Feb 14, 2009

The Jefco Sewer Stink

The latest development, reported in today's Birmingham News, is an attack by Irondale on the proposal to charge even residents of the county who are not hooked into the system a $30 monthly fee. While your gut reaction to that proposal might be wait! We can't go charging people for services they don't use..think again. Our taxes go for all kinds of things that provide no direct benefit to us. You pay for food-stamps, even if you'll never use a penny of that assistance. You pay for highways even if you've never left your house. And your taxes go to fund municipal offices that monitor cable TV franchises, even if you're strictly a rabbit-ears kinda guy or gal. Jefferson County got itself into this mess because some elected officials screwed up, and they are going and will go to jail. But the mistakes they made still have to be righted. And if it's not bankruptcy, then the money to pay the bills has to come from the community as a whole, not just parts.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMonday, February 16, 2009 1:00:00 PM

    I don't shop at a certain grocery store chain. Should I be paying them $30 a month not to take my money?

    I make my own bread. Should I pay the commercial bakeries for the privilege?

    I don't make 14 babies. (Only two, and they're grown up now.) Should I pay a doctor because I'm not so prolific?

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  2. Tim LennoxMonday, February 16, 2009 2:19:00 PM

    Hi Jay,
    Unlike the for-profit grocery store and bakery and doctor, a sewer system benefits the public at large, the same way a road system does, no?
    Tim

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