governments (weekend happenings)

[cellio]

On Saturday I received a past-due tax bill -- for a house I no longer own. I didn't own it last year either, so this really shouldn't have happened. So today I tried to straighten it out, and it turned out that the bureaucrats in Swissvale had no clue that the ownership of the house changed (in 2001). The person I spoke with on the phone did not sound very clueful, and she ended by saying that she would leave a message for the correct person (who wasn't in today). She was not able to tell me whether this is still in any way my problem. (Obviously it's not my debt, but it can still be my problem.) I decided not to ask who has been paying the other taxes for the last two years.

I guess I'll call back tomorrow and see if I can talk with the correct bureaucrat. Meanwhile, I'm curious about whether this was yet more incompetence on the part of the realtors involved, or clueless bureaucrats not processing the notice of sale, or what.

Yesterday we had folks over for a game of Advanced Civilization (the board game, not the computer game). I played Crete for the first time. I thought I was doing well on the board (well, until the civil war two-thirds of the way through, from which I eventually recovered), but I got creamed in points. I don't know whether I'm bad at trading, or bad at optimizing purchases of civilization advances, or what. I still had a lot of fun, but I expected to do better.

Unfortunately, we couldn't do this on Saturday, so this collided with Sunday dinner. Oops. (The entire plan only hatched a few days ago.)

Comments

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Waitaminute ... you had a house in Suissevale? As in, Moultonboro, NH, on Lake Winnepesaukee?

My Mom lives there. I went through high school in that neighborhood.

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately for the small-world effect, I think she's referring to the Swissvale suburb of Pittsburgh, PA.

[cellio]

Sorry, but Ralph is correct. I've lived in PA all my life minus three years (the first three).

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

For reasons I can't really explain, I feel like I have a lot of trouble grasping Advanced Civilization. It might be that I'm bad at trading, or it might be that I get thrown off by the limited-counter nature, or it might be something else. I just feel that it's fun, but I can't play it well.

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the tangle. Hopefully, they'll realize that you sold the place and leave you alone. It's not quite the same thing but I still receive tax forms for the town in which I grew up and I haven't paid taxes there for at least 6 years. Fortunately, these are just forms and not bills so my Dad just disposes of them.