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John is an EMS dispatcher whose hours vary unpredictably from week to week. John always works at least 40 hours per week, but some weeks John works 42 hours, some weeks he works 48 hours and occasionally he works close to 60. Ellen is a water plant operator who weekly hours vary as well, but they vary on a scheduled basis. Ellen works 32 hours every first and third week of the month and 48 hours every second and fourth week. Both John and Ellen are nonexempt employees. The city for which John and Ellen work pays cash overtime instead of using compensatory time off.

Many children and more than a few adults are counting the days and hours until Santa arrives next week.  But taxpayers who’ve yet to pay their 2014 property tax bills should be counting the days and hours until January 6, 2015, the date on which those taxes become delinquent. In a previous post I described the basic issues concerning interest and enforced collections once January 6 arrives.  In today’s post, I focus on two more January 6 issues: record ownership and delinquency warning notices.

Many children and more than a few adults are counting the days and hours until Santa arrives next week.  But taxpayers who’ve yet to pay their 2014 property tax bills should be counting the days and hours until January 6, 2015, the date on which those taxes become delinquent. In a previous post I described the basic issues concerning interest and enforced collections once January 6 arrives.  In today’s post, I focus on two more January 6 issues: record ownership and delinquency warning notices.

Few things are as aggravating to local government employers as paying for the cost of an expensive training program only to have the employee leave immediately to go to work for another local government employer. The new employer gets the benefit of the training for which the old employer paid. Small and rural cities and counties commonly suffer this loss among their entry-level law enforcement and firefighter ranks. Can local governments recoup the cost of training from employees who leave soon afterward? It seems only fair. But is it lawful?

Few things are as aggravating to local government employers as paying for the cost of an expensive training program only to have the employee leave immediately to go to work for another local government employer. The new employer gets the benefit of the training for which the old employer paid. Small and rural cities and counties commonly suffer this loss among their entry-level law enforcement and firefighter ranks. Can local governments recoup the cost of training from employees who leave soon afterward? It seems only fair. But is it lawful?

As I detailed in a previous post, among the funding options available to local units for capital projects are special assessments. Special assessments are charges levied on a subset of real properties located within a county or municipality to fund public infrastructure projects that directly benefit those properties. As such, special assessments are a form of targeted revenue generation.