Margate tired of retrieving sunken cars for free

The Margate Fire-Rescue Department may start charging $1,000 to recover cars from its canals.

[waste of money]

25 member dive department to pull 5 cars a year from the canals.
what a typical waste of tax dollars.

[cry me a river]

3-5 cars a yr...let's say they could actually collect on half, which would be alot...1500-2500 dollars a yr...yahoo....How much are the spending in time and paperwork for this stupid ordinance?? Sharp as a bowling ball over there in city hall;)

[aint it great]

And what if the person driving the car dies in the car, think the insurance company will pay that bill? lol. Or maybe the city will bill the deceases spouse or children or parents. Good luck Margate. Thought this one through, eh?

[Celebrate Diversity]

Let me tell me how you can operate a vehicle in Florida without insurance: F the police and F the government. The liberals in government don't want to upset the illegals or people who operate outside the law so there is no mechanism to remove cars from the road that are uninsured. If you don't have insurance, a letter goes out to you and your tag and address is reported to the fat slobs who occupy chairs in the government. Suppose you didn't pay your taxes, they would be seizing your property in a week. Don't pay insurance, you go free! Don't pay insurance, the poor fool who's car is wrecked has to pay all the bills. Don't pay insurance, keep a gun in the car and pop a cap in the cop that pulls you over. The laws in America are a joke and don't need to be obeyed. Stop paying taxes, stop obeying all laws. Steal what you need. Kill if you have to. This is the wild west! Enjoy!

[Deputy Dog]

We're tired of Margate

[John Q Public]

If the equipment and the personnel are already sitting around the fire house waiting for a call, what sort of extra out-of-pocket expenses is the department incurring?

With that said, though, this doesn't sound like a function a fire department should necessarily be responsible for. If there's no threat to human safety and it is just retrieval of personal property, I think that task should fall to a tow truck operator.

[Greg]

As is usually the case in Flori-DUH the politicians don't think something through before enacting an ordinance or law. They want to put this on the books for 4 or 5 vehicles a year? Knowing how government works, it will cost them more than this to have thier administrative staffs follow through and try to tap the insurance company for the money. Want to save money? Try running government like a business where results count and you can't just keep raising the pirce to your customers. Oh yeah, this would make too much sense for it to take place.

[Moved Away]

"Margate can't afford to subsidize the removal of cars from canals," said resident Mitchell Pellecchia. "The onus is on the [car owner's] insurance company. We all have to start pulling our weight."

You want to go through all of this to collect 5g. How about aiming at something that will lower real costs. We really can't afford subsidize people who don't work, people having kids they can't afford, too many gov't programs, etc. The list goes on and on and this is what this moron decides is the right thing to do.

[oh no]

evidently this is a big problem in margate... better to teach folks how to drive.

[immigration]

Celebrate Diversity wrote:

Let me tell me how you can operate a vehicle in Florida without insurance:**** the police and **** the government. The liberals in government don't want to upset the illegals or people who operate outside the law so there is no mechanism to remove cars from the road that are uninsured. If you don't have insurance, a letter goes out to you and your tag and address is reported to the fat slobs who occupy chairs in the government. Suppose you didn't pay your taxes, they would be seizing your property in a week. Don't pay insurance, you go free! Don't pay insurance, the poor fool who's car is wrecked has to pay all the bills. Don't pay insurance, keep a gun in the car and pop a cap in the cop that pulls you over. The laws in America are a joke and don't need to be obeyed. Stop paying taxes, stop obeying all laws. Steal what you need. Kill if you have to. This is the wild west! Enjoy!

listen here short bus--just because bush is out of office and you are a clear racist, doesn't mean you are right. it is obvious you are an uneducated lady who talks out of he azz. so please do us a favor and move back to the third world country you came from. i am willing to bet you live in a trailer and get food stamps. just a guess.

[Unbelievable]

Does this mean Margate will start paying their contractors based upon what the contractor assumes is fair, instead of demanding an accounting of all costs to the penny?

[lab-rat]

oh no wrote:

evidently this is a big problem in margate... better to teach folks how to drive.

I'm thinking maybe a lot of stolen cars are dumped in the canals. Or people that can't afford to keep up payments on the Escalades they never should have bought.

Lastly, maybe Margate could invest in some guard rails or something that would prevent the occassional accident.

[Merlin the Wizard]

Absurd. The City or County has the responsibility of keeping the waterway's clear. Removing vehicles is part of that responsibility.

Someone needs to ask why the canals are not protected by effective barriers.

Just do it.

[Joe]

"We didn't calculate to the penny as to what the cost actually is," Westbrook said. "We came up with what we thought was a reasonable cost for the average time on scene and the equipment we use."

A BUSINESS calculates what it costs to do business then charges accordingly. I guess the Government guesses what it costs to do business. No wonder we are in such a financial mess. This stroy truly shows what idiots we have running our Governments.

[Merlin the Wizard]

immigration
Fort Lauderdale, FL

foolish one....being against Illegal immigration is not racist, and the fact that illegal immigrants and their sponsors keep making such allegations doesn't make it so.

As a matter of fact, defending illegals on the basis of racism merely indicates that you baselessly assume all illegals are of a different race than the proponents of upholding the laws.

[Clayton Bigsby]

90% of these cars are dumped by thier owners for Insurance fraud. Charge the registered owner.

Ones involved in an accident are removed by the tow companies and the FD is not involved. The tow companies bill the insurance companies.

[jonathan]

i wonder what the plane that went down in the hudson cost to retrieve.

[Boca Jew]

Ok, so they have an idea, but seems not well thought out.

They don't know what it costs to actually remove a car from a canal, and they don;t really know how the fee would apply to someone without insurance, or someone who's car is stolen and put in a canal?

[Mitchell Pellecchia]

cry me a river wrote:

3-5 cars a yr...let's say they could actually collect on half, which would be alot...1500-2500 dollars a yr...yahoo....How much are the spending in time and paperwork for this stupid ordinance?? Sharp as a bowling ball over there in city hall;)

Do you actually think a town should pay for personal property dumped in a canal? So if you decided to throw your washers and dryers in there - like residents did in the 70s, the town should pay for that as well, knowing that you're the owner?

[Fll Delta Guy]

Take some of the money that they used to pay the contractors two or three times to replace all the sidewalks and curbs in Margate and put it into the car removal fund. I think the dive team enjoys the practice for the time when a life needs to be saved in that car. How much is a scrap car selling for these days? I have never heard a firefighter say they had to much to do during a shift.