Citation for Collection?

[CrimsonBass78]

What is the name of your state? Alabama

I received a citation from the county I used to live in. It seems that in 1992 they passed a law concerning garbage pickup. I moved to that county in January of 2001 after me and my wife were married. At the time I had been employed by my Family's trucking company. I had been employed by them since 1996 the year I graduated high school.

For 5 years we had used the company dumpster to throw our trash away, the entire family did as it was a big dumpster. My grandfather owned the company so when we moved into our house after being married, we used the company dumpster to dispose of our garbage as we always had.

Just for clarification we were in the County from January of 2001 to September of 2005. In Feb. we received a bill for past due garbage collection. This continued until we moved from the house and purchased a different house in another county, that was in Sept. of 2005. I met with the person that was over the company in that time period. I explained to her what I was willing to do but she wasn't willing to work with me.

Fast forward to August of 2007. I received a letter that I now will have a warrant issued for my arrest if I do not pay a 530.00 bill for garbage collection that never happened.

Here is the part that makes me really upset. They NEVER picked the first piece of garbage up at my house. They are trying to get me to pay for a bill that I didn't receive the service that the bill is for. If there was a question on if I had received the service, I would have paid for it. I didn't have my garbage picked up by them, I used our company dumpster.

So now I am faced with the simple fact if I get pulled over for a simple traffic ticket, I can go to jail for a unpaid bill for which I DID NOT recieve the service. I would pay the bill if in fact I had my garbage taken off by them but they never picked up the first bag. I never burned or throwed my garbage in a ditch somewere like other folks here. In fact it went to the same landfill but the difference was it was in a dumpster not a garbage truck.

They contend that even though I never had a bag picked up that I owe them for the bill. Being a county agency they will issue an open warrant in 3 days. The entire time I lived in that county, not once did I receive a letter that garbage service was required. Neither at anytime did someone say anything when I went to pay my ad valorem tax or pay for my car tags at the COUNTY COURT HOUSE of all places. We were living in a mobile home at the time and when I purchased it from the prior owner when I transferred the title over, nothing was said.

Want to know how they found out who was living in the county? Not by running all the vehicle registrations, not by seeing who was paying property taxes or any other information that the county has to thier disposal. No, they took the local utility co-operative to court for a list of thier customers, the court ruled in favor of the garbage company (the hearing was in the same county of course). I feel that I am in a no win situation. Any advice?

[moburkes]

Pay the bill. While you chose not to use the service, you were still required to pay it.

[CrimsonBass78]

There is the problem. I didn't know that it was required, not until they sent me a bill for it...4 YEARS later When I asked them why they didn't send me a bill before then, they didnt know I lived there until they got the customer list from the utility company.

I just don't think its right to pay for a service that I didn't receive. Had I signed up for it (which in fact never happened see above), I would have already paid it and wouldn't be posting this.

[Ladynred]

First you need to find out EXACTLY what that law says. If EVERYONE is REQUIRED to pay regardless of whether or not they actually DO any trash pickup, then you're pretty stuck. If you are not required to pay if there was no actual service, then you have an argument.

[CrimsonBass78]

Well, I went and talked to a lawyer and he looked up the code. I'm stuck paying for a bill that I didn't receive the services of. So I am going to contact their office to see if I can set up a payment schedule, I cannot just make 500 dollars appear out of no where...

The lawyer said I could fight it but it would cost me more than the bill itself which I figured that to begin with.

[ajs09876]

[quote=CrimsonBass78;1696658]I received a letter that I now will have a warrant issued for my arrest if I do not pay a 530.00 bill for garbage collection that never happened.{QUOTE]


I don't think they can have you arrested for not paying your garbage bill. This is a civil matter, not a criminal. It's probably already on your credit report. They can try to take you to court and get a judgement, but they can't arrest you. Garbage companys do not have the authority to issue a warrant

[xylene]

Originally Posted by ajs09876

I don't think they can have you arrested for not paying your garbage bill. This is a civil matter, not a criminal. It's probably already on your credit report. They can try to take you to court and get a judgement, but they can't arrest you. Garbage companys do not have the authority to issue a warrant

IGNORANT DRIVEL...

You couldn't be more WRONG.

A municipality can certainly have a warrant made out for failing to pay a mandatory garbage collection charge.