Windfall

From the Palm Beach Post-

WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County's tax collector might have to dig into five years' worth of records on the sales of handicapped parking permits and offer refunds to those who purchased them.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal, based in Miami-Dade County, ruled this year that the permit fees violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and were unconstitutional.

Within the past week, Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon and her counterparts in the state's other 66 counties received a letter from Tallahassee-based attorney Karen Gievers asking them to promptly refund the $1.50 fee charged to buyers of the parking signs from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2007.

Pulling records as far back as five years ago, verifying the information is current and issuing checks will cost far more than the $1.50 refund, Gannon said.

I'm sure it will be an expensive. Maybe then if Florida Tax Collectors had weighed the cost of the $1.50 versus litigation not to mention the expense of refunding the money if the court battle was lost. Governments rarely does cost benefit analysis, till it is too late. Remember the story of the Hoosier lottery.

Oh I love this little tidbit from Anne Gannon.

Gannon said the $1.50 fee helped cover administrative costs to process the handicapped parking signs.

"We're not in the business to provide free services to the public," she said.

That's why I pay taxes. Property, sales, gas etc etc. Plus indirect taxes. So stop the whining Anne and do your job.

Full disclosure- My seventy-two-year-old mother-in-law will be one of the people getting a refund. Any suggestions on how to spend it?

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