Posted on 12/15/2010 9:40:20 PM PST by a fool in paradise
Houstonians should be prepared to pay more to fix their cars, make minor home repairs and renew neighborhood association dues now that the City Council has voted to raise more than 150 fees by an average of 25 percent, according to a handful of contractors and business associations.
Johnny Gibbs, owner of Lighthouse Electric, predicted Houstonians will balk at paying the higher fees for simple jobs like changing out a ceiling fan or replacing a light fixture.
He usually charges only $50 to $75 for that kind of work, but now the minimum permit fee for the contractor, which went up from $45 to $70, will cost as much as the job. Businesses generally pass the fee on to consumers.
"Nobody's going to want to pay that," Gibbs said.
The fee hikes have led him to consider taking his business outside the city limits.
"How much is enough?" he said. "How much money does the city need to be happy and to quit charging us more money all the time, because we can't afford it anymore?"
"What we're talking about are not core services in the city," Mayor Annise Parker told the council Wednesday. All Houstonians should not have to subsidize the costs for select permits, fees and services that are used by only a select few, she said.
The vote to enact the fee hikes was 11 to 3, with council members C.O. Bradford, Mike Sullivan and Jolanda Jones voting no.
Building permit fees are to go up Jan. 1, but the remaining fee hikes were effective immediately. The fees now will be a part of the city's annual budget process, increasing or decreasing based on the cost of service and inflation...
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Houston PING
Houston PING
Thank you Bill White, Anise Parker and the rest of you scum-sucking libs that run Houston. I’m glad I live in the county.
Democrats are effing morons.
The only ‘solution’ they ever come up with is “raise taxes”. Never ‘cut spending like everybody else does’. Never.
These are the people that think if a budget stays at zero, or an expected increase is lower than they thought, that that is a CUT. Friggin idiots.
These people are either effing brain dead or totally evil. Some are one or the other, some are both. The brain dead people haven’t figured out that when you increase taxes on activites, it decreases that activity, it is punitive. They totally get that when it’s about a liberal evil like smoking. There they know they use the tax code punitively to cut down on unwanted behavior. Well increasing taxes ALWAYS cuts down on whatever behavior is being taxed. So some of these people have not figured this out. The others have and are evil because they want businesses to tank.
We have to commit to throw out all these people no matter what party they are, we have to put people in who won’t raise taxes but actually cut taxes and cut government spending.
Houston voters are effing morons.
We could save $20,000,000 if we didn't build a soccer stadium.
I just got a notice of violation on a very questionable red light photo enforcement program. Governments and cops sit back and screw taxpayers but can’t send someone out when a car gets busted into or a laptop stolen. They’re just a bunch of greedy you-know-whats.
No wonder people are so PO’d now. What a waste of time and money.
Pay a contractor to hang a ceiling fan?
You’ve got to be kidding me.
BULLSTALIN.
They will capture incidents of crime on tape MAYBE if you are lucky, while some officer in an office somewhere monitors the screens, or goes back to the tapes after the crime has been reported.
They prevent NOTHING.
Get out of Texas as fast as possible!
Sh__t the bastages ping...
What happen to the ticket cameras in that area?Texas is camera happy I noticed which people complain about in Dallas.
“How much is enough?” he said. “How much money does the city need to be happy and to quit charging us more money all the time?
It’s NEVER enough ...
dontchya know ???
In Houston, the citizens voted down the red light cameras (several years after they were put up by city council/mayor edict without a public vote).
The city of Houston renegotiated the contract with the private firm they lease the cameras from (should have BOUGHT them, it’s all a shady deal) so as even a legislative rejection of the cameras would keep the cameras on and the city receiving cash flow.
So now the matter is in federal court, with the city “representing” the citizens, and no citizen input permitted, even though it’s been shown that the city is NOT representing the interests of the citizens.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
My mom's 78 and lives five hours from me so I guess if she wants a new ceiling fan the old bitch can climb the ladder herself?
And go to California?
LOL!
We have California relatives that are the same way.
Bobby is that you? Don't worry you will never be invited to another wedding or funeral of a Texas relative again, you just behave too badly when you come here.
LOL!
Noon Day bump
I left the city limits myself some time ago. Now when I drive into Houston, I'm appalled at the condition of the streets.
Another poster long ago noted that the Houston City Council controls the annexing of surrounding territory with the overriding objective being to leave the city itself in Democrat hands. There are plenty of Republican subdivisions surrounding the city, but they rarely get annexed unless there is a sufficient surplus of Democrat voters in the city itself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.