With fuel expenses that rival Joan Rivers' botox bill, a lot of smaller towns are feeling the budget crunch. USA TODAY reports the Holly Springs, Georgia, police department is doing something about it. No, they're not switching to biofuel or putting their officers on bicycles. Starting July 1, if you're stopped for speeding in this Atlanta suburb, you'll be charged a $12 "fuel surcharge" for the gas the po-po used to catch you. (They didn't say if they'd increase the surcharge by the number of cars used to run you down.) Police chief Ken Ball expects the surcharge to add between $19.5k and $26k to the city's coffers. Looks like Atlanta's next; Monday, the city council approved a proposal to add $10 to $15 to tickets for speeding and other moving violations within their borders. Don't smirk if you live elsewhere, though– Ball says he's been "inundated" by calls from other cities wanting a copy of the ordinance.
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You know that’s a bargain if you lead them on a high speed chase as they will spend well over $12 to catch you!
And soon we’ll have the rubber tire wear surcharge if there’s squealing during the chase?
BTW – the markets first responded with lowering the price of oil when the Chinese hiked the price of gasoline, then they realized this meant the Chinese weren’t getting enough gasoline for industrial use, and that they wanted to reduce private use — which means oil is scarce, which means the price goes up again.
Great! Do you get to charge the city a fuel surcharge every time you stop and idle at a red light?
Good one, William. Or how about being idled in construction delays?
This is a brilliant way to draw attention to the massive fleet of gas hogs operated by the US Government.
Dump the Crown Vics and start driving Focuses!!!
MD, you are on the right track. Just wait for the calls from the citizens to put all the traffic cops on 600cc motorcycles. When they can’t find enough cops to take the job, maybe they will reconsider the whole surcharge.
Should our police cars look like the French?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/French_Police_p1230006.jpg
Good show William.
That means I can claim all this gas use to my taxes eh?
I swear these people come up with such “genius” ways to rip people off.
dhanson865 asked, “Should our police cars look like the French?”
That’s a sharp-looking little Peugot patrol car. I wonder if it’d carry all the gear American police put in their cars, but anyway it’d be interesting to see a life-cycle cost study of how a Peugot or VW compares to a Crown Vic Interceptor.
Should be a donut tax.
The cop is about 100 pounds overweight.
William C Montgomery :
June 20th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Great! Do you get to charge the city a fuel surcharge every time you stop and idle at a red light?
AMEN! This is such a racket it’s unreal.
bluecon – you beat me to it!
Aside from their high(er) fuel consumption the life cycle cost on the Panther platform cars is fairly low.
William C Montgomery :
Great! Do you get to charge the city a fuel surcharge every time you stop and idle at a red light?
I believe we SHOULD have the right to charge cities, counties, and states for inefficient traffic management practices, one of which is allowing unskilled, inattentive, and just plain incompetent drivers to use the roads, and another of which is making three directions sit and wait for the no-traffic direction’s green light to cycle through it’s fixed-setting.
This is inexcusable, and the taxpayers have no redress.
It’s true, government agencies have a monopoly when it comes to traffic management. You and I cannot invent a new traffic management system and bring it to market in a free and capitalistic manner,
For that reason, I think governemnts have a responsibility to provide an efficent solution. Until then, yes, I really think we should be able to invoice the local authority for traffic ineffencies.
From TFA:
Katie Harris, 20, a babysitter and student at Georgia Perimeter College, doesn’t like the new fines. “It always seems like government officials are trying to take money from citizens’ pockets,” she says.
And yet they continue to vote for the money-grubbing thieves…
Holly Springs Mayor Tim Downing says: “This is a self-taxing system. If you don’t break the law, you don’t pay the tax.”
Typical bureaucratic response. Here’s one of my own: thieving pigs. Greedy stealing bastards. How about they prove that it actually cost them $12 to run me down? That’s asking too much, though, isn’t it. They’re the government, they don’t have to prove anything.
If motorists are going to get hosed for the police using their taxpayer supplied equipment, the police should impose a surcharge on fat cops. After all, excess weight kills mileage, so if your officers look like Jabba the Hut, take $12 a day for excess wear and tear on equipment. A simple paycheck deduction. Post tax, please.
So if you win the case in court does the taxpayer get stuck with the bill?
So they’re paying for gas that would be used regardless of if the cops actually pulled any one over?
I can’t imagine this would stand up to a direct legal challenge; The police and cities will not be able to justify charging those that get pulled over for the gas that would have been pumped regardless of if they actually pulled anyone over. Its like asking taxpayers to pay for something that they’ve already paid for.
Freaking Nazi’s.
If fuel prices should drop below the price they used when figuring their fuel budget – meaning they won’t have to spend as much as they projected – will they refund the difference to the taxpayers?
(Pardon me while I roll on the floor in fits of laughter at my own insane comment.)