NEEDA - National Emergency Equipment Dealers Association

Newark, Ohio Mayor Bob Diebold says the EMS revenue recovery program, which he championed as a council member in 2007, has earned the City $1,680,000 for the 12-month period ending November 30, 2008. When the program was originally passed, the former council member and current Mayor projected maximum revenues of $1,525,000 annually for the City.

"The EMS revenue we have recovered has allowed us to hire an additional seven fire fighters to provide increased safety services to the residents of Newark, and has provided important funding for capital improvements," said Mayor Bob Diebold. "Our EMS billing partner, MED3OOO, has done an outstanding job producing important revenues for the City. This program is a huge success for the City of Newark and is providing important funds during very difficult financial times."

MED3OOO offers municipal Fire and EMS service organizations a cost-effective alternative to doing in-house ambulance billing and revenue recovery through its M3/EMS ASP and Revenue Cycle Management technology.

CONGRESSIONAL CLASH OVER STIMULUS PLAN LOOMS FOR JANUARY 09
Originally Posted: December 19, 2008 5:28 AM
Last Updated: December 19, 2008 5:28 AM

Republicans in the US Senate want public hearings on the Stimulus plan.

When the new Congress convenes on Jan. 6, 2009 Senate Democrats will still lack the 60-vote majority needed to stave off delay -- a reality that gives Republicans some confidence that they can win concessions.

President Elect Barak Obama has identified the stimulus package as his urgent priority. His economic advisors are considering a package of no less than $600 billion and potentially as much as $1 trillion over two years, according to the transition office.

The stimulus spending could help lift the economy out of recession.

Many interest groups are eager to see a major national spending program unleashed. Business groups and organized labor, mayors and governors will be pressing lawmakers to pass Obama's spending plan.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a $600-billion plan that would include the middle-class tax cut Obama laid out during the campaign.

Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ), said he wants to see Obama sign the bill on the day he is sworn in.

A big clash in the Congress over this plan could make relations between Democrats and Republicans difficult in the future, the Los Angeles Times predicts.

OBAMA STIMULUS PLAN
Originally Posted: December 15, 2008 4:54 PM
Last Updated: December 15, 2008 4:54 PM

President- elect Barack Obama offered a first look at his plan to lift the country out of recession.

The plan, which will be part of a broader economic stimulus effort that will include tax cuts for middle-class Americans and aid to states, will encompass such tasks as rebuilding the nation’s crumbling highways, renovating aging schools, modernizing hospitals and expanding high-speed Internet service into underserved areas. Although Obama offered few specifics about the plan and no cost estimate for the investment in public infrastructure, it will presumably constitute the largest public works program since President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) created the federal interstate highway system
in the 1950s.

Obama: “We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or
create at least 2 1/2 million jobs so that the nearly 2 million Americans who’ve lost them know that they have a future.”

STATES MAKING DEALS WITH BUSINESSES WILLING TO PAY TO TAKE OVER GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
Originally Posted: December 15, 2008 4:15 PM
Last Updated: December 15, 2008 4:15 PM

State governments will again turn to long term leases of state assets such as roads, lotteries and ports, and other Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) to help patch the fiscal gaps.

Six states, California, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Texas and Vermont
— are already considering lottery leasing plans. And although Gov. Ed
Rendell’s (D-PA) plan to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for $12.8 billion collapsed in September 08, governors in Massachusetts, New York and Florida,
desperate for cash, are still considering private lease deals.

The Wall Street Journal also reported in December 2008 that Chicago tentatively accepted a $1 billion-plus bid, to be paid up-front, for the rights to manage its parking meter system for the next 75 years.

NEW 3% FEDERAL MONEY GRAB FROM SMALL BUSINESSES HITS THE FEDERAL REGISTER BEFORE BEING IMPLEMENTED: LEGISLATORS SEEK YOUR VIEWS
Originally Posted: December 15, 2008 3:01 PM
Last Updated: December 15, 2008 3:03 PM

by Kenton Pattie
Executive Director
National Emergency Equipment Dealers Association (NEEDA)
KentonP1@aol.com
703 850- 8552

The new Federal Regulations stating that the Federal government is going to take 3% of all your sales to state and local governments has been published in the Federal Register:

Section 3402(t)(1) provides that the Government of the United States, every State, every political subdivision thereof, and every instrumentality of the foregoing (including multi-State agencies) making any payment to any person providing any property or services (including any payment made in connection with a government voucher or certificate program which functions as a payment for property or services) shall deduct and withhold from such payment a tax in an amount equal to 3 percent of such payment. Under the statute, section 3402(t) applies to payments made after December 31, 2010.

I have written previously in NEEDA Newsletter about this issue: the Federal government is going to take 3% of all your sales, keep that 3% for a year,
and you will have to pursue IRS getting your money back. Good luck . . . because you will depend on your customers and various levels of local, state and Federal governments to keep the records that support your claim for refund of what you are owed.

You probably won't get any of it back because Treasury will apply it to any and all the taxes you owe.

Even if you did not have a net income that gives you a taxable year, Federal, state and local governments are going to keep your money.

A dealer asked me this week if the 3% would be in lieu of your quarterly withholding. Answer: No you would still make your quarterly payment to the IRS. But in the case of your quarterly withholding payment only you and the IRS will have records of this payment. In the case of the 3% you will rely on your state or local customer to relay the payment and the documentation to the US Treasury where your money will be available to the US government.
So, think of this scheme as voluntary withholding (you already do this) plus mandatory 3% on every sale you make.

While the Feds call this 3% a "tax" it is no such thing:

It is a goverment confiscation of 3% of your legitimate
income one year before any tax (if any) is to be paid. It is not based on your profits (if any) but on the fact that you have any money at all!

If you like this idea and can spare 3% of all you earn and want
to share it with the Federal government, you can just be
silent and this Federal law will go into effect.

But, if you don't like the idea of a Federal take away from your sales to state and local governments, you should express your views to your
US Representative and US Senator.

So far, we have succeeded in getting Congress to delay the implementation of this law until 2010, but 2010 is just around the corner as that fiscal year begins in September 2009 for the Federal government. What we want is for Congress to repeal the law and make the fight over 3% past history. But, Congress has a lot on its plate and without an appeal from dealers and other small businesses, Congress might do nothing. In which case, have your check book handy for Uncle Sam.

As I have stated several times before, the 3% scheme is a
stupid idea which has virtually no merit. It is generated by people
who do not inderstand business and are hostile to the fact that
you have to make sales to earn a living. It is obvious they don't
understand the fact that taxes are paid at the END of the year
and never equal 3% of every sale you make.

Taxes, as you know, are on profits and most small businesses agree that not all sales represent a profit. There are a lot of circumstances in business affecting "profit".

You know that. Most business owners like you know that. But
obviously the Federal officials don't understand business.

I am totally opposed to the 3% scheme. It is a rediculous response to the current economy because it takes money out of your business. It is
hostile to small businesses. It will do nothing but prolong the recession.

One way to kill small businesses is to force us to give all profits
to the Federal government! But that is what the 3% rule does!

If you think the Federal government deserves your money more than you do you will support this new rule. But, if you need every penny you earn to keep your business alive, you will tell your legislators what you think.

My opinion is the law behind this reg should be repealed. Get it off the books as quickly as possible so it doesn't cast a dark shadow over America's small businesses. The proper words for what you want are "repeal the 3% withholding law."

Did I mention that the 3% rule is truly a dumb idea, with no true merit?!!
Not only will it hurt your business but it will cost the Federal govermment hundreds of millions of dollars to administer -- something the Treasury Department does not admit.

But, a Department of Defense study shows that the 3% program will cost the Defense Department a lot to administer -- as a hugh agency they spend billions on purchases every year and keeping track of 3% of those billions is going to be a burden on DOD.

If you do write your Representative or Senator, please send a copy to:

NEEDA
Att: Kenton Pattie, Executive Director
PO Box 220
Annandale VA 22003

HOW ARE STATE FUNDS HOLDING UP? SOME STATES SURVIVED THE BEGINNING OF THE US RECESSION BUT NOW FACE A SERIOUS DOWNTURN
Originally Posted: December 14, 2008 5:07 PM
Last Updated: December 14, 2008 5:07 PM

Most states have slid into the growing sinkhole the U.S. economy has
become. A few months ago, states like Alaska, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, North
Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia and
Wyoming, untouched by the subprime mortgage crisis and with economies
based on commodities whose prices were soaring, seemed immune from the
economic collapse. But the economy of these states is falling apart.

Since the summer, commodities prices have declined — or in some cases
plummeted — with tax revenues in many of the states right along with them. Public employee pension funds and other investments have also dropped in value, and tourism is down too. Unemployment is rising, although not as sharply as in other states.

Iowa and Nebraska officials are now projecting budget deficits for the
coming fiscal year. South Dakota may face a shortfall too because the legislature may not approve Gov. Mike Rounds’ (R) request to raise property taxes, hike some fees and tap the state’s reserves. And although Indiana ended last fiscal year with a surplus, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) has ordered a 7 percent across-the-board spending cut to help balance the 08 budget.

Many of the other states are still in good fiscal shape right now, but officials in
even the most prosperous ones aren’t overly optimistic about the future. Economists in North Dakota, which has been riding high most of this year on oil and grain prices, expect the downturn to hit their state next year. And West Virginia, which has been doing well thanks to a severance tax it collects on coal and natural gas, is forecasting a big enough bump in its unemployment rate in 2009 to push it into a recession.

REAL ID ACT: STATES PREDICT HIGH COSTS, DESPITE $90 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS AND ARE RELUCTANT TO COMPLY WITH FEDERAL LAW
Originally Posted: December 14, 2008 4:50 PM
Last Updated: December 14, 2008 4:50 PM

In 2008 sixteen states considered bills refusing to comply with the Real ID
Act in 2008, and as a consequence the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has granted extensions to all 50 states and U.S. territories, which will be valid until Dec 31, 2009. Cost of implementation is at the heart of the matter, with states estimating it will run over $11 billion.

DHS, however, calculates that costs will not exceed $3.9 million to implement the new law. Congress has so far appropriated only $90 million to help the states with implementation, making it likely there will be another round of “non comply” bills introduced by state lawmakers in 2009.

CONGRESS: STIMULATE ECONOMY BY BIG SPENDING BILL WITHOUT REDUCING SPENDING ON OTHER PROGRAMS?
Originally Posted: December 12, 2008 5:31 AM
Last Updated: December 12, 2008 5:31 AM

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) wants Congress to pass an economic stimulus package that includes aid to states
by the time President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January 2009.

Pelosi spokesman says she is “sympathetic to the need for infrastructure spending and helping the states with Medicaid,” after she met with the chairman and vice chairman of the National Governors Association, Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Gov. Jim Douglas (R-VT).

Pelosi's stimulus package is $400-$500 billion while U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) expects a $500 billion bill.

Reid staffer: “It depends on what we can negotiate with Senate Republicans "The only way we’ll be able to get something done quickly is if we have negotiations that include the House Democratic leadership, House and
Senate Republicans and the president.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) wants Congress to offset a good portion of any new spending.” (Show a comperable source of income or cuts elewhere in the Budget.)

Coburn: Congress also has to eliminate tens of billions of dollars in government spending.

Trying to hold down spending or reduce the budget deficit could undermine an economic stimulus.

Sen. Coburn is against increasing the federal government’s share of Medicaid.

Coburn: “The purpose of any legislation should be to stimulate the economy, not to bail out the states."

Some say the states’ cost-cutting measures could actually make the national
recession worse.

CALIFORNIA EN ROUTE TO COMBINED SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: NEW CHIEF IN JANUARY 09
Originally Posted: December 8, 2008 5:14 AM
Last Updated: December 8, 2008 5:14 AM

Many states have already consolidated their emergency management and homeland security operations into an overarching state emergency management agency, while some have called for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be split off from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in order to be more effective.

California's AB 38 -- signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in September, 2008 -- established the California Emergency Management Agency as a Cabinet-level entity responsible for emergency management and homeland security operations and set the deadline for appointing a secretary at January 1, 2009.

Schwarzenegger has less than a month to decide on a plan to merge the Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security into the new agency. This California development was reported earlier by NEEDA Newsletter.

Pedro Nava, assemblyman from the 35th district and chairman of the Joint Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security: "While serving as chair of the joint committee on emergency services and homeland security we heard from first responders over and over again how they wanted to see the two agencies merge into one."

The bill gives the merged agency the responsibility of overseeing and coordinating emergency preparedness, response, recovery and homeland security activities in the state.

"The merger demonstrates the Governor's ongoing commitment to an all-hazards preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation approach," Henry Renteria, director of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services said in a statement.

No word yet as to what the new agency would look like or who the secretary might be. But Nava did say, in that same press conference, that the merger has been in the works for two years.

Renteria: "I have to tell you the governor's staff and the two agencies, OES and OHS, worked seamlessly. They set aside any personal differences they may have had about merging the two agencies. Because of that, California is now going to be better equipped to respond to disasters, to emergencies-to help protect the people of the state of California. Combining the years of emergency management experience at the Office of Emergency Services with the vital role that the Office of Homeland Security plays in the state creates a comprehensive agency that will serve the needs of local communities for years to come."

IRS PROPOSES RULES ON WITHHOLDING UNDER TAX CODE SECTION 3402(T)
Originally Posted: December 4, 2008 11:39 AM
Last Updated: December 4, 2008 11:39 AM

by Kenton Pattie
Executive Director
National Emergency Equipment Dealers Association (NEEDA)

NEEDA advocates the repeal of a new law which requires that 3% of your income from any sale to a state or local government be withheld from you. This truly dumb idea is designed to pump money into the US Treasury and catch a few companies which may owe back taxes. The cost and complexity of the program are enough to reject it.

But The IRS is rushing ahead to implement the program before the new Administration takes office.

There is no one in the business community that supports the 3% rule. Obviously, no one in this market can wait 12 or more months before they receive money they have earned from a sale.

The 3% law should be repealed in 2009 by the new Congress as one bad idea which is supported by neither the dealers like you nor the buyers like your customers.

Why don't customers like it? Because they will have to separate the 3% they take from you and keep records so that the 3% owed you can go directly to the Treasury Department. This just adds time, expense and inconvenience. The money will not stay in the state or local government's bank but in the account of the US Treasury. You as the selling dealer will have to petition the US government to get your money back upon prooving you have paid your taxes.

So, can you afford to give up 3% on every sale you make in 2009? If not, you should let your US Senator and US Representative know what you think of the 3% rule.

The Internal Revenue Service Dec. 4, 2008 issued proposed rules (REG-158747-06) relating to withholding under tax code Section 3402(t).

IRS said the proposed regulations reflect changes in the law made by the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-222) that require federal, state, and local government entities to withhold income tax when making payments to persons providing property or services. The proposed regulations provide guidance to assist the government entities in complying with Section 3402(t), IRS said.

The regulations, which will appear in the Dec. 5, 2008 Federal Register, also provide certain guidance to persons receiving payments for property or services from government entities, IRS said.

MORE INFO? Use the "Search" box in the upper right of your NEEDA Newsletter screen to see previous NEEDA articles on this important subject.

BRITISH ISLES CRITICAL OF TWO 06 GB FIRE ENGINES DESIGNED FOR AERIAL FIREFIGHTING
Originally Posted: December 4, 2008 10:15 AM
Last Updated: December 4, 2008 10:15 AM

A fire brigade is considering legal action after paying nearly £1m for two state-of-the-art fire engines it says do not work as intended.

The Magirus Multistar Pumps were built to combine the capabilities of an aerial platform and fire engine.

However, since buying them in 2006, Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service said flaws had left them non-operational and they were too heavy.

Suppliers GB Fire have yet to comment on the fire brigade's concern.

The machines, supplied by the West Midlands-based firm, were manufactured by German company Magirus.

Since their purchase, the vehicles have been returned to the manufacturer for alterations on several occasions but as yet have only been used for training.

Following an extensive trial period, two new aerial rescue platform fire engines will not be operating as first envisaged.

They were bought to cut costs in the service by combining two vehicles into one, thus reducing staff needs and running costs.

Brigades in Lothian and Borders and Dumfries and Galloway have also purchased the same appliances.

However, Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service said that despite repeated attempts to bring them into use, the 18.5 ton vehicles were not being used in frontline operations.

It is understood the brigade is now considering adapting the vehicles for use as either a hydraulic platform or standard fire engines.

The brigade said: "Following an extensive trial period, two new aerial rescue platform fire engines will not be operating as first envisaged.

"We are disappointed that a number of technical issues relating to the manufacture and design of the vehicles have prevented the intended use and resulted in a reconsideration as to how they may be used in the future."
Gordon McQuade, of the Fire Brigades Union, said: "The unwise rush for so-called modernisation after the national fire dispute was clearly the driving force behind the purchase of these combined vehicles which would have meant less emergency appliances in Central Scotland and in turn would have resulted in less frontline firefighters and job losses.

"After a long wait of over two years for these vehicles to become operational, firefighters across Central Scotland will welcome the decision that these vehicles will now not be used as a combined vehicle in future.

ARIZONA'S NAPOLITANO WILL HEAD THE US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Originally Posted: December 2, 2008 11:38 AM
Last Updated: December 2, 2008 11:38 AM

President-elect Barack Obama named Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (Arizona) as Homeland Security Secretary. Homeland Security currently manages most of the fires, rescue and emergency grant and other programs familiar to the fire industry through FEMA.

Napolitano said she will deliver her Arizona State of the State address, and will then present a balanced budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010. She said that upon U.S. Senate confirmation as secretary of state, she will submit her resignation as governor of Arizona, and Ariz. Secretary of State Jan Brewer will then take over. She said that in the meantime, members of her staff will oversee the Arizona transition, "to ensure that power and responsibility are transferred seamlessly."

1996 MANUAL HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE NEW COMMUNICATIONS CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Originally Posted: December 1, 2008 4:28 PM
Last Updated: December 1, 2008 4:28 PM

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has completed a project with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) to study what important areas of safety and technology discussed in the USFA manual Fire Department Communications Manual - A Basic Guide to System Concepts and Equipment (FA-160) needed to be updated or revised, as well as what topics and technology related to fire department communications not discussed in the manual needed to be added since its development in 1996.

This joint USFA and IAFF study was conducted with support from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) SAFECOM Program Office.

"The need for an understanding of today's modern communications concepts and technology for firefighter and citizen life safety and operational effectiveness remains as valid, if not more so today, than it did when this USFA document was first produced in 1996,” said U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade. "USFA was pleased to work with DHS SAFECOM and the IAFF on this study to provide critical information to the fire service."

The new manual, Voice Radio Communications Guide for the Fire Service (PDF, 3.8 Mb), provides updated information on communications technology and discusses critical homeland security issues and concepts, such as SAFECOM, that did not exist when the original manual was first published. It also provides a wide fire service audience with a minimum level of familiarity with basic communications issues such as hardware, policy and procedures, and human interface.

"The safety of both firefighters and citizens depends on reliable, functional communication tools that work in the harshest and most hostile of environments," said IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. "The IAFF was pleased to work with USFA on this important project."

MORE INFO? Research section of the USFA Web site