Seattle Washington: In order to pay for a court ordered $22M rebate on water bills for illegal charges the city is adding a surcharge to water bill to pay for the rebate. The surcharge is expected to be a net gain for city of about $5M.
From the You Cannot Make this Stuff up Department
Posted in * Economics, Politics, Economy
Here is a link to the [url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/398031_rates30.html][i]Seattle Post-Intelligencer[/i][/url].
I’d love to know how much the lawyers got.
[blockquote]An [b]average family[/b] that is entitled to a refund from the water utility could end up paying $25 more in the surcharge than they receive in the rebate.[/blockquote] What exactly is considered an average family in the City of Seattle? 😉
And, its a microcosim of exactly what is going to happen to the taxpayers in this country, if not in the “near” future, shortly thereafter.
Grandmother in SC
Ouch – my jaw hit the desk.
You’re right – can’t be made up.
As a former resident of the Emerald City, I can tell you this is quite par for the course. But do understand, they need money to buy Birkies for their homeless. Those puppies are spendy.
In Australia, there is a tax every time you flush the toilet. I expect this will be the next source of revenue for water departments. I wonder if you could call this, “Pay as You Go?”
If the city residents do not rise up and refuse to pay, they truly are are bunch of dolts and are justly deserving of their local govt.
[blockquote] An average family that is entitled to a refund from the water utility could end up paying $25 more in the surcharge than they receive in the rebate.[/blockquote]
#2, take the number of families in Seattle, multiply by 25 and you’ll have your answer. The lawyers are the “friction” in the system.