Hike
will hurt people on welfare the most
The
Woodstock Sentinel-Review
Jim Bender - Woodstock
Tuesday June 27, 2006
A person living on welfare will no doubt be the hardest hit of
all when it comes down to the garbage tag issue.
People who can barely afford to feed themselves, being asked to pony up a few
more dollars a month is inexcusable. The chance they will buy the tags is
limited and I’m sure many people have seen bags tossed at the sides of streets
with no bag tags. Chances are those people couldn’t afford to pay the fees,
when they are struggling to feed themselves and pay rent on minimal welfare/UI
payments.
Perhaps instituting larger user fees for the corporations in Oxford that dump
their garbage would be a good way to offset these costs, instead of on the backs
of the residents, some of whom are on pensions and other fixed incomes.
The garbage situation has no easy answer, but one thing I find disturbing is
when the user fees (bag tags) were devised, there was no break in taxes at the
time (our municipal taxes back then included garbage disposal) on our property
tax bills.
There should be no shortfall because they kept on collecting the original tax
dollars (that were assigned to our property taxes for garbage collection) and as
well began collecting $1 per bag for the new system. At the time people
complained about this double charging. It was explained the amount collected (in
the form of taxes) for garbage disposal was small, so there would be no tax
rebate on property taxes.
Where did that "small" amount go, that the city/county kept after
rearranging our garbage services? Perhaps there should be some sort of audit
done to determine what has happened with this money, unaccounted for in all
respects.
The idea of reducing the amount of garbage we produce is good, the idea of
recycling is good, but the fact that poor people/fixed income people will be hit
the hardest is sick.
Godivas