Letter to the Editor / other media - except The World
Say what! Dick Leshley wrote to us again in the 24 October The World newspaper. Sadly Mr. Leshley demonstrates how uninformed that the front man for BS Oregon is in matters regarding the JCEP. This time Leshley tells us that payment by JCEP (fees in lieu of taxes) to the citizens will be akin to an individual making “a donation to a charity”; perhaps what he considers to be a free will offering by JCEP. Apparently, he doesn’t consider hundreds of millions of (tax obligation) dollars during the next 20 years (fees in lieu of taxes) to be public money.
I have submitted many pages of comments and concerns regarding the CEP. Some of my credentials to comment on what I believe to be an incomplete contract without adequate safeguards for the average taxpaying Coos County citizen include positions with large aerospace and high tech companies as Director of Contracting, Director of Subcontracting, Contracts Administrator, Auditor, Negotiator, Director of Business Development and staff to the company president. I wrote and managed many fixed price and cost type multi - year, multi - task, contracts with variable options and with a value (in today’s dollars) in excess of $4 billion. Titles are like knighthood; but, I understand contracting and governing law.
Eleven years ago, while other west coast of the Americas communities (from BC Canada to Tijuana Baja California) were rejecting LNG factories, JCEP found the Ports welcome mat. JCEP also found that five years of tax avoidance and their ability for the tail to wag the dog accompanied the welcome mat. Instead of thanking us for not rejecting them, their demands on us became ever increasing. We owe JCEP nothing except what is pursuant to Oregon law and within the four corners of a well written contract document. At a minimum, they owe us a legally enforceable agreement to hire locals first.
Now Veresen / JCEP, a company with minimal assets, demands more in the CEP. And, the most vocal of the CEP supporters, county commissioner Sweet, finds nothing wrong with Veresen / JCEP demands.
Mr. Leshley, it’s tax avoidance, front loaded fees in lieu of taxes, assessments on the citizens, and the peoples tax money being discussed in the CEP; not a “large monetary windfall”. AS proposed by Veresen / JCEP, the taxpayers assume all risk of non - performance by Veresen / JCEP and citizens lose money in the deal. The CEP removes the people’s control of hundreds of millions of their tax dollars and gives total control for the next 20 years to a small group that will be unelected by the people, not appointed by the people, impossible to remove or replace by the people, to distribute the people’s money to entities they alone deem appropriate.
In support of the argument for a SCCF / CEP / whatever, Coos County Tax Assessor Jansen told us that there would not be a difference in the total dollars received by the people from JCEP as tax or as fees in lieu of tax. It appears that is no longer the case and this taxpayer has asked Assessor Jansen for a public update presentation to the people soon.
Fred Kirby
Coos Bay
24 October 2015
Say what! Dick Leshley wrote to us again in the 24 October The World newspaper. Sadly Mr. Leshley demonstrates how uninformed that the front man for BS Oregon is in matters regarding the JCEP. This time Leshley tells us that payment by JCEP (fees in lieu of taxes) to the citizens will be akin to an individual making “a donation to a charity”; perhaps what he considers to be a free will offering by JCEP. Apparently, he doesn’t consider hundreds of millions of (tax obligation) dollars during the next 20 years (fees in lieu of taxes) to be public money.
I have submitted many pages of comments and concerns regarding the CEP. Some of my credentials to comment on what I believe to be an incomplete contract without adequate safeguards for the average taxpaying Coos County citizen include positions with large aerospace and high tech companies as Director of Contracting, Director of Subcontracting, Contracts Administrator, Auditor, Negotiator, Director of Business Development and staff to the company president. I wrote and managed many fixed price and cost type multi - year, multi - task, contracts with variable options and with a value (in today’s dollars) in excess of $4 billion. Titles are like knighthood; but, I understand contracting and governing law.
Eleven years ago, while other west coast of the Americas communities (from BC Canada to Tijuana Baja California) were rejecting LNG factories, JCEP found the Ports welcome mat. JCEP also found that five years of tax avoidance and their ability for the tail to wag the dog accompanied the welcome mat. Instead of thanking us for not rejecting them, their demands on us became ever increasing. We owe JCEP nothing except what is pursuant to Oregon law and within the four corners of a well written contract document. At a minimum, they owe us a legally enforceable agreement to hire locals first.
Now Veresen / JCEP, a company with minimal assets, demands more in the CEP. And, the most vocal of the CEP supporters, county commissioner Sweet, finds nothing wrong with Veresen / JCEP demands.
Mr. Leshley, it’s tax avoidance, front loaded fees in lieu of taxes, assessments on the citizens, and the peoples tax money being discussed in the CEP; not a “large monetary windfall”. AS proposed by Veresen / JCEP, the taxpayers assume all risk of non - performance by Veresen / JCEP and citizens lose money in the deal. The CEP removes the people’s control of hundreds of millions of their tax dollars and gives total control for the next 20 years to a small group that will be unelected by the people, not appointed by the people, impossible to remove or replace by the people, to distribute the people’s money to entities they alone deem appropriate.
In support of the argument for a SCCF / CEP / whatever, Coos County Tax Assessor Jansen told us that there would not be a difference in the total dollars received by the people from JCEP as tax or as fees in lieu of tax. It appears that is no longer the case and this taxpayer has asked Assessor Jansen for a public update presentation to the people soon.
Fred Kirby
Coos Bay
24 October 2015
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Board of Commissioners Op-Ed for Measure 6-152 Transient Occupancy Tax
Coos Bay Alternative Location for Waste Water Treatment Plant Oct. 6, 2015
Bandon Cheese Factory Receives Private Financing & Still Pays No Property Taxes
LTE ~ Leshley Don't Know Dick About the JCEP Work Camp
Jody McCaffree Appeals LNG Road Construction Coos County Planning Oct. 9, 2015
Do Enterprise Zones Work? ~ An Ideopolis Policy Paper February 2011
Educational Enterprise Zone Workshop Roseburg OR Thursday, September 17, 2015
Coos County Planning Decisions on LNG & Effected Roads
LTE ~ CEP appears to be great for Canadian Veresen / JCEP
LTE ~ LNG Pipeline Man and His Bag of Money
LTE ~ Should We Be Worried Dealing with Veresen and the LNG
LTE~ A Package of Rancor for Coos County Commissioner John Sweet
BOC ~ County Dog Board, Prisoner Release, Public Meeting for October 13, 14, & 15
Board of Commissioners Op-Ed for Measure 6-152 Transient Occupancy Tax
Coos Bay Alternative Location for Waste Water Treatment Plant Oct. 6, 2015
Bandon Cheese Factory Receives Private Financing & Still Pays No Property Taxes
LTE ~ Leshley Don't Know Dick About the JCEP Work Camp
Jody McCaffree Appeals LNG Road Construction Coos County Planning Oct. 9, 2015
Do Enterprise Zones Work? ~ An Ideopolis Policy Paper February 2011
Educational Enterprise Zone Workshop Roseburg OR Thursday, September 17, 2015
Coos County Planning Decisions on LNG & Effected Roads
LTE ~ CEP appears to be great for Canadian Veresen / JCEP
LTE ~ LNG Pipeline Man and His Bag of Money
LTE ~ Should We Be Worried Dealing with Veresen and the LNG
LTE~ A Package of Rancor for Coos County Commissioner John Sweet
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