More from Bureaucratic Hellhole Mono County
It is amazing how certain institutions remain true to their DNA. I have already written twice about petty, mindless bureaucratic management in Mono County, California. They have yet again surpassed themselves with absurd inflexibility. I have occupancy licenses for each of our campgrounds there, about 12 sites. We are entirely current and have been punctilious about paying our County taxes on all sites month after month for 10 years.
Then, recently, apparently they sent out renewals on the licenses that somehow did not get to our mail box. So we missed the renewal deadline. Of course their position is that we are still responsible for renewing, but realize I have 175 locations across the country with zillions of license registrations. They admit we are entirely up to date on our taxes, we just did not submit the renewal fee for the licenses. There is no approval or regulatory process with the licenses, its just a way for them to collect a fee.
Well, without any second notice or phone call or any other such normal business courtesy, they canceled all the licenses. I now have to fill out pages of license applications 12 times, and submit 12 penalty fees, all for a total cost of over $1,000 and hours and hours of my time.
Can you imagine the outcry if the phone company or electric company or your landlord turned off service after one missed payment without any kind of second notice? But of course these guys are the government so we can be sure that they are public-spirited, lol. Seriously, they could not even turn the licenses back on with a payment, I have to start entirely from scratch with new applications. This is like 14 days after the payment due date. I called them 1 hour after receiving the 2nd notice to sort this out, but for these guys the second notice is a termination notice. Nice.
Jens Fiederer:
And here you thought you could exercise your right of free speech regarding lovely Mono County (which is run by honorable men, so are they all, all honorable men! (just in case I ever have to do paperwork there)) with impunity.
I'm not sure whether I'd rather ascribe this to malice or incompetence.
September 14, 2010, 2:07 pmElamBend:
Do they require that you close the sites while you work this out?
September 14, 2010, 3:07 pmmark:
If you live in Iowa the counties do not send a second notice for fees, and tags and such. You forget to pay for your car tags. You might not find out until you get a ticket or move out of the state when you are hit with all the late years plus hefty fines.
September 14, 2010, 3:31 pmSean:
Sounds like a speed trap in a small town ... a revenue generator.
September 14, 2010, 3:43 pmNoah:
More From Bureaucratic Hell Holes and The 1099 Landmine - don't hold your breath waiting for 1099s from local and state governments and bridge and toll road authorities.
September 14, 2010, 3:48 pmanon:
Ouch. My heart goes out to you. This seems to be a very common practice in the States?
Some federal agencies do the same for letters - they will send you appointments only via unregistered mail; if the mail gets lost and you fail to make an appointment because of that, you automatically get denied and forfeit the filing fee. To add insult to injury, if you can prove that it was their mistake (tough bar to meet), you can file a form to reopen, but filing this form costs more than reapplying from scratch.
The advice I got from my attorney was to simply stomach the loss and refile and hope nothing goes wrong this time.
September 14, 2010, 3:53 pmperlhaqr:
Fuck 'em, close the campsites and don't re-open them. Let them eat the lack of tax revenue and see if they prefer that.
September 14, 2010, 4:17 pmNeville:
It's important to note that stuff like this, the arrogance of the little guys enforcing the little rules, had a lot to do with the force behind Luther's assault on the Catholic church, the collapse of the 'ancien regime' in France, etc. Petty bureaucrats unsupervised by elites (busy elsewhere enjoying their privileges) will always tend in this direction until they receive what in Europe is known as 'a rap on the snout'.
In a democracy, ordinary people put up with this until the day their annoyance boils over. Alternatively a major war involving conscription have had a way of implementing a reset, because returning troops in large numbers visibly won't put up with this sort of treatment from pencil-pushers (but hopefully we won't end up going that route).
September 14, 2010, 4:22 pmEvil Red Scandi:
Ah, local governments: Giving every piss-ant an ant hill to piss from.
September 14, 2010, 11:30 pmMJ:
Your time is not in their budget, so it doesn't count to them.
September 16, 2010, 11:19 amaffidavit forms:
this is really disastrous. atleast people should have the decency to ask people before suddenly closing down.
September 18, 2010, 11:36 amJohnF:
Isn't this why there are ticklers on most calendar programs?
September 18, 2010, 12:09 pmRob:
Sounds like the city of winslow az utility dept. One day late and it is a $20.00 fee and if you overpay they wont send you a bill. In flagstaff they canceled my business license because of 39 cents.
September 19, 2010, 2:09 pmtomw:
They don"t like you doing "their" county work with private citizens. You deprive them of an opportunity to be rude to more paying customers at the gate to the campsites.
September 21, 2010, 5:55 pmYou also deprive them of some "shovel leaning ready" jobs where one shovel is in use at a time, while the other 4 or 5 are used to lean upon...
tom
Jim Skiman:
Did anyone know that in the five years from 2007 until 2012 that Deputy Probation Officer III Diane Anthony was committing INSURANCE FRAUD? Anthony retired from San Bernardino County Probation and continued to tell Kaiser Health Insurance that she and her husband Dan lived in Hemet when in fact they purchased a 4 acre estate in Walker California. She was a Mono County sworn law enforcement officer for Probation and committed INSURANCE FRAUD FOR THE 5 YEARS SHE WORKED FOR mONO. She now has 2 Government retirements from law enforcement.
May 18, 2013, 1:41 pmJim Skiman:
The Mono County Probation Aid ERIN KNIGHT has performed a STRIPTEASE at the Sportmans bar. She is responsible for transporting Juvenile Probationers to and from Inyo County and Mammoth Court. She has had 2 severe Motocross Accidents involving Head injuries wherein she had to be Care Flighted to Renown Hospital in Reno. She spent days in Hospital due to concussion. She also rolled her Honda Accord because she "fell asleep" at the wheel and also failed to avoid a devastating crash in the Probation Van with a deer. She is a proficient and accomplished LIAR and has convinced the new Probation Chief that she is a "truth teller". BS
May 18, 2013, 1:46 pmJim Skiman:
Dylan Whitmore is a lying, backstabbing, gambler who cares only about himself. He has cried to his Grandmother that he cannot stay faithful to any woman and has received the Okay blessing from his Grandmother, the wife Of James Whitmore a philandering actor who claimed to have bedded Nancy Regan while she was married to Ronald Regan. He is an accomplished Liar and has no integrity or honor.
May 18, 2013, 1:49 pm