Reply #32: Maybe you should factor the home owner's wise decision to carry homeowners insurance. [View All]

[DURHAM D]

The home owner will be made whole (or nearly whole) by his insurance carrier. Therefore, he made a very rational decision not to pay the $75 because he had the situation covered elsewhere.

Those crying over his poor decision and sending him money (the purpose of his interview) need to know more before they are made a fool of. His family (son) had previously had a fire up the road and had not paid into the fire system that has been in place for 20 years. Now this guy's grandson starts a fire at grandpa's house. Did this same kid start a fire at his dad's house? The old man had all sorts of indicators that fire is a possibility because it happened in his own family and still he lets a kid burn debris in his yard. To say the old dude has poor risk management skills beyond question. I would be willing to bet the neighbors think this family is careless at best and perhaps dangerous.

I would be willing to bet that most of the people who don't like the city's policy don't pay property taxes and know nothing about the disparity between taxes in the city and county. These people are arguing "theory" not the fact situation on the ground.