Butler School Board member Helene Abramowitz says “people spend $85 a week on beer and cigarettes. Why can't they spend $35 a year on education?” She made that statement at a board meeting on Monday.

Abramowitz is entitled to her opinion, but it's not her business what other people do with their money. And beyond that, it's not spending $35 a year on education that's the issue — it's year after year after year of tax increases.

It was during discussion about the school district's 2013-14 budget that Abramo- witz made her comment. She was one of five board members who said they would vote to raise property taxes by 2 mills for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The reason listed for having to raise the real estate tax is to maintain the district's fund balance to pay for future rising employee pension costs.

So, while Abramowitz mentions spending $35 a year more in taxes for education, that's not where the money in question will be going. Instead, it is going to fund an unconscionable pension increase approved by the state Legislature in 2001 — what's referred to as the pension grab.

Instead of making property owners pay more for that purpose, school districts should be pounding on lawmakers' doors in Harrisburg, demanding that the pensions be rolled back — or that the state government provide additional money for the pensions.

That might be helpful than Abramowitz's comment, which many taxpayers might characterize as arrogant.

Like Abramowitz's right to voice her views, others have the right to spend $85 a week on beer or cigarettes, if they so choose.

One way or another, they'll still be victims of Abram- owitz's and the other four board members' votes.

And it's worth remembering, money for pensions isn't education money.

The state of Pennsylvania should be ashamed of its demonstrated inability to pay first-time unemployment benefits in a timely way.For the newly unemployed, it's bad enough that they've lost their paycheck; the state shouldn't compound those people's problems by dragging its feet on unemployment benefits for which those people are eligible.Federal regulations require that 87 percent of first unemployment compensation payments be made within eight to 14 days. However, according to information obtained by a newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, between March 2011 and March of this year, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry complied with that guideline in just one month, January 2012.It's not an acceptable excuse for the department to say “sometimes that (first-payment timeliness) takes longer than we like.”The problem should be fixed — and quickly.Claims of “making progress” while an excessive number of first-time payments remain late also demand beefed-up oversight of the department as well as personnel changes.Pennsylvania should be committed to timely payment of unemployment benefits. But such a commitment clearly has been missing in recent years.

In some emergency situations, law enforcement officials have difficulty finding out who to call on behalf of the victim, if the victim does not have emergency contact information in his or her possession.That applies to people who have been injured seriously, or worse.The state Department of Transportation has taken the commendable step of initiating what's being called the Emergency Contact Information program, which is available to holders of Pennsylvania driver's licenses and PennDOT-issued ID cards.The program allows driver's license and ID holders to log into a secure database and list two emergency contacts.That information can be updated as needed, but only law enforcement officials can view that information. In the event of an emergency, law enforcement can use the participant's ID information to find the emergency contacts.The program makes sense, and Pennsylvania residents should input their information as possible. The website to be used is www.dmv.state.pa.us.