Wo all received the Solid waste & Stormwater fee "Love letter" ? (Springfield: for sale, HOA)

[riveree]

My responses are in bold in and out of the quotes...sorry, it came out sort of messy ...

Originally Posted by dolphin3

I like the idea about a Tea Party.

Would that be a SWEET Tea Party?

Originally Posted by Karla with a K

Did you really think that if they "cut" property taxes that homeowners would see the savings ?

No, because they're tricksters and so many of their constituents are easily fooled .

The city is going to find a way to make up the "loss"
Not only did many worthwhile projects received cuts but fees increased.
I "ran" the numbers and I think after the new "fees" it ends up being a saving of 23 cents per household.

...not even enough for the stamp to send the payment in .

Originally Posted by travelingfood

meanwhile, local businesses reported record number sales of pitchforks.

Where are we meeting?

Originally Posted by HIF

I think these fees were passed last year, before the property tax ballot initiative. It's like the city has gone from one extreme to the other. We should have been paying the solid waste fee all along- who gets free garbage pickup?

The first I heard of it was when all the hoopla started about the potential cuts and the mayor's office gave it's budget proposal for the year, they introduced the garbage and storm water fee at the same time...they pretty much knew that this cut was going to happen one way or another.

I'd like to see us do what California cities do and give each household a certain amount of stickers per year for their garbage and when you run out of stickers, you have to pay for more stickers...if you're a big producer of garbage, you should pay more. If we're going to introduce a new fee, how about being a little progressive about it and check out what other cities are doing? The sticker program would be an easy "green" claim for Jacksonville....dumb politicians, do they even know how to get information from the internet? That idea could have been found in 5 minutes and easily co-opted .

But then, they go the other extreme and send this bill right before school gets out, giving a month to pay. What about parents who will be paying hundreds more in childcare costs for the summer? What about seniors on a fixed income?

What about "anyone"? I can give you some good reasons why this bill has come at an inconvenient time, and it's not just $60 for me, I have more than one bill and everything is due at the same time . 90 days would have been nice .


And non-profits and churches were exempt.

Don't get me started!! If they paid taxes as the rest of us do, we wouldn't be in such a mess in the first place.

The most stupid thing of all- why wasn't it just added to the JEA bill? Instead they send them out at $.31 postage, God knows how much to print and have the fee going to the tax collector...who will need staff to process the payments. If it had only been added as a line item on our JEA bill, how much money would have been saved?

Or just add it to our property tax so those of us who escrow can pay it over the year....what are they thinking?? On the JEA bill, they could have spread it into 3 payments making it a bit more palatable for everyone.

What if we all refused to pay or just divided it into seven payments? What would they do? I do think these fees should be paid, but to exempt non-profits and churches- most of which have little to no green space, and to reinvent the wheel in the collection of these fees- it's just not right. It sounds like a city employee relief measure- I'd like to see who is hired to process these invoices.

That's a good point, what about the people that don't pay? Will they send collection letters? An entire department could be built around these new fees.

I hope that Folio does a story on this. Blast 'em Folio!

[HIF]

Do not pay until Labor Day

Duval County residents have an opportunity to voice our displeasure at the shortsightedness shown by elected officials in the way the new solid waste and stormwater fees have been implemented. By withholding payment of the fee until Labor Day, we can send a silent protest in the lack of foresight shown by our leaders. For about a quarter, the cost of the 1% per month late fee assessed on the new fee, residents have an opportunity to send a message to our elected officials that it is time that sound business practices be put into place in the governance of Jacksonville.

This fee could have been included in our JEA bill, saving tens of thousands of dollars in production, postage and processing fees. How much was spent in producing the invoice and the two envelopes used for this fee? How much postage at a cost of 31 cents per mailing has been spent and will be spent in sending overdue notices? How many staff hours will be spent processing these payments?

Let them know that we are fed up with the way that Jacksonville is being governed. Do not pay until Labor Day.

[apanda]

I wonder why I haven't gotten mine yet? Maybe since our home wasn't built until May last year? But I thought this was for 6 months of services... hmmm

[agreatlife]

This about sums it up (Burma Shave ad time):

To collect solid waste fees
The city created a color brochure
And wasted more taxpayer dollars
By mailing it to every door
… Jacksonville

Hmph. I just sent an email to my district councilman, not that I expect it to make any difference, it just made me feel better. I should have sent him the Burma Shave ad.

post note - I just received email back from my councilman, he said he had voted against the fees, feeling that the city needed to find a different way to govern more efficiently. My councilman is Jack Webb. It wasn't the fee as much as the method they chose to collect it that gripes me, which I replied back about. At least he voted against it.

[HIF]

Your best Burma Shave ad yet!

I hadn't thought about contacting Jack Webb. I gotta tell you that both he and his assistant, Suzie Loving, have been very responsive any time that I have contacted them.

Someone just called me and said that the bill only says that a late fee will be imposed, but doesn't state what it is. Is this legal? JEA, credit card companies, mortgage companies all must disclose the amount of late fees. The Times Union said that the late fee is 1% per month, but this is not disclosed on the bill.

Originally Posted by agreatlife

This about sums it up (Burma Shave ad time):

To collect solid waste fees
The city created a color brochure
And wasted more taxpayer dollars
By mailing it to every door
… Jacksonville

Hmph. I just sent an email to my district councilman, not that I expect it to make any difference, it just made me feel better. I should have sent him the Burma Shave ad.

post note - I just received email back from my councilman, he said he had voted against the fees, feeling that the city needed to find a different way to govern more efficiently. My councilman is Jack Webb. It wasn't the fee as much as the method they chose to collect it that gripes me, which I replied back about. At least he voted against it.

[WitchDoctor]

I'm pretty sure that most households are running as non-profits, these days. A good grass-roots protest would be for everyone to apply for non-profit status on the same day. Can you imagine the flood of paper work that would generate?

[amy_sk]

City Fees

lot of details given here.

[riveree]

Yup, they billed me wrong in one case, now I'm going to have to request an amendment.

I knew there was no way this was right! I should be paying $30, not $60.

Just what I need, a new project....getting the city to correct its' mistake .

How the Fee is Determined

[agreatlife]

Originally Posted by riveree

Just what I need, a new project....getting the city to correct its' mistake .

You're going to have to keep us apprised of how long it takes to get corrected.

On another note, I'm going down to the tax collectors office today and pay the darned thing. I can deal with the fee, but I'm not getting over the waste of the bills and color brochure.

[HIF]

How can they consider sidewalks in the fee when they are on city right-of-way?