Fined for Procrastinating
I went to get my new Driver’s License today; it wasn’t so bad: about an hour of hanging around the DMV, and now I don’t have to do it again for ten years, so I guess, amortized over that time, the waiting was only six minutes for 2007.
The renewal fee was $25.00, which pays for what I’m not sure, but if any of it goes to street maintenance, then my claim, as a cyclist, to a share of the road is enhanced. (If the fee only goes to supporting the DMV, then my claim still stands: I pay car tabs, property taxes, and other assessments that help pay for pavement, concrete, and traffic lights.)
When the cashier rang me up, though, she said I owed a hundred bucks. Apparently, I was being charged a seventy-five dollar “reinstatement fee” for when my license was temporarily suspended then returned to active status last year. This was because I had gotten a speeding ticket in New Mexico that I failed to pay in a timely manner, only doing so when I received a letter that said—as I understood it—my license would be suspended if I didn’t pay up.
And it wasn’t that I had no intention of paying. The reason it took me so long was that I lost the original ticket; I kept meaning to call the state of New Mexico and get the info, but I just never got around to it. In fact, I was glad when I got the suspension notice because that gave me the address and agency to send the money to.
So, basically, it seems to me that I’m being charged seventy-five bucks mainly for being a space case. And that strikes me as excessive.
I can’t imagine that I cost the state of Washington seventy-five dollars in administrative salaries to essentially press a computer key twice.
Couldn’t they just have forgotten about the whole thing?
I know I did.
The renewal fee was $25.00, which pays for what I’m not sure, but if any of it goes to street maintenance, then my claim, as a cyclist, to a share of the road is enhanced. (If the fee only goes to supporting the DMV, then my claim still stands: I pay car tabs, property taxes, and other assessments that help pay for pavement, concrete, and traffic lights.)
When the cashier rang me up, though, she said I owed a hundred bucks. Apparently, I was being charged a seventy-five dollar “reinstatement fee” for when my license was temporarily suspended then returned to active status last year. This was because I had gotten a speeding ticket in New Mexico that I failed to pay in a timely manner, only doing so when I received a letter that said—as I understood it—my license would be suspended if I didn’t pay up.
And it wasn’t that I had no intention of paying. The reason it took me so long was that I lost the original ticket; I kept meaning to call the state of New Mexico and get the info, but I just never got around to it. In fact, I was glad when I got the suspension notice because that gave me the address and agency to send the money to.
So, basically, it seems to me that I’m being charged seventy-five bucks mainly for being a space case. And that strikes me as excessive.
I can’t imagine that I cost the state of Washington seventy-five dollars in administrative salaries to essentially press a computer key twice.
Couldn’t they just have forgotten about the whole thing?
I know I did.
posted by Professor Dave at 5:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home