PEORIA, IL - Another year, another Peoria fee -- this time for police and fire pensions. And what a cluster f***.
I received a notice on Jan. 28 that my payment was delinquent -- though I have never received a bill for it. The payment is due Feb. 1 or delinquent fees kick in, it stated.
What? So on Jan. 29 I tried to enter the website listed on the form to pay by credit card. It didn't work. My password wouldn't work, even though it had been set up last fall to pay another fee, the storm water fee. I spent an hour trying to get it to work, changing it, changing the id email address. Nothing worked.
Why so many fees? Because the not-for-profits, school, hospitals, etc. have to pay them, even though they are exempt from property taxes, I've been told. Therefore the convenient way to pay, through property taxes, doesn't exist.
Back to the struggle -- I called the phone number on the form. That wasn't working either. I sent an email to the city and got back a form response. No info.
At 4:50 pm I called again, and this time someone answered, but didn't know anything, though he said the city knows some people didn't get the original bill. That's me. He told me to call the billing department and gave me a phone number. I called and was told the voice mail is full.
Now it's Jan. 30, Saturday. I tried the website again, and it flipped to the city's home page. So it's not working.
I refuse to mail a check when I have a valid credit card on file to pay city fees.
How about some new city officials who will get rid of these nuisance fees and find another way to get money from the schools and hospitals (though that's not a good idea in the era of Covid).
But they could find a better web designer, so one credit card pays all and doesn't reject the password every time a log-on is tried.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Today, Feb. 1, nothing new. The billing department voice mail takes messages but nobody calls back. The website still doesn't work, at least not for me.
WTF???
What a way NOT to run a city. - E.H.
UPDATE Feb. 4, 2021 -- Finally after emails and phone conversations with city staffers my account was straightened out, sort of. I paid the $30 fee with my credit card, which had to be entered again, though the same card also pays the stormwater fee automatically. There are two different payment accounts I was told, so the pension fee is different from the stormwater fee. And the pension fee can't be paid automatically, apparently. And the form said I paid the stormwater fee, though it was the pension fee, I was told. What a stupid, clunky system. I told them to fire the tech contractors and start over. -- E.H.