Meanwhile, most or all of Kern County's taxpayers have received notice of a proposed 27 percent increase in our annual land use fee on our property tax bill to remove illegal residential landfill.
In itself, this means that Grafschaft Kern has failed to comply with and enforce the regulations it put in place to control the matter. In the absence of a better term, the increase in fees is referred to as a "service fee". For what? Is it that we are not harassing those who purposely choose to ignore the law, just don't care, and are unlikely to pay property taxes.
That is not a fair solution. To give Kern County the benefit of the doubt, it would be good to know the number of illegal landfills reported, the number of quotes issued, and the number of fines that have not been paid over the past year.
– Gary Hoetker, Bakersfield