After sleeping on it and re-reading and re-reading and re-reading the letter we received 1000's of times, DH thinks maybe, maybe they haven't put the lien on our house yet. Maybe. Here's the letter as written, and I have to say it says some sad things about the schools here in Garland if this writer was educated here. The grammar reminds me of those bogus emails from people overseas wanting to share their money with you if you just give them your bank account number.

"If amount due is not paid on or before February 25, 2009, please contact the City of Garland Revenue Recovery Department because a lien has been placed on the property described above and a $16.00 Lien Filing Fee will be charged. A lien gives the City of Garland the right to hold the property as security until the amount due is paid. In addition, late payments are subject to 10% interest compounded annually if not paid on or before the due date."

They switched tenses in the middle of a sentence, to say the least. This letter just doesn't make sense to us at all. We've received no prior bills or warnings for this tree trimming they say they did back in December.

Cross your fingers that this is just a poorly worded letter warning us that they will place a lien, but haven't yet.

Sally

Morning Sally,

I'm about 99.9% positive it's a poorly worded sentence & no lien has yet been filed. Is there a "due date" on the billing you received? Is there any interest accrual charge? If the answers are, "yes" & "no" then I'm 100% certain it's just a poorly written letter.

My experience is that Town liens just don't get filed that quickly. In fact, it can often take an entire year before somebody from the Public Works department gets around to walking down the hallway to the Land Records department & handing over the piece of paper to be filed. If your land records are kept at the county level...it takes even longer!

Don't let it spoil your weekend. I would call Tuesday morning though & give them an earful for their sloppiness!

/tricia (who's seen tens of thousands of these City liens)

I am not a mortgage expert, nor do I live in the city, so I don't know how this all works.

But I don't understand why they would put a lien on your property for the cost of tree-trimming?

Good lord, I wouldn't think tree-trimming would be so expensive as to warrant such an action! Especially if you already did it and they felt the need to "finish the job" if they didn't like the way you trimmed.

Makes me glad I live in the counrty! LOL

But I agree with Tricia, I think it is a porrly executed letter and I would not let it ruin your weekend. I am sure you can get it cleared up on Tuesday. And I would definitely mention their lack of writing skills when you talk to them!

Linda

Thanks, Tricia and Linda. Yes, there's a due date of Feb. 25th, and no, there's no interest charged. The total due is $169.10, including a labor fee of $44.10 and an admin charge of $125. Pretty pricey for just a few limbs, and for walking down that hallway. This is so frustrating because I have lived here paying my taxes and utility bills on time for 29 years. Tricia, you put my mind at ease. Thank you.

Sally

I appreciate your frustration, Sally. But, if the trees were encroaching on power lines or town easements & they only charged you $169.10 you got a good deal. It would have cost a similar amount had you hired a tree trimmer yourself & you didn't have to hassle with the arrangements.

Happy V-Day!

/tricia

That's true, Tricia, but DH got out there and did the work himself - he thought. Apparently not well enough for their standards. It just would have been nice for them to give us another notice, telling us that more needed to be trimmed. For one thing, the notice said to trim back to 1 foot from fence. We interpreted that as 1' on the alley side, but I guess they meant on our side of the fence. It wasn't clear.

Well, enough whining. This problem is minor (if it doesn't interfere with our loan, that is) compared to that of others. I truely appreciate everyone's input.

Sally

Just thought I'd let y'all know that we got everything settled, and that no, they had not put a lien on our house. Sadly, the lady at the revenue collection dept. just didn't get that the grammar was bad. She did promise to pass on our complaint about the letter.

Sally

The lack of civility and service from many government agencies is probably why most Americans have such a bad view of government spending. Our city has farmed out tax collection to a collections agency, and they sent out a letter notifying everyone, the note came from the collections agency. It wasn't clear AT ALL that this was just a note about who would be collecting taxes this year, and who would even be involved. At first I thought I was getting a collections notice about some kind of tax thing I didn't even know about. I read it through a couple of times. Anyway, there must have been a big flak about it because the city sent out a clarification/apology letter a week or so later, and even that wasn't clear. My life experience is being a teacher, and having to explain things is your bread and butter--you realize that even though YOU thought you were being clear, the person hearing you did not necessarily understand it. That is a very hard concept for some people to grasp.