New generation of miners sought

Henderson Gleaner

Writer: Chuck Stinnett

Twenty years ago, or even 10, I wouldn't have imagined writing about a coal company searching for workers, let alone conducting a job fair to recruit new miners.

For years, the United Mine Workers panel was packed with unemployed veteran coal miners, hoping for a chance to be called back to work. But many of them have retired or reached an age when they don't care to go back to work underground where the roof is only four or five feet high.

Now, as Alliance Coal develops its new River View Mine near Uniontown -- with an expectation of employing 600 people by the end of 2010 -- it is looking to a new generation of workers that will have to be trained in matters ranging from mine safety to operating the big mining machines that claw coal from the seam.

Even with the prospect of earning $23 per hour, it may not be easy. H.R. people and company owners in many industries talk about the difficulty of finding dependable workers who will show up, on time, every day, ready to work.

That extends to the coal industry. A 50-something mine foreman told me awhile back about his frustration with filling shifts with miners. At an energy meeting here in May, Webster County mine operator Chester Thomas asked state officials to consider offering English classes to Hispanic workers interested in mining.

Hank List, deputy secretary of what is now the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and a veteran of the electric utility industry, agreed. "If we don't take our available immigrants, we won't have enough bodies," he said.

Twenty years ago, I wouldn't have imagined writing that, either.

It will be interesting to see what kind of turnout Henderson Community College draws when it conducts job fairs for Alliance in Henderson on Aug. 13 and Morganfield on Sept. 10. The possibility of earning $50,000 a year might inspire some young men and women to give mining a try.

Housing tax credit might help

Bargain hunters crowded in front of Homefolks and Matt's the past couple of days as the stores conducted their annual sidewalk sales.

But another sale began in Washington, where President Bush last week signed Congressional legislation that for the next 11 months will provide first-time home buyers up to a $7,500 tax credit if they buy a residence before July 1, 2009.

Realtors and home builders had lobbied for the tax credit as a means for jump-starting the moribund housing market. "The tax credit will stimulate home buying, reduce excess supply in housing markets and shore up home prices," the Kentucky Association of Realtors declared.

Here, according to summaries provided by the Realtors and the Kentucky Association of Home Builders, is how it works:

* Who's eligible? U.S. citizens who haven't owned a home in the previous three years. That applies to a spouse, too. * Type of home. Any single-family residence -- including a house, condo or townhouse -- that will be the home buyer's principal residence. * Amount of credit. Ten percent of the cost of the home, up to $7,500. * Income limits. The full credit is available to individuals with adjusted gross income of no more than $75,000 (or $150,000 on a joint return). Partial credits are available for those with incomes slightly higher than that. No credit is available for those with incomes of $95,000 (or $170,000 on a joint return). * Eligible dates. The home must be bought on or after April 9, 2008, and before July 1, 2009. * How credit is received. By filing a 2008 or 2009 tax return. According to the home builders association, if a home buyer owes less than $7,500 in federal income tax credit, Uncle Sam will write them a check for the difference. "For example, if you owe $5,000 in federal income taxes, you would pay nothing to the IRS and receive a $2,500 payment from the government," the association said. "If you are due to receive a $1,000 tax refund from the government, your refund would grow to $8,750 ($1,000 plus $7,500 from the home buyer tax credit)." * But there's a catch. The tax credit is really a 15-year interest-free loan that must be paid back, $500 per year. If the home is sold before 15 years, the balance of the tax credit would be collected from the proceeds of the home sale.

And of course the home buyer doesn't get the tax credit until after filing their taxes which, as Wall Street Journal real estate reporter Michael Corkery noted, "may not coincide when they are buying a house and need the cash."

Still, if a home buyer is sufficiently disciplined and capable of socking back about $10 per week for 15 years to repay it -- or better yet, investing the tax credit each year in a certificate of deposit to earn a little interest, or perhaps just applying it against the principal of their mortgage -- the tax credit could give a new homebuyer a little bit of a leg up on securing one of the biggest pieces of the American dream.

Or it may just give the politicians in Washington an opportunity to say they did something to help the ailing real estate market.