From the You Cannot Make this Stuff up Department

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.

Posted in * Economics, Politics, Economy

9 comments on “From the You Cannot Make this Stuff up Department

  1. Piedmont says:

    Here is a link to the [url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/398031_rates30.html][i]Seattle Post-Intelligencer[/i][/url].

  2. William P. Sulik says:

    I’d love to know how much the lawyers got.

  3. Piedmont says:

    [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? 😉

  4. Grandmother says:

    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

  5. Timothy Fountain says:

    Ouch – my jaw hit the desk.
    You’re right – can’t be made up.

  6. Old Soldier says:

    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.

  7. qharbour says:

    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?”

  8. LeightonC says:

    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.

  9. Jeffersonian says:

    [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.