Dog license late fees ridiculous

We just paid our renewal fee for our two dogs' license, $46.40, $30 of which was late fees, charges that would make any credit card company's mouth water, roughly 75 perent. We'll be the first to admit, yes we did pay late, but really, this seems ridiculous. After paying roughly $10,000 a year in taxes, this bill feels like the town is going through our couch cushions for change.

What is really outrageous to us, the first correspondence we received was a past due notice and not a renewal application. How come these could not have been sent out the first of the year? Doing so could have helped already tax-burdened residents avoid paying unnecessary fees.

After paying this, my dogs are still not allowed in the town park down the street and the road we have to walk them on, Gingerbread Castle, is still a disgrace, filled with litter and begging to paved.

Perhaps this will all be avoided once the new $30,000 sign is installed.

Jeff Carroll
Hamburg