PAYT in Peters - Not so much UPDATED

When I saw this article in The Almanac, I thought, "This could be us if PAYT comes to fruition."

Delinquents owe $82,000 for garbage collection

Some residents are not paying as they throw in Peters Township, resulting in this:

PAYT does not appear to be working in Peters Township. Government officials are now dealing with legal action against delinquents. On the bright side, Mt. Lebanon commissioners can take all the legal action they want because of the agreement they have with their solicitor. It won't cost Mt. Lebanon a dime extra (think MTL's case against me), but the downside is that we will see more of what is pictured above. Not only will Mt. Lebanon be dealing with delinquents, we also have hoarders here. There, I said it. There are people in Mt. Lebanon who do not part with anything. Hoarding will increase if there will be a separate fee for solid waste removal.

Peters Township is rethinking their PAYT system.

He suggested that township officials consider changing how residents are charged for waste collection. 

“I think, as part of next year’s budget cycle, we should look seriously at the possibility of incorporating that into the taxes,” he said. “There are lots of reasons to do it. The downside is that it results in a substantial tax increase. But it eliminates these problems with liens, and it eliminates lot of the fees associated with trying to collect.”

Susan, how does this fit in with your memorandum to Keith? Are you going to call up The Almanac and complain that they printed such "trash?" I'm willing to bet that mentioning "hoarders" and "Mt. Lebanon" in the same sentence did not sit too well with you. But this is the real world.

Commissioners, are you listening?

Update January 6, 2017 12:36 PM

Then there is this one:

I could do this all day.

Crystal Ball, what is in our future?

Right out of The Almanac.  This will be us.  Dave Franklin was appointed as the Parks Advisory Board liaison to Dave Brumfield's newly created Sports Advisory Board. Read about Peters Township's artificial turf,  multi-use field, Gatorade, folding chairs, special interest group and all the other things that have been brought up here.

Public land easily sold in PT

Peterswood Park is for sale. At a price of $240,000 you can buy three to four acres of improved land with no future tax burden or maintenance expense. The taxpayers of Peters Township will pay upwards of $750,000 for the improvements you specify. To qualify, you simply need to secure a spot on the Parks and Recreation Board so that your personal agenda can be pushed through by your friends.

Do not worry about the Peters Township Council. Despite having authority to override the Parks and Recreation Board’s decisions, they won’t, for fear of setting a precedent that they may have to weigh in on future issues. If this sounds too good to be true, watch the proceedings of the Dec. 10 council meeting. There, you will see that the Peters Township Soccer Association accomplished just that! Kudos PTSA. Your negotiations rival that of the Louisiana Purchase!

Shame on you, Peters Township Council, for allowing yourselves to be blackmailed by a special interest group who pushed through their agenda, under the auspices of creating a multi-use field, and then threatened to withhold their payment when asked to share the field with other established users. Despite a letter from Shaw, the turf manufacturer, supported by detailed testimony, showing clearly that the PTSA’s fear of potential turf damage was unfounded, you neglected your fiduciary responsibility and allowed your previous decision to be overturned at their whim. The PTSA was not asked to substantiate their fears of damage. They simply needed to say they did not want other users on the field. There has been no response to concerns posed about folding chairs, coffee, Gatorade, dogs, etc., which the manufacturer states will absolutely cause damage to the playing surface, because those concerns are not being voiced by someone with a check. If the intent is purely to protect the investment made in the field, why are these issues not being addressed? Why is the focus on use of equipment that has been proven will cause no harm?

While the cross country team can now look forward to a new course in another soon to be beautified area of the park, I walk away baffled that public land can be sold so easily.

We don’t have to look very far to understand the problems we have in Washington!

Barbara Wehn McMurray