City Ordinances

[Sadiehawk]

Jurisdiction

Iowa

I purchased my home in a small community 12 years ago. At that time, I was not charged a monthly garbage collection fee because I do not use the service. The city government changed garbage collection vendors several years later and then started charging a monthly garbage collection fee regardless if an individual uses the service or not.
Does the city government have a legal right to charge for garbage collection if an individual does not utilize the service? I have never signed a contract with the city or the garbage collection vendor and I have required that they remove their collection bins from my property.

 

[army judge]

Does the city government have a legal right to charge for garbage collection if an individual does not utilize the service?

I suggest you ask the above question to someone at your local TV and radio stations.

While you're at it, pose the question to your local newspaper.

Last, but not least, ask your city council representative and your state attorney general.

 

[welkin]

Does the city government have a legal right to charge for garbage collection if an individual does not utilize the service?

You would have to read the Ordinance they passed to create the charges to know. But if done correctly, the answer is generally yes.

 

[adjusterjack]

Does the city government have a legal right to charge for garbage collection if an individual does not utilize the service?

Probably yes.

Your property taxes pay for some services that you don't use.

My property taxes pay for schools and I haven't had kids in school in many decades.

 

[army judge]

My property taxes pay for schools and I haven't had kids in school in many decades.

Amen brother, plus jails and prisons, neither of which I've ever used!!!

 

[flyingron]

Even without it being a "property tax" the municipality often can levy such fees whether you want them or not.

 

[Tax Counsel]

My property taxes pay for schools and I haven't had kids in school in many decades.

However, if you attended public schools you got the benefit of the taxes others paid for your education. And, as you noted, your kids benefited from the taxes others paid for their education, too. Moreover, having a well educated populace benefits everyone. It's one of the reasons why the US is a leader in many technologies, for example. So paying for education is one tax I don't mind paying even though I've never had kids. I benefited from a good public education that others helped fund when I was in school, and the more affluent society we have from better education benefits me too. A lot of the benefits of various government expenditures are indirect. We pay for prisons, as Judge pointed out, but even though we don't live in them we benefit from the crime reduction when the threat of prison deters people from crime and locking the offenders away prevents them from committing more crimes. So look beyond just whether you get a direct benefit when looking at these kinds of expenditures.

 

[adjusterjack]

So look beyond just whether you get a direct benefit when looking at these kinds of expenditures.

I was trying to make a point with the OP. I don't object to paying taxes or fees for services I don't use that benefit others. I pay them willingly because I know that others pay taxes and fees for services that I use that they don't.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Is there some reason this thread was resurrected from July?

 

[Tax Counsel]

Is there some reason this thread was resurrected from July?

I suspect the thread was revived by a spammer, and then the spammer's post was removed. But once reactivated, people responded without first checking to see if it was old. I've made that mistake myself from time to time.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I suspect the thread was revived by a spammer, and then the spammer's post was removed.

No missing post number.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

When a post is removed the numbers adjust.

That's unusual.

 

[adjusterjack]

That's unusual.

I removed my post. Yours went from 14 to 13. If you didn't note your post number you wouldn't notice the change.

 

[Tax Counsel]

That's unusual.

There are certainly forums that work by retaining the post numbers of subsequent posts when one is deleted, but not all of them work that way. As AdjusterJack has demonstrated, this one adjusts the numbers on subsequent posts when one is removed. Neither way strikes me as better than the other; only different. But unless one really pays attention to post numbers after removal one wouldn't know which scheme the site uses.