Is the government double-dipping on the license tabs?

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My tabs were renewed in June. They were paid for, sent to me in the mail and put on the car. Today, August 20, 1999 I received another bill for the same tabs, same expiration date and same price. Does this mean that they are so afraid that they will be $30.00 next year that they are trying to double up on as many unsuspecting people as they can?

After all people really don't pay much attention to their bills...They just assume they are correct and either pay them or ignore them

-- maddjak (maddjak@hotmail.com), August 20, 1999

Answers

It was an honest mistake of human error. But I suppose that you wouldn't know what that is, let alone ever admit to one. And if anyone is careless enough to actually write two checks, DOL won't accept it. In case anyone is wondering, this could happen should 695 pass too. Even if you only have to pay $30 a year, it will still come via that green and white envelope.

What I find interesting is Tim Eyman's response.

"If I had had the power to make something like this happen, I would have made it happen it October, closer to the election," Eyman said. "Thank you very much, DOL."

This mistake cost the taxpayers, you and me, $191,000. I'm so glad that Eyman would like to cause this to happen again. He's bent on driving out wasteful government spending, but is apparently all for it if it advances his cause.

-- Patrick (patrick1142@yahoo.com), August 21, 1999.


Yes Patrick we know in our hearts that government would NEVER cash a check they shouldn't have received. And about Tim Eyman's response. Where was this response? I never saw it anywhere except in your post.

-- maddjak (maddjak@hotmail.com), August 21, 1999.

Prove me wrong then Maddjak. Send them in another check and see if they accept it. According to the Department of Licensing, their computer system won't accept a double payment.

The quote comes from todays Tacoma News Tribune. Check for yourself here: www.tribnet.com. I did a direct cut and paste of his quo

-- Patrick (patrick1142@yahoo.com), August 21, 1999.


Yup. An "honest mistake" that is costing the taxpayers over... what was it... $130,000?

Who is going to make up for this "honest mistake?" Who is going to be presented the bill?

SOMEBODY is responsible, and that person owes the people of this state.

Now then, Patrick... you want to hold your breath until either:

a. The individual responsible is presented with the bill and is forced to pay it? and/or

b. That individual is fired?

Such competence. Why, seeing how idiotic this one department of state government can be just sends tingles down my spine when I think of how 695 will reduce the amount of monies these bozoes can flush.

But, I know, Patrick. Things like this don't bother you in the least.

Westin

"A billion here, and a billion there, and pretty soon, you're talking real money."

Sen. Barry Goldfinger

-- Westin (86se4sp@my-deja.com), August 23, 1999.


The one thing that I love about Westin is his continued attempts at predicting how I should think about something even though he never comes close to reality. One would think that a batting average of .000 would convince him to give it up, but not our Westin.

The fact is that I am concerned that the DOL could make such a mistake, and I do look forward to seeing what they plan to do in order to make sure that it doesn't happen again. While I want to see this mistake corrected, I'm not about to jump to the conclusions that Westin has made and demand that whoever was responsible also be held financially responsible and/or fired. Want to know why? I don't know the full story. I know that human error played a part, but it could have easily been only a small factor. I don't make snap judgements on what other people should do based upon my extremely limited knowledge of a subject or of another person. Perhaps Westin should take notes on that.

What I do know is that DOL operates on a fixed budget set by the legislature every 2 years and subject to minor adjustments every year in between. So that $191,000 will have to be made up somewhere, whether they do it by cutting that person's job, make that person pay a fine, make cuts elsewhere, or a combination of all three.

And let me repeat that 695 WOULD DO NOTHING to prevent this from happening again, nor would it have prevented it from happening had it already been in place.

-- Patrick (patrick1142@yahoo.com), August 23, 1999.



If anyone is interested, here is the info posted on the DOL webpage on the incident.

How many people received duplicate vehicle renewal notices?

466,249 customers received duplicate notices. These customers had originally received renewal notices in June.

How did it happen?

DOL was given the wrong data, causing the agency to print June renewal data to the printer instead of the intended October data. Each month, DOL sends two data tapes to the Department of Information Services (DIS), who houses the data and is responsible for transferring the data to the tapes. When tape 1 fills, DIS puts the overflow data onto tape 2. In this case, the October data was put onto tape 2 and tape 1 was not used. When DOL received the tapes, it was told that only one tape was used. Consequently, tape 1 was sent to the printer to generate the renewal letters. Data tapes are typically reused. In this case, tape 1 had last been used to generate the June renewal letters, therefore June renewal recipients received duplicate letters.

What should duplicate renewal recipients do?

If a person receives a June renewal notice, they are advised to destroy the notice, provided they already renewed the vehicles in June. Anyone who attempted to pay by mail is entitled to a full refund.

When will October renewal letters be mailed?

DOL expects to mail October vehicle renewal letters the week of August 23rd.

What steps have been taken to prevent this from happening again?

DOL and DIS plan to update to an electronic data transfer process to ensure that this problem does not happen again.

-- Patrick (patrick1142@yahoo.com), August 23, 1999.


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