Blind woman threatened over unpaid 1-cent bill

[Mark]

ATTLEBORO, Mass. - A 74-year-old blind woman was shocked when her daughter found a letter from the city saying a lien would be placed on her home unless she paid an overdue water bill.

The amount? 1 cent.

Eileen Wilbur told The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro the letter sent her blood pressure soaring, and pointed out that stamps cost 42 cents.

City Collector Debora Marcoccio said the letter was among 2,000 sent out. A computer automatically prints letters for accounts with an overdue balance, and they are not reviewed by staff before being mailed, she said.

The letter warned of a lien and a $48 penalty if the overdue bill is not paid by Dec. 10. The charge was from the previous fiscal year, which ran from July 2007 to July 2008.

"My question is, how come it wasn't paid when the (original) bills went out?" Marcoccio said.

Wilbur's daughter, Rose Brederson, who discovered the bill in her mother's mail, called the situation "ridiculous." But she said her mother, who has lived in the home since 1959, would likely end up paying the penny.

[Captain Seafort]

The joys of bureaucracy.

[Tsukiyumi]

God forbid someone doesn't pay every last cent on their bills. Imagine if everyone in Attleboro chose not to pay that last cent! The city'd lose out on at least $40!

[Teaos]

Oh get over it. They said its an automated system which makes sense considering the amount of letters tha get sent out. This is just one of those random things that happens from time to time.

[Tsukiyumi]

Yeah, and now that they know about the situation, the city should apologize for causing so much stress, and get over it themselves. Threatening to take someone's home over a matter of a cent is absurd.

[Teaos]

Its standard action. She owed them money and they have a right to ask for it. The amount is irrelivant.

[Sionnach Glic]

I'm actualy sort of with Teaos here. This bill doesn't show some sort of problem with or failing in the system. It just shows that the system works.
Is it dumb that all this is over 1 cent? Yup, but that's life.

[Tsukiyumi]

...that's life.

True. Doesn't mean I have to agree with it, or that things must inevitably be that way.

[Sionnach Glic]

Unless you want to completely redesign the system in question, it kinda does have to be that way.

[Captain Seafort]

What gets me is the comedy inherent in spending 42 cents to get one back. Like I said - bureaucracy.

[Tsukiyumi]

Unless you want to completely redesign the system in question, it kinda does have to be that way.

Sometimes, ideas have to be re-evaluated, you know. Certainly, no one should claim that the current system (any of our current systems) is/are the best possible. We should always look to enhance what we are; even the minutiae of our governments' laws and ordinances should be scrutinized for possible improvements, no matter how small and unimportant they seem.

I'm saying we could do better, so why don't we?

[Reliant121]

I can agree with the bill paying, and the automatic billing stuff. But for 1 cent, and to cause that kind of stress to a woman that could quite easily be badly affected by it is somewhat out of order.

[Sionnach Glic]

Then what should they do? Not send bills to those over the age of X?

[Captain Seafort]

They shouldn't send bills when the cost of sending the demand for payment exceeds the amount outstanding.

[IanKennedy]

They could quite simply not send out letters that cost more to send out than the amount you will get in return. Think of it as a saving of 41c, in a way you are increasing your profits (or reducing your losses) by not chasing ridiculous sums of money. In fact the if 42c is the cost of the postage there more than that been lost here, there's the cost of the paper, toner, envelope, electricity and staff costs to worry about. She should write them a check for the 1c, then they can add the cost of bank charges to their loss making scheme.