Like most people, including governments and corporations, my wife and I have had to cut back, too. Something our little Florida-born dog isn’t always fond of (particularly when it comes to the heating bill on cool mornings). Mitch Traphagen photo.
I arrived at the county tax collector’s office at 7:30 a.m., hoping against hope that the process would be quick and as painless as possible. The office didn’t open until 8 a.m., yet when I drove up, there were already two people in line. By a few minutes before opening, there were more than a dozen people waiting in the chilly morning air.
That was a little depressing. I’d been through this process before — I was there to register a car that I’d brought in from out of state. I knew what that involved: the very first thing I would need would be to find the deputy on duty in the office to walk out to the car to confirm the VIN and the mileage of the vehicle. Once completed, I would go back in and begin the process for the Florida registration.
Which, I thought, meant that 30 minutes of shivering outside would largely be for naught. By the time the initial work was done, I’d be waiting behind the dozen or so people already in line, plus however many more would show up once the office opened to do the actual registration part.
I’ve spent more hours than I’d care to think about in the tax collector’s office over the past 20 years. What happened within minutes of the door opening was a surprise.
I can imagine that somewhere in Corporate World Land there is a minion working hard on making the ubiquitous “gallon of milk” somehow less than a gallon. The hottest American trend right now seems to be providing less and less but charging the same or more. That runs the gamut of products, and a tour of virtually any grocery store can confirm it. Breakfast cereal in a box that once held 12 ounces, now holds 11 ounces in the same size box for, usually, a larger-sized price. Through the annals of time, few, if any, members of the analytical sciences have yet to accurately determine what all of the charges really are on cable, telephone and cellphone bills. Getting people to pay more for less is the hip corporate thing to do in America.
But what is the end game? At what point is another solution required? It’s a foolish game, hoping to game Americans. Yeah, it may work for a while but sooner or later, it won’t. But then again, what is the alternative? Unfortunately, there appear to be few.
I know the state and county governments have had to cut back over the past many years. I personally don’t believe that this county adequately planned for the gigantic bubble to burst in 2008; perhaps a bit more hay should have been made while the sun was still shining. But that is mostly the fault of elected leaders, not the people working in the offices, such as the tax collector’s office. For the most part, they suffered right along with the rest of us.
But in contrast to my favorite bag of tortilla chips, in which the price stayed the same while a few ounces of product were shaved from the same-sized bag, the tax collector’s office somehow managed to take less and make more.
At 7:59 a.m., the office door was unlocked and the people shivering outside were welcomed in. There were two lines set up, so the couple before me and I were the each the first. I hesitantly explained that I needed to register a car from out of state.
“It’s not a problem,” the receptionist said with a smile. “Barb can help you right there,” and he pointed down the row, just two desks away.
Wait! What? I was expecting to be handed a form, wait for the deputy and then be forced to get back into line all over again.
I walked over to Barb and she, too, welcomed me, along with a “Good morning!” She took my paperwork and pointed out the deputy who would do the VIN and mileage check (a great guy from the HCSO District IV office in Ruskin, by the way) and said that she would get all of the paperwork finished while the deputy was taking care of the information from my car.
Barb was nice, she was friendly, she was efficient, and she even picked up on my hearing loss and made a concerted effort to speak loudly and clearly.
And in minutes, it was done. I didn’t have to wait. I wasn’t mindlessly handed a form and told to suck it up and get back into line once that form was completed. I received nothing but excellent public service.
Nobody is perfect, but the people in the tax collector’s office have done good. In an era of austerity, they have very obviously streamlined things and have responded to their customers, the taxpayers of this county — and have done so quite impressively, in what is often probably not a very easy job. Titles, taxes, registrations are not always simple matters. I’m sure people don’t often sing the praises of anyone in government, but when it’s earned, we should. It certainly was in this case. They took a ubiquitous gallon of milk and managed to pour in a little bit more.
The New Jersey tag off, the Florida tag on, I drove off far earlier than planned, feeling pretty good about things. Maybe there is hope after all, especially when leaders truly choose to lead.
