may have noticed a story regarding the purchase of 75-80 Garden Sheds for a municipal low-income housing project.  The article states that neighbours were concerned with the image of the neighbourhood as bikes and bar-b-ques were left out all winter.  In response the city is spending $136,000 ($1,700 per shed) to alleviate the eyesore.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a little over the top?  I don’t think that a purchase of sheds is warranted in the first place, if you can afford the stuff, you should be able to afford somewhere to put it. Common sense. However, if the city were to go ahead and purchase these sheds, surely $1,700 is a little excessive? A quick search of Canadian Tire’s website comes up with the Black & Decker Apex Resin Shed 8 X 6.5, which, as you can see, comes complete with floor and would more that hold three bikes and a BBQ.  It’s price? $879, or about half what the city is paying out for their purchase.  And who is the contract going to? No idea.  I’ll also point out that metal sheds from CT are available from $420, and that these also come with flooring.  I just figured I’d give the city some slack and start off with a resin shed, figuring they’d want something low maintenance for the subsidized housing.

That story out-of-the-way, on to the current proposed hikes in the cost of running a B&B.  Currently, the Beacon Herald reports that B&B’s pay $150 annually plus an additional $10 a room to be inspected and licensed.  This has been in effect since 2001 without change.  Currently before council is an increase to $91 for each additional room, more in line with the prices charged by Niagara on the Lake, a town that has a year round tourist industry.  We aren’t Niagara on the Lake! It’s easy to find places that charge more (or less) than Stratford does.  Comparing ourselves is no way to determine taxes and fees.  This is ridiculous.  B&B’s bring in two million in revenue to the city every year through the purchases of their guests.  These same guests will not stay for as many days if we force them to pay higher amounts for rooms.  Many B&B’s will simply stop running, hurting the economy.

In the same article that discusses the B&Bs in the Gazette, additional fee hikes or indeed, the initiation of fees is mentioned in another area.  Apparently whenever a citizen wishes to expand their driveway it costs the city approximately and on average $552 in labour for surveys to be completed, prior to the issuing of permission.  Currently the city charges nothing.  A proposal before council suggests a $100 fee be imposed.  I quote from the Gazette

Coun. Dave Gaffney said such a job could take anywhere from four to nine hours and the cost adds up quickly.

“Our taxes are high and one of the reasons why is that we ask the taxpayers to pay for everything.
Let’s start getting the cost recovery going, where the taxpayers aren’t paying for everyone’s driveway widening. If you want your driveway widened, you pay for it.”

Exactly. Wait. If the person who wants their driveway widened should “pay for it”  councilor Dave, why are they only paying $100.  Why are the other citizens of Stratford, quite content with their own driveways, paying the other $452?  I suppose they aren’t really.  They’re paying for sheds.  The B&Bs are paying for driveway widening.

La forêt de Paimpont ou forêt de Brocéliande est une forêt française située dans le département de l’Ille-et-Vilaine en Bretagne à environ 30 km au sud-ouest de Rennes.

A l’entrée du Val sans retour,  se trouve l’étang du Miroir aux Fées qui souligne l’emprise féerique sur cette vallée. C’est par l’autre côté de ce miroir que l’on accéde à un autre monde, on passe la porte des légendes.

Le Miroir aux Fées

Autre signe, en haut du Val, une formation rocheuse porte le nom de Siège de Merlin, car il avait coutume dit-on d’y venir voir le soleil se coucher sur la forêt, et d’y réfléchire aux mille manières d’enchanter le monde.

Le Tombeau de Merlin

Merlin et Viviane

Place aux rêves et à la magie, dans cette vidéo qui vous raconte la Légende de la forêt de Brocéliande. (Bretagne)

 By. Neil Williamson, President

Albemarle County has scheduled their zoning fee increase public hearing  to allow the current lame duck Board of Supervisors vote on the proposal on December 2, 2009.  The Board has already seen the fee increases as they included the numbers in their resolution of intent several months ago.

Despite our research and our direct testimony at the Planning Commission, the Free Enterprise Forum still has fundamental issues with both the timing and the concept of fixing the process by fixing the fees (with an automatic escalator).  We fear this puts too much emphasis on the fee increase side of the equation and provides no mechanism nor incentive for achieving departmental efficiency.  In addition, we have called for the implementation of these fees to be postponed until at least January 1, 2011.

Recent media accounts support our position.

In a November 13th editorial, The Daily Progress highlighted potential cuts to help alleviate the largest cost component to the fees, salaries:

Meanwhile, raising revenue addresses just one side of the equation. The other must be considered: Reducing county costs so that there is less reason to “need” fee hikes.

This can be done in two ways.

Some critics claim that the planning and development department is overstaffed, especially now that building permit requests have fallen due to the economic downturn. We know that the county has reduced some staffing levels through attrition and reassignment. Although we are not prepared at this time to say uncategorically that this department or any other needs to be trimmed still further, we do think the county should further consider this cost-cutting technique.

The county might be able to cut staff if it made its system less cumbersome. Rezoning and building procedures are so protracted and unpredictable that they add unnecessary burdens to the approval process. Of course, procedures should continue to safeguard the environment and the taxpayer, but streamlining the system would benefit everyone in time and money saved.

In a recent Letter to the Editor of The Daily Progress, Cecil Witt raised a number of concerns including the staffing levels of county inspections:

In the first half of 2002, there were 855 single-family home permits issued, with a staff of 15 employees. In the first half of ’08, there were 266 SFH permits issued, still with a staff of 15. In the first half of ’09 there were 155 SFH permits issued, still again with 15 employees on payroll. These numbers are taken from reports from the county.

Most interestingly, the City of Richmond raised fees in 2007 in order to produce an improvement in service.  A recent City audit (53 page PDF) found the cost justification faulty and questioned any resulting improvement in service.  Will Jones of The Richmond Times Dispatch has the story.

A 15.5 percent increase in Richmond’s construction permit fees may have been unnecessary, and it has failed to produce the promised improvements in inspection services, according to the city auditor. . .

The report is recommending that administration officials review the city’s costs to issue permits and conduct inspections, and to adjust its fees accordingly.

Albemarle County’s proposed zoning fees have an automatic escalator based on merit pay increases.  Understandably, labor is the largest component of the cost.  What if the fees also included a quadrennial outside audit of the fee schedule? 

Such an audit would clearly fall under the best practices Albemarle has touted in the past.  An audit, if done correctly, might expose the huge waste that is mandated not by code but by over zealous Albemarle County planning procedures.

The proposed fees (as advertised in this morning’s paper) include:

———————————————————————-

 Neil Williamson is the President of The Free Enterprise Forum, a public policy organization covering the City of Charlottesville as well as Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna and Nelson County.  For more information visit the website www.freeenterpriseforum.org

Anyone applying for a building permit with the City of Atlanta will now have to pay a nonrefundable minimum initial permit fee of $75.00 and a Technology Surcharge of $25.00.  The City will also require payment of 50% of the total building permit fee before it will begin plan review.

Previously, the City did not collect building permit fees until the issuance of the permit.  The City amended its  ordinances in an effort to collect money upfront and recover lost revenue on abandoned and inactive permit applications.

You can review the ordinance here courtesy of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association.

A group of women in Southeastern Senegal pooled their money, bought 25 sheep for $35 each, now selling their largest ones for around $165, in their latest business project, called Operation Tabaski… From VOA. Full story

This site may contain information about: development. The blog is also related to: elementary school.

“There has been a certain amount of media coverage of the claim by Trinity College Dublin Students Union that at least some of the student registration charge, which is intended to pay for student services, is being used by TCD to pay for other things through the general budget …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 22 November]

Notes on Student Protest: Lancaster, Friday 20^th 2009

We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit.

-Port Huron Statement, 1962

To save myself from repetition, and to mark the event with a different blogging style,  the record of Friday’s protest is in pictorial form… I have no skill in this department, so it is a very amateur exhibition, but I hope you enjoy the photos anyway.

Yesterday was the second leg of the Lancaster student campaign for fairer fees and funding. The event took place on campus, guaranteeing, you might think, popular support and a large crowd. Unfortunately the weather being typically Lancastrian, and the neo-liberal consensus ubiquitous, attendance peaked at around 200 (about the same as in the city centre).

We assembled at one edge of Alexandra Square, sheltering under the Spine from the rain. There were a few faces there I was glad to recognise. The atmosphere was fairly jubilant, but everyone was waiting to see if the initially small crowd would swell. The gathering beginning to reach respectable numbers, LUSU blue-coats demanded everyone step out into the drizzle for a speech from HMV (Mr President). I have to admit that I stayed under the shelter with a small contingent of the less-enthusiastic. I heard enough to realise Michael was repeating much of the  speech given at the previous protest. “Is he chief of the theatre club too?” a friend asked. To give the man his due, the faithful lapped it up happily, and the occasion was marked. Onwards with the march.

The march proceeded down the spine, and out to the Lancaster House Hotel where the Vice-chancellor and his cronies were to hold a meeting. Most of them snuck in the back door of the hotel to avoid the student crowd. A few friendly members of the upper-echelon passed through our tunnel, acknowledging out cause. Michael Payne eventually went into the meeting. There was a rumour that for some time he was being kept out. But, once he was allowed nside he didn’t return. We stood there on the grass verge in the mud for perhaps two hours, or more. The chants kept going, the mood stayed cheerful. No-one can fault the spirit of those who were there. Eventually Danny Ovens (?) called everyone together for a show-of-strength march back up the Spine to Alex sq. It was a good move; numbers were depleting gradually, due to seminar commitments and bad weather. In the square there was a last huddle, and then a few vigilantes decided to storm Greg’s. All in all, a very Lancastrian demonstration.

Solidarity! ———–Wit

Very relevant article…

Author: Sandra Stammberger -
Source: articleage.com

If you’re a movie lover, and you, dvd, incessantly rent DVDs, the recent wave and exponential growth of the popularity of online DVD rental stores should please you. The Internet’s ability to offer you literally any product has grown. Now you can rent DVDs and video games through the Internet and at a serious advantage to your local Blockbuster too, dvd, .

Sites like Netflix.com offer numerous advantageous, dvd, to the “old” way of renting DVDs. For example, you get to choose from almost 50,000 different titles. Imagine the size of a, dvd, Blockbuster that held that many, dvd, choices! You get, dvd, all the new releases, dvd, when you want them. No more waiting to see a movie. There are no late fees whatsoever. That’s a savior to some people! There is free shipping to and from your doorstep! There are also no long term contracts and you can cancel your economically, dvd, priced membership anytime you’d like!

It’s so simple that even, dvd, a child could do it! After filling out some basic information, you simply add whatever movies you’d like to see to a queue, dvd, and they arrive at your doorstep! Most membership prices range from $4.99 a month to $39.99 a, dvd, month. Obviously, the more expensive plans allow for you to take, dvd, out more DVDs at one time.

DVD turnaround time is amazingly speedy. DVDs usually arrive in my regular mail within one or two days after ordering, dvd, . And when I return DVDs, the company usually receives them in about the same time. Keep in mind I’m not paying ANY postage fees as well!

Keep your DVDs as long as you, dvd, want, too. You won’t be charged any late fees at all! Keep a movie for two months if you’d like! Of course,, dvd, that makes, dvd, no sense, but you can do it if you please! This prevents you from forgetting to take movies back and paying late fees that cost more than actually buying the movie! The money you save from late fees per month is alone enough to cover, dvd, the cost for this service!

All in all, it’s a simple, dvd, choice. For simplicity, to save money and to have a better selection: online DVD renting is the way to go and will be the way to go for years to come!

Hindu scriptures declare that the following are the Greatest Sins:
-Selling Water,Medicines,food and Education.
Sad that we have come to a stage that all these are sacrificed at the altar of Money.
Story:
(CNN) — Authorities arrested dozens of angry students at the University of California, Davis, campus late Thursday after they refused to vacate the school’s administration building in protest of a 32-percent tuition hike.
The 52 students were taken into custody by the Davis Police Department and deputies from the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, according to Claudia Morain, a UC Davis spokeswoman.
The arrests at the Mrak Administration building came about four hours after the normal 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) closing time. At one point, as many as 150 students were at the building protesting the tuition increase, Morain said.
CNN affiliate KCRA captured footage of students outside the building shouting, “Who’s university? Our university!”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/20/california.tuition.protests/index.html

“A new row over third-level funding has been sparked by student union claims that colleges are using most of their €1,500-a-head registration charges to plug gaps in state funding. The claim by student representatives in the country’s two largest universities, TCD and UCD, will be investigated by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 20 November]

By Gary Michael, MN DNR – Division of Forestry

The Department of Natural Resource Division of Forestry’s Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) is undertaking a major shift in how it operates. For decades the FSP has been delivering free forest management plans to non-industrial private forest landowners.  A recent change in funding will require the FSP to be a more self sufficient program.  To achieve greater self sufficiency, the FSP is moving to a fee for service based program.

Stewardship eligible lands are any forestland with existing tree cover and other woody vegetation or lands suitable, and likely, for growing trees and other woody vegetation or land which has significant effect (e.g., streams within a wooded type, wetlands, fields to be planted for wildlife or timber, etc.) on the forested acres.

The minimum acreage necessary to receive a stewardship plan is twenty acres of tree or other woody vegetation after the plan has been implemented.  Exemptions may be applied for on either a county or individual basis.

A couple of examples to help clarify the twenty-acre minimum are as follows:

• If a landowner owns 40 total acres with only 11 acres of woodland, and he or she is interested in planting 9 more acres of trees, they would be eligible to receive a Stewardship Plan and would be eligible for cost share assistance.
• If a landowner owns 18 acres total, and all the acres are wooded, he or she would need an exemption to receive a Stewardship Plan, as they could not meet the minimum 20 wooded acre criteria.
• If a landowner has 30 total acres with only 11 acres of woodland and the landowner does not have any interest in establishing additional acres of trees or other woody vegetation, he or she would not be eligible to receive a plan unless an exemption has been granted

The fee will be a minimum of $230 for a 20 acre plan and a maximum of $1,000 for all plans over 260 acres (up to 1,000 acres).  The plan writing fee will be rounded to the nearest whole dollar.  All stewardship plan requests over 1,000 acres should be turned over to a FSP partner (consultant forester) so that they can negotiate with the landowner a fee for service (cash plan).

Formula to calculate Stewardship Plan fees:

Formula to calculate the fee for a new or revising an outdated stewardship plan [(stewardship acres – 20 acres)*$3.21)+$230 = plan writing fee

A few examples:

43 acre stewardship plan:  [(43 acres – 20 acres)*$3.21] + $230 = $304

178 acre stewardship plan:  [(178 acres – 20 acres)*$3.21] + $230 = $737

271 acre stewardship plan:  This request is over 260 acres, so the cost is $1,000
Many times only a portion of the land is eligible for a stewardship plan.  The fee only reflects the acres included in the plan.  The forester will determine the plan acres.  All plans will need to be registered with the DNR Division of Forestry.

Rent is any amount you pay for the use of property you do not own. In general, you can deduct rent as an expense only if the rent is for property you use in your trade or business. If you have or will receive equity in or title to the property, the rent is not deductible.

Under the uniform capitalization rules, you must capitalize the direct costs and part of the indirect costs for certain production or resale activities. Include these costs in the basis of property you produce or acquire for resale, rather than claiming them as a current deduction. You recover the costs through depreciation, amortization, or cost of goods sold when you use, sell, or otherwise dispose of the property.

Indirect costs include amounts incurred for renting or leasing equipment, facilities, or land.