Rock County disputes fee description
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Craig G. Knutson
Podcast Episode
WCLO's Steve Benton reports Rock County officials are upset over a new phone tax that appears to come from the county
JANESVILLE — Some Rock County officials are upset with the label on a fee recently added to telephone bills.
On Monday, Administrator Craig Knutson sent a letter to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin complaining about the description of a state-imposed, 75-cent surcharge.
The letter asks the commission to help correct the “inaccurate and misleading wording.”
A Janesville resident’s AT&T bill was attached to the letter as an example. On that bill, the line item was described as “County 9-1-1 emergency services.”
Rock County does not put a charge on local phone bills for 911 services, the letter states.
“It’s not our fee, not our charge,” Assistant Administrator Phil Boutwell said.
The charge is the police and fire protection fee that was implemented Sept. 1. A description of the fee and a long list of frequently asked questions are available on the home page of the public service commission’s Web site, psc.wi.gov.
According to state statute, the fee should be listed separately and identified as a police and fire protection fee, said PSC spokeswoman Teresa Smith.
Once the commission gets the letter, it will be delivered to the division administrator who will read it and respond. Staff members could request copies of other phone bills in the area, she said.
The administrator would be responsible for negotiating with the phone company to change the wording on the bill if necessary, Smith said.
Oct 16, 2009 at 3:27 p.m.
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Another one of Doyles fees is the $75 to put plates on a car for a year.
Oct 16, 2009 at 3:23 p.m.
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Fees? More like TAX,TAX,TAX,TAX.
Oct 16, 2009 at 3:05 p.m.
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to be honest, I'm a little concerned that THIS is what Craig Knutson is focussing on. Shouldn't he be focussing his attention on the matters of the Department of Human Services (Charmian Klyve) and the Juvenile Detention Center "scandal" of releasing delinquents back into our community without proper supervision or punishments after committing crimes? I agree that if the 9-1-1 fee is improperly/illegally collected, then by all means, pursue it. If it's just because the wording is confusing...come on...DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE. Don't use this as your diversion project so we will forget how screwed up the county departments are...thanks.
Oct 16, 2009 at 2:34 p.m.
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If you look at your ATT bill, there are all kind of surcharges on the bill that come to about the same as your state taxes. For example: $151.00 for phone, internet and tv, $9.49 for government fees and taxes and $7.78 for surcharges. That's a total of $17.27 added onto your bill. Surcharges are for WI county 911 service fee, WI local video service franchise fee, WI local video facilities fee, federal universal service fund and WI universal service fund, government fees and taxes are WI police & fire protection and WI state sales tax. I tend to wonder if some of these fees are bogus.
Oct 16, 2009 at 1 p.m.
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No more taxes enough is enough
Oct 16, 2009 at 11:20 a.m.
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It is a state fee. They raised permit fees, fines, and other non-tax sources of revenue throughout the state budget (Act 28). The state does provide revenue sharing for fire, police, and 911 services, so some or all of it will come back to the county. But it isn't a county fee.
Oct 16, 2009 at 8:35 a.m.
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Don't we pay for police and fire protection through our property taxes? Why are we being charged twice?
Oct 16, 2009 at 7:15 a.m.
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Yeah, don't dispute yet another fee that we are all burdened with so that 911 can find your location because you ran out of gas on the interstate and the State Patrol, because of budget cuts, can't respond there for for free to save you from yourself and your poor planning -- just dispute what the fee is CALLED!
Now that is what this County calls L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P!
Oct 15, 2009 at 6:03 p.m.
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Well, since raising taxes makes people mad, let's just add some fees onto everything.
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