This was fine until the Payroll Tax Deduction law of 2011 went into effect.   The guideline for tax levels is the Federal Circular E, which indicated that the social security rates would remain the same through 2011.   For 26  years the employer contribution rate was the same as the employee rate.   However, well into 2011, and without notice,  the Feds changed the single social security rate into a 2 level rate;   the employee contribution being less than the employer contribution. They also made the rate difference retroactive to the beginning of the year.

This caused us to have to write rebate checks to the employees, petition the IRS to refund our over payments (which they do so not at all or with much reluctance) and overhaul our computer program,  along with other record keeping complications.

As with other new business regulations this was done hastily.  There were no mailed notices.  Since employers are now required to pay payroll taxes electronically there should have been a big notice on the EFTPS payment website.   But it wasn’t there.

No warning, just a demand for instant compliance.   What people don’t understand is the IRS does not collect taxes.  Employers are forced to do it for free.  The IRS only verifies and enforces.   Your reward is to be left alone if you follow all the rules exactly.  Your punishment is penalties and interest for any infraction.  With the new 4,000  IRS agents they do not miss a chance to get more money out of us.

The least they could do would have been to give us a little notice, since we are doing it for them for FREE!  We are debating using a Payroll Service,  however, it is just more complicated Government regulations forcing businesses to hire more third party agents to keep up.  In the end prices either go up, or profits go down and control of your business goes farther away.   We are fortunate that we can weather these attacks.  I’m afraid for some businesses, with current difficulties,  it’s one step closer to giving up.

Bad patching by previous workers caused deck paint to peel off.   The planks are very old and were severely warped.   The problem is compounded in that the planks sit on a bed of sand.   This means moisture under the deck which absorbs into the planks causing blistering of alm0st any paint.

This called for complete removal of the existing paint for a good bonding surface.   We planed the wood down and applied extensive epoxy paste patching to get the planks to a more even flat surface.

The only material that can resist negative side moisture and vapor pressure is a good epoxy coating.   Epoxies have a tenacious grip, stronger than the wood’s bond to itself.  We used Devoe Bar Rust epoxy coating with a Devthane urethane topcoat for sunlight resistance.   A heavy silica sand broadcast was applied between coats to create a rough surface for slip resistance.

Our preference is 100% solid epoxies.  However, we believed the solvent based Devoe epoxy would have better wood penetration.   Also, the solid epoxies do not offer much of a variety of colors.   We needed to keep within the color theme of the rest of the palace and the Devoe products can be custom tinted.

The trick was to provide a ramping product that could withstand cart impacts and foot traffic, yet still be somewhat flexible, because the island is still moving.   Unitex Proflex Gel is a semi flexible epoxy with a hard surface.   Watching it over time, the epoxy appears to be handling both slab movement and cart impact.