Man Overcharged on Garbage Fee – City Refuses to Refund ** Update **

Editor’s note: This individual received a full refund on Friday, March 17.

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A Niagara Falls man, finding himself enmeshed in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare at the hands of Niagara Falls City government, has reached out to the Reporter in an attempt to rectify a situation which never should have happened in the first place.

Last week we received the following cry for help on our Facebook page:

“I discovered I was being overcharged for city refuse fees. I’ve only ever had 1 garbage can, but I learned in January that I was being charged for 2. I contacted DPW (the city’s Department of Public Works) on several occasions. I was directed to a Roseanne, but she just happened to not be available during calls. I eventually asked for (Public Works Director) John Kinney by name when she finally announced herself, and she told me that she had reviewed my account and claimed it was being expedited to the City Controller.

“I’ve called about my money for more than 4 weeks now. Supposedly my check for over $450 was mailed out last Wednesday. Here I sit a week later and alas, no check.

“I wonder how many other people are unaware of being overcharged.

“If we didn’t pay, the city would have imposed a penalty and ultimately it goes against property taxes. They aren’t paying me interest for keeping my money, but they’re collecting interest.

“There is no paperwork within the city with my name signing for 2. They state the issue has been corrected and this year my billing will be correct, but I can send you call log screen shots showing how many times I called them.

“This is absolute bs and I would be getting harassed and penalized by the city had I refused to pay, but let them f up…

“I have to wait on them to do this, then that, but yet here we are almost a month after confirming THEIR error and I’m still the one left holding the bag…”