The following is an electronic Greeting Card from one of our regular readers, Andy Whiteman. We are posting a link to Andy's card for everyone to enjoy.
Well done, Andy!
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We don't know about the rest of you out there -- but we love Trick Football Plays. We came across the following video. It is our Thanksgiving gift to you. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
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Here is one of our favorites we could not leave out of our collection.
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| BY GREG WALTERS |
New 2.5% Sales Use Tax
WILL NOT TAKE EFFECT UNTIL JANUARY 1, 2022
Here’s a little secret many do not know of in Raytown. Voters approved a 2.5% Sales Use Tax on November 2nd. The secret is the tax does not take effect until the first quarter of 2022. The first quarter on January 1, 2022.
So you can save yourself 2.5% on taxable purchases on the internet up until December 31, 2021.
Enjoy the savings while you can.
Homeowner Inspection Fees
PROPOSED BY McDONOUGH ADMINSTRATION
The Michael McDonough Administration has floated an idea to require home owners in Raytown to pay for a permit to build a fence, replace a driveway, or build an out building on their property. Last Tuesday night, the Board of Aldermen met in a public “meeting of the whole” to learn of the creation of the new fee.
The current rules allow homeowners in Raytown to construct a fence, replace a driveway or build an out building (under 200 sq. ft. in size) without a city permit provided they do the work themselves.
If a contractor is hired to do the work, the contractor must obtain a city license before they can do business in Raytown.
A spokesman for the McDonough Administration said the purpose of the work session was to inform members of the Board of Aldermen of legislation planned to create the new fee.
Alderman Derek Ward and Mayor Michael McDonough had a fiery exchange over the proposed creation of a new “inspection fee” by the city administration.
Ward told members of the Board the proposed inspection fee was a “complete over reach”. He continued by saying he would not support the legislation. Later in the meeting Ward 3 Alderman Janet Emerson said she agreed with Alderman Ward’s comments.
McDonough accused Alderman Ward of “attacking” the city employees who put together the inspection fee package.
Ward responded that he did not think it was necessary for the Mayor to give an editorial comment on everything said by a member of the Board.
McDonough ruled that Ward was “out of order”. His ruling effectively ended what could have been an enlightening debate.
The fact is, Alderman Ward was not “out of order”.
The purpose of a work session is to learn of and debate how legislation should be crafted. McDonough and Alderman Ward had contrary views on the subject (for that matter, so did Alderwoman Janet Emerson).
Ruling someone out of order because they do not agree with you is a cowardly way of avoiding debate.
The Mayor is wrong to use such heavy handed methods simply because someone does not agree with him.
OUR VIEW . . .
When a homeowner makes an improvement on their property they should not
be forced to pay an inspection fee if they do the work themselves.
This is how city ordinances currently treat the situation. It should remain so.
Most homeowners check with City Hall when they make plans to improve their property with a new fence, replace a driveway, or construct an out building. The city should encourage these improvements, not make the homeowner who is, in fact, improving the city with their home improvements.
There are, however, instances where homeowners do not follow city code in what they construct. This has led to some structures being built in violation of city property codes. It has also caused property disputes when a driveway crosses property lines.
The problem is a lack of communication by the city to Raytown home owners.
The city is certainly not shy about using tax dollars to inform Raytown voters with fact sheets (that are actually less than factual) for city elections. The city also publishes an annual newsletter informing the Raytown homeowners of all the wonderful things being done for them in Raytown.
Why not use those two methods to inform Raytowners of city codes for home improvement projects?
But, do not insult the taxpayers with an inspection fee. The person doing the inspection is already on the payroll . . . the position is already funded by the city.
After all, we do not want the City of Raytown to gain a reputation of a money-grabbing government that wants to tax homeowners for making improvements to their homes.
Or, to paraphrase what they Beatles most famously wrote in “Taxman”.
17 comments:
A suggestion for those who make internet purchases:
Check Bank of America for cash back credit cards. They have a cash back card that pays 1% cash back on all purchases and 3% cash back on categories you select from. I selected to get my 3% cash back on internet purchases. That works well for me since I make a lot of internet purchases and bay my bill in full monthly so that I don't pay interest. That cash back will help those in Raytown pay the 2.5% internet sales tax imposed by the city.
Andy Whiteman (I am still not a robot)
Andy that won't work for most ppl because you are one of the few that pay off your cards every month. National average of cc debt is $5000 to $10,000 depending on what part of the country your in.
Do not buy into the narrative of the last comment. Notice the last sentence of the post. "depending on what part of the country your in". The writer is trying to create a false narrative with facts based on the economic conditions of the east and west coast. The midwest and eastern rocky mountains do not fit that narrative. You are on the right track!
Is the Mayor out of his "rock picking mind"?
We just got hit with a 2.5% internet sales tax and now this fee? We are being taxed and fee'd to death!
The sales tax and this maybe new fee will be waisted just like every other tax!
I'm wondering if it's true that the City has a staff and department that exists just to collect sewer payments. This would be the same department that at one time also collected Jackson County tax payments.
I wish the City would once again serve to collect the Jackson County payments.
Thank You,
RN
RN: When I lived in Raytown, I knew there was a department that handled sewer billing because I called them and spoke with them many times. The problem was it was a very small department and difficult to call since it seemed like there were only two or three people there.
I used to pay my Jackson County tax bill by mail but as soon as I learned that the City collected them, I started paying them at City Hall because Jackson County paid the City for collecting taxes. I don't recall the exact fee but I believe it was 1%. Even if it was only 1% the city was making a lot of $$$$ for collecting taxes. I don't understand why tax collection was discontinued.
Andy Whiteman
By the time the city discontinued collecting Jackson County tax money, there were so few people going to city hall that it was costing the city more money to pay someone to work that department than what they were collecting.
Don't really know if that last post is accurate. I do know Raytown's interest in collecting taxes for the Jackson County pretty much fell apart when the County cut the amount they were paying for each transaction handled by the city. Which makes sense. The suggestion that the city actually hired someone on just for handling the County's work is really questionable. Call it what you will, book-keeping, accounting, is really just number crunching and recording. Pretty sure the city had its regular staff handle the work.
As for the lack of participation by Raytowners in using the service. That is questionable.
It reminds me of a recycling service the City once ran. It was originally located at what is now the Walmart Store and 350 Highway. When that project went in, the location was moved to the Public Work's garage. It was quite popular. So much so that Public Works employees began to complain about the extra work load it caused them.
So the City cut back on the hours of operation to the point that it was open only a couple of days a week -- most of those days during the work day. Guess what happened. Participation by Raytowners dropped off dramatically.
So the City Administration (under David Bower's term as Mayor) noted the public was no longer using the service so they quit providing it.
Guess that's what you call "cause and effect".
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Please cut and paste the above link to view your ecard.
Andy Whiteman (not a robot)
For the first few years I lived in Raytown, I walked to City Hall and paid my taxes. The first year the city stopped accepting the payments, I paid online. The County was using ACH to process the payments and added a half dollar fee to my bill. Less than the cost of a stamp. Good deal. The next year when I went online to pay the tax bill, the first of my quarterly senior bill, I saw the county had hired a local company, PAYIT, to process the payments and allowed them to add a couple bucks to the bill. Since it was too late to mail the payment, I grudgingly went ahead and paid the "convenience fee" to PAYIT for handling the transaction.
To avoid the extra fee, I mailed the second senior payment. I did this over a month early. I checked our bank account a day after the second payment deadline and was shocked to see the check had not been processed. When I went to the county website, I was really shocked to see penalties and interest had been added to my account to the tune of hundreds of dollars. I immediately went to the courthouse intending to settle up at once to stop any further interest from accruing. The nice lady there informed me that I could not pay in person without a new bill from the county. EGADS!! So after mulling it over, I went ahead and logged into the PAYIT portal and paid online including the entire balance remaining, two penalties, interest accrued, and the PAYIT "convenience" fee.
In less than a week, I received a mailing from the Jackson County collector. Inside was my check that was mailed to them over a month earlier and a note saying the check could not be accepted for payment because the bill had already been paid online through PAYIT. So apparently the county had been sitting on my check for weeks or it somehow was magically "lost in the mail". I called down to the county and tried to get clarity on when the check was received and after several attempts, gave up. The pandemic had hit and all county services were really messed up.
The final irony in this mess is that PAYIT uses ACH to process payments made to the county through them. Last year due to the pandemic, the county used emergency COVID money to pay off PAYIT to the tune of hundreds of thousands of $$. Must be nice to have such a cash cow business.
Makes me wonder how many thick steaks and tall cocktails it takes to swing this type of arrangement.
Sorry for the long rant.
Have a great day Raytown, RN
RN, If I had that kind of issue, I would MAIL my check either Priority Mail (watch the tracking to seen when it was delivered) or Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested so that you would have proof of timely delivery. As you said, someone has created a cash cow that IMHO is illegal. I wonder if there is an attorney who wants a class action lawsuit?
Andy Whiteman
How does one get quarterly senior bills instead of regular year end bills?
All the information for the senior tax payment plan is clearly shown on the Jackson County website. Just go to tax payments and you will see it.
Here is a better way to find out more about the senior tax payments. Just copy and paste the following link on whatever you use to navigate the internet. It will take you directly to the site about quarterly property tax payments to Jackson County.
As with all things in government, the address unnecessarily long.
Hope this helps.
https://www.jacksongov.org/Government/Departments/Collection/Tax-Payment-Methods/Senior-Quad-Payment-Program#:~:text=The%20Senior%20Citizen%20Quad%20Payment,31%20of%20the%20following%20year.
Here is an update on my previous post.
I decided to go to the courthouse (Independence) today to pay my personal and real estate taxes. When I got there, I saw 25 or more people standing in line to pay. Many maskless in a narrow hallway. The line wound down to the end and back so if you choose to wait it out there will be lots of opportunities to share airborne germs.
Me being 75 and with the usual health issues of older folks, I decided to NOT wait. When I got home, I decided to go online to check and see if maybe again this year the surcharge would be waived. Sure enough, the extra $3.25 is being paid by the County. The website says $1.25 stays with the County and $2.00 goes to PAYIT.
What a sweet deal this PAYIT company has.
Regards, Raytown Newbie
Raytown Newbie, I feel the PAYIT type charges are a ripoff. Did the courthouse have a night drop box for payments? Raytown did and that is where I dropped my payments. My current city has a drop-box and that is where I drop my utility payments. It saves 58¢, it gets there faster than mailing, and I know when they have it.
I think we are fighting a losing battle with governments and big businesses!
Andy Whiteman
Andy, it obviously has been a long time since you were in either downtown KC or Independence. If they put a lock box out side, it will be stolen within a week. The buildings are brick. To cut a hole for a mail slot in the building would be expensive. To have a mail slot in the door means having to replace the door. There's a big difference between Raytown and other big cities. It just wouldn't be practical.
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