thesbaine

thesbaine t1_j8e89s8 wrote

Reply to comment by Weary_Ad7119 in PennDOT charges $6 more for online license renewal? by exhilaration

Breakdown time:

In 2019 there were just over 9,000,000 licensed drivers in PA. Assuming about 50% renewed online, and assuming an even spread over 4 years, you're talking 1,250,000 renewing per year online. That's $6,750,000 per year.

There's no way that the SLA, maintenance, hardware costs, and plugins cost that per year alone. If it does, going back to an initial statement, something is very, very wrong.

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thesbaine t1_j8djc7k wrote

Reply to PennDOT charges $6 more for online license renewal? by exhilaration

Generally the extra fee is to cover electronic payment processing fees levied by 3rd party payment processors. States are also generally not allowed to eat the cost because you'd be taking money out of the "pockets" (paid taxes) of people that chose to show up and pay in person. Tax collectors in other municipalities and states all charge similar fees.

That said, $6.00 is insane and way over priced. Someone should get around to auditing that department and figure out who they're using as a payment processor.

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thesbaine t1_j7phtyy wrote

Reply to comment by Hellrazor32 in How Can We The Increase Affordable Housing Supply? Ideas? by twentiesforever

Obligatory CT resident that likes to keep tabs on my fellow NE states: yeah, no one is trying to turn VT into anything else, and I see the same arguments here that I do in CT. Outside of the cities and large towns, CT has just as many folks going "but it'll ruin the aesthetics" or "but it'll ruin the charm". Totally disregard the fact, though, that many of the towns saying that have open pit quarries on their main roads and have distribution centers/warehouses as their main fixtures right next to their downtown that contains a dive bar, 3 pizza places, and seven nail salons.

Let's be real here: the goal has never been keeping the "charm" of towns. It's always been about keeping "those" people out.

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thesbaine t1_j78umtn wrote

Reply to I don't think the legislature should be setting the qualifications for Sheriff, that's the job of the voters (and I support elected Sheriffs). We need a way to remove a Sheriff who has shown themselves to the public as unfit for office. That's my opinion. by RamaSchneider

From a flat lander in CT: it needs to be easier to remove people in that kind of power. My local police chief has such an ironclad contract that the voters want him out but cannot remove him short of his own gross misconduct (i.e. doesn’t matter if the department is shit by his design, he cannot be removed without him fucking up).

Having a mechanism to remove people that are not wanted by voters is a good thing. Having rules is also a good thing. We’re suffering because we cannot.

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thesbaine t1_j6jzfyx wrote

Reply to Guilford vs Madison by Coffee_Cardio

Basically the same town, but I find the people in Guilford much, much more chill.

That and, at least, you don’t have “tall and handsome” Bob Stefanowski as a neighbor.

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thesbaine t1_j63r2gp wrote

Reply to comment by Questionguy789 in CT lost thousands of people to other states last year, Census Bureau says by gewehr44

Late to reply, but I just had a few beers with our realtor a couple of days ago (ran into him) and asked him how things were. His office is generally getting 10-12 calls per day with "you got anything coming up"? He's got probably 1 every two weeks that effectively doesn't hit the market and sold above asking price.

Again, it's anecdotal and maybe it's happening less now, but we were routinely getting shown houses before they were listed when we worked with him.

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