Higher water bills

The North Carolina Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities said faulty electronic transmitters could be causing some unusually high water bills, but the department believes the vast majority of bill spikes are due to people using more water than they realize.  Faced with an increase in customer complaints about high bills, the Charlotte City Council asked Monday night whether the water billing software is billing correctly, and what they should tell constituents.

Last fall, residents of the Peninsula neighborhood in Cornelius complained of unusually high bills produced by the water billing software -- in some cases, more than $500 a month -- or abnormal spikes. Media coverage spurred more complaints citywide, and CMUD said it's struggling to investigate all of them.  Denise Foreman of CMUD said the department believes most spikes were due either to leaks or to people using more water than they realized. Another factor: CMUD raised rates in 2008, with the biggest increases being levied on the heaviest users.  But Foreman also said CMUD has investigated some complaints and has been unable to find a cause.  "One-time spikes can be a huge question," Foreman said. "We'd like to know why."

Bob Watson of Cornelius said the water bill at his business, a self-storage facility, jumped one month from the usual $30 or $40 bill to more than $500. "Something fishy is going on here," said Watson, who's part of a group trying to investigate the bills.  Council member Edwin Peacock, a Republican elected citywide, said he has received calls from residents who have years of water bills showing consistent usage -- then a one-time spike. After that, bills return to normal.  "How do we respond? How many people are we dealing with?" Peacock said.

Foreman said CMUD is confident its meters are accurate. She said they are mechanical devices, and the technology hasn't changed in 40 years.  A relatively new factor is that electronic transmitters now send meter readings to billing. Those were first installed in 2002, and Foreman said they can malfunction if moisture corrodes electronics or batteries wear down. The transmitters save the department about $1.6 million annually.  "We feel like we can trust our meters," Foreman said. "You can't program the meter electronically. They are mechanical devices. But the transmitters can mess up."

Rolling out eGovernment

In the Australian State of Queensland, councils are rolling out a new electronic development assessment system, to speed up the application process and reduce costs for councils and industry.  Following successful trials within Redland City Council, Bundaberg will become the second council in the State to bring the Smart eDA system online.  Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Stirling Hinchliffe, says the initiative has been developed by the State Government, in consultation with the Local Government Association of Queensland, councils and industry stakeholders.

He says the system will significantly speed up the existing development assessment process.  "Paper-based development applications are generally difficult to handle, disperse and monitor and place significant demands on councils in terms of staff and costs,'' he says.  "The electronic system provides Queensland with a more efficient, transparent and consistent development assessment process that will reduce the cost of development.”

According to the Minster, officers from the Department of Infrastructure and Planning delivered training to industry stakeholders in the lead up to the system's release.  "The Smart eDA website provides a single portal for industry and applicants to use across local government jurisdictions. Applicants can prepare and lodge their development applications online and also track their progress," Hinchliffe says. "It transforms the current paper-based Integrated Development Assessment System process into an intuitive and interactive, internet-based process.”.  The new system will also enable the integration of council and State Government systems, while helping to identify any applicable referral agencies.

Permit fraud!

The New York Times reports that the thriving black market in illegal New York City food vending permits took a blow on Tuesday morning when six people were arrested as a result of multiple sting operations by the city’s Department of Investigation. Sotirios Econopouly, 71; Fernando Quesnay, 52; Ifigenia Tsatsaronis, 40; Jacob Shimon, 46; Nikhil Dhameliya, 23; and Adamadia Arabatzis, 48, were charged with multiple counts of fraud.

The six were working various angles of the underground market, according to criminal complaints filed Tuesday. Mr. Econopouly, the owner of Steve’s Sheet Metal in Queens, is accused of renting inspection-worthy carts to vendors whose own carts would have failed, then transferring the inspection decals to their carts. Mr. Dhameliya, a notary public, is charged with having notarized blank and pre-signed documents submitted with renewals of permits, which are valid for two years, can be renewed indefinitely by mail with the details entered into the city's permit billing software.

The probe concluded that at least 500 food-vendor permits of the approximately 3,000 now in circulation in the city are probably held illegally. Some of the permits are in the names of dead people; others are held by people who were no longer working in the vending business. Those cases have been reported to the city’s Health Department, which issues the permits as part of public sector billing.

Florida's water permits row

In Florida board members at the state's water-management districts grant permits for water consumption. One of the provisions of a new bill, signed into law by the State's governor, now strips appointed board members at the state's water-management districts of significant authority over permits for water consumption and wetland destruction.

The boards are composed of citizens appointment by the governor. Coupled with their ability to vote on water and wetlands permits are the public hearings they hold to consider controversial projects. The Bill is seen as a gift to developers and as a gag on environmentalists and citizens. The bill removes from public input the decisions of water management district boards on surface water and consumptive use permits. Environmentalists had urged Governor Crist to veto the Bill, arguing that by allowing those decisions to be made by the water management districts executive director, instead of the elected board, they will be shielded from public input and debate.

They also warned that the bill carves out special exemptions for certain large land holders to get 50-year permits to use Florida water with no public review.

Outdated dance permits

The Des Moines parks board wants to throw out an ordinance that requires permits for organized dances and mandates that they end by 2 a.m. The Des Moines Social Club complained about the 67-year-old ordinance. The parks board "can find no public purpose for singling out dancing from other types of gatherings for regulation," a proposed resolution reads. "This ordinance reflects poorly on the city and harms our efforts to project the city as forward-thinking, tolerant and supportive of an attractive cultural environment," it adds.

Parks board member Loyd Ogle, who is also president of the Des Moines Music Coalition, said the ordinance "has a dampening effect ... because people are hesitant." An online petition has gathered 529 signatures from people who organizers say "feel that they have the right to dance all night long if they decide to do so. Dancing is not illegal and, in Des Moines, it is treated as so."

Doubtless the permit billing software has other permit uses.

Georgia tries to cool property tax increases

The Georgia Department of Revenue is moving to eliminate one excuse that local officials give when they're raising property taxes: The state made us do it. The department, at the direction of Gov. Sonny Perdue, is trying to make sure county officials know they don't have to revalue property every three years. The department is proposing a new regulation that, among other things, spells that out.

The state requires that counties keep property assessed at 40 percent of fair market value and that property be assessed uniformly. State officials say counties have interpreted the law to say property had to be revalued every few years. "We're essentially taking away that excuse so counties can run their own businesses and make sure they revalue properly," Perdue said. "But they won't be able to use the excuse that the state made us do it.

County officials say they don't know if the regulation, which could become final by the end of the summer, will have any impact. And they dispute the notion state officials often nurture that local government spending is out of control.

Subsidising solar

In Nevada, solar energy generation is being subsidized (encouraged?) through extended property tax abatements for renewable energy production plants, which were to expire in this year, and expanded them from 50 percent for 10 years to 55 percent for 20 years. The Las Vegas Sun newspaper reports that solar energy developers had been worried about a fierce stance by Assemblywoman Kirkpatrick, who began the year saying she would not support the industry’s request for a 75 percent property tax abatement and would impose a new tax on renewable energy. The revenue would go to offset higher energy costs for ratepayers.

Kirkpatrick was concerned that solar plants would not bring many permanent jobs to Nevada, and that solar plant construction jobs have gone to out-of-state workers in the past. But the possibility of a new tax “brought development to a halt,” said renewable energy lobbyist Tom Clark. “It sent a red flag to every developer.”

Selfless?

Politicians and many commentators are keen to beat the lower taxes drum. But for many, taxes are the price we pay for living in a community in which we have pride. This is borne out by news from Massachusetts that despite hardships, programs have been preserved. In a baffling trend playing out against an abysmal economy, voters have approved property tax increases in at least 11 communities around Boston in recent weeks, reaching into their own pockets to preserve libraries, schools, and public safety services.

Among them was the town of Rockland, which has passed only one other property tax override since voters enacted Proposition 2 1/2 more than 25 years ago. Late last month, as people around the state watched every penny, not to mention every tax dollar, Rockland voted to raise its property taxes to save an elementary school and a library. At least five communities have also rejected property tax increases in recent weeks, but the passage by 11 other communities underscores the impact of budget cuts on cities and towns.

Selling waste

A Washington County sewer utility found a way to get rid of some of its most troublesome pollutants: sell them to gardeners. Clean Water Services installed a system at its Durham treatment plant that pulls phosphorus and ammonia from sewage waste and processes them into fertilizer pellets that are then sold to nurseries. The system, which began operating last month, is the first of its kind in the United States, and it’s drawing some big-name attention.

The project cost $2.5 million, including approximately $1 million for construction. Boring-based fabricator Marks Brothers built the stainless steel tanks and Stettler remodeled the existing facility to accommodate the new system. Ostara will market the fertilizer and split the profits with Clean Water Services, which expects to recoup the project cost in five years.

Paying for recycling

It is reported that Oshkosh residents will pay for carts that will be used as part of the city’s switch to automated recycling this fall. Going against a vote from last fall, the Oshkosh Common Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to go ahead with assessing a one-time special fee on property taxes to pay for recycling carts, charging homeowners $46.51 for a 95-gallon cart and $40.18 for a 64-gallon cart. Initially, the council voted 6-1 in November to finance the carts over 10 years. During a discussion on the matter in March, the majority of the councilors expressed desire to switch to the special fee so the city decided to take another vote on the matter.

In discussion of how to pay for the carts, councilors said charging property owners encourages them to take responsibility for their carts. "There’s an ownership associated with it," said councilor Harold Buchholz. Now the city plans to go ahead with its education process over the summer, teaching residents how the switch will affect them. City Manager Mark Rohloff said information will be mailed out to Oshkosh residents regarding the switch and a Web site on single-stream recycling created.

In information mailed out, Public Works Director David Patek said the city would give residents the option of obtaining a 95-gallon or 64-gallon cart. If the residents do not specifically request a 64-gallon cart, they will be provided with the larger cart. As part of the switch to single-stream, residents will put all recyclables – paper, plastic, cardboard, glass – in the one bin for pick up every two weeks.

"I think people will be surprised once they get cardboard and other recyclables in there that they will be able to use that (95-gallon) bin pretty readily," Rohloff said.

Recycling. What recycling?

Cities that manage their own trash collections and get their citizens to pay via their property taxes or utility bills apparently may not be doing so well these days, according to CNN. When Lynn Heinisch and her neighbors in Atlanta's Lake Claire neighborhood take their recycling to the curb for pickup each Thursday, they cross their fingers and hope for the best. Accusing city collectors of unreliable pickups, Heinisch and the others have resorted to stockpiling recyclable materials in their garages.

"It's frustrating," Heinisch said. "People are trying to recycle, and it's not easy. I wish it was easy to do what we all feel strongly about." When she has to, Heinisch drives her recycling 4 miles to a dropoff center in the town of Decatur.

The recession has trashed the nation's booming recycling industry in just a few months, and cities are straining to keep their programs alive. Demand for commodities such as cardboard, paper and glass has taken a nose dive, and prices for those materials have gone south since last fall. In August, a recycler in Georgia could expect to receive about $160 a ton for curbside recyclables. Now the average is about $37 a ton.

In a nutshell

Property tax billing software must convert a property assessment into a billing statement. The Tax Bill is then issued to the taxpayer or to the Mortgage company often via some form of integration. Well-designed tax billing software enjoys dynamic calculation flexibility, which allows it to operate in the US and internationally.

State intervention

Two Australian states have recently announced a restructure of their water industry. Queensland's restructure was announced in 2008 and is now underway. Tasmania's is more recent. The Tasmanian Government has now withdrawn its offer to guarantee revenue to councils during the transition to a new water and sewerage system.

The Treasurer announced the decision last night, pending further discussions with councils about the rebate scheme for pensioners. Michael Aird offered the revenue guarantee last week after councils expressed doubts about adequate financial returns under the water and sewerage changes.

But councils are also worried about having to foot the bill for the rebate scheme for pensioners, instead of the State Government. Hobart's Lord Mayor Rob Valentine says it is sensible to withdraw the revenue guarantee while the issue's resolved. "The government's to be applauded for pulling it to be quite honest," he said. Mr Aird now wants to discuss the issue with the Local Government Association. "It gives some time for further discussions to be had without this letter being on the table."

The water and sewerage changes are due to take effect from July 1.

The dead have their uses

Four people are accused of using tax breaks for their dead relatives to avoid paying property taxes on their homes says the Miami Herald. For 18 years, Julian Grande received a special tax break for disabled homeowners from the Miami-Dade property appraiser. But Grande was more than disabled. He's been dead since 1990.

Grande's daughter, Maria, is one of four people now facing criminal charges for allegedly exploiting property-tax breaks meant for relatives long dead. According to investigators with Miami-Dade's inspector general and the state attorney's office, the four people continued to file property-tax records indicating their disabled relatives were alive -- forging signatures, in some cases. Along with Maria Grande, those arrested were: Dane Taylor, 60, of Palmetto Bay; Philip Espinosa, 50, of Miami; and Telenia Piedra, 59, of Miami.

Investigators say the four wrongly benefited from a special tax exemption for quadriplegics and others with profound disabilities and low incomes. Beneficiaries of the tax break must submit medical records to qualify, and in some cases they must file financial information annually to prove eligibility. In 2007, 729 homes in Miami-Dade were untaxed under this exemption.

The California tax election

As a result of California’s election, the state now faces a $21.3 billion gap between revenues and spending, reports The Economist. Life, which has been no picnic for many in this state since the recession began, is about to get a lot worse. There have already been two rounds of budget cuts since last autumn. A third, savage, round must now follow.

Mr Schwarzenegger has already hinted at the cuts he will propose to the legislature. The easy part is to release prisoners. California’s 33 prisons, with about 168,000 inmates, many of them locked up because of inflexible sentencing laws passed by voters, are scandalously overcrowded. Mr Schwarzenegger is thinking about freeing 38,000 people. Half of them are undocumented immigrants whom he would transfer to federal custody.

But “the real money is where the pain is”, says Jean Ross of the California Budget Project, a research firm in Sacramento. In health care, for instance. Just as Mr Obama is trying to give more people access to medical care, California will be taking it away: by cutting funding for Medi-Cal, the state’s programme for the poor, and changing eligibility rules for another programme so that 225,000 children are likely to lose coverage. And this at a time when many of their parents are losing their jobs and their employer-sponsored insurance.

Other programmes, from help with birth-control and HIV-prevention to counselling against drug abuse and domestic violence, will be made smaller or eliminated altogether. Child-welfare programmes will be cut by 10%. This means fewer investigations into allegations of child abuse and less supervision of foster care, even as more children are likely to be abused in difficult economic times, says Linda Canan at the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency.

Cuts in the education budget will probably shorten the school year by a week, require teachers to be laid off and cause classes to get bigger. The University of California, a network of ten campuses, will face cuts equivalent to 50,000 fewer students and perhaps 5,000 fewer staff.

Malaysia door-to-door

Local governments these days try to rely on data that is easily gathered (and modeled) so as to derive the valuations on which to levy property taxes. Not so in Malaysia, where The Star newspaper reports the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) will be conducting a property reevaluation, from premise to premise beginning May 2.

City mayor Datuk Naim Nasir said that the reevaluation was not to increase property tax but for the council to prepare for a new value list. He said the last valuation was done in 1995 which was more than 10 years ago. He explained that a reevaluation based on the new market value was important because bankers would refer to it when they value the price of a property. Naim said that 20 officers from the council would be going from premise to premise to conduct the evaluation. “They will visit each unit and this will take us about six to seven months to complete the entire area,” he said.