Press Release: Solid Waste Fee Reimbursements
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Contact: savedavidson@gmail.com
“Save Davidson” Social Welfare Group Uncovers $28,000 in overcharged fees to be paid back to elderly citizens, low-income citizens, or disabled citizens.
DAVIDSON, NC – “Save Davidson,” a social welfare non-profit in Davidson, has put forth questions to the Town of Davidson as the Town has been erroneously charging elderly citizens, low income citizens and disabled citizens a Solid Waste Fee in excess of actual costs in violation of Town of Davidson ordinance for, in some cases, the past 5 years. The fee was instituted to help offset costs for Davidson’s obligation to Mooresville for Continuum cable company (formerly ‘MI Connection). Donna Pollack, Treasurer sitting the Board of Directors of Save Davidson has spearheaded this initiative and says, “In many cases, this fee represents 25-35% of some residents’ tax bills.” and adds, “We are delighted that steps are being taken to reimburse citizens but we’d like to see an investigation into possible process breakdown.”
The current Mayor and board of commissioners, installed in December 2018, is expected to reimburse citizens $28,000 on 44 parcels.
Family member of an affected resident exempt from the fee, Elizabeth Wilson, say her requests for investigation fell on deaf ears with previous boards and says, “We were ignored for several years.”
“We are happy to see that the Town is moving in the right direction on this issue.” says Denise Beall, co-founder of Save Davidson. “This is why we continue to do what we do.”
According to Town of Davidson Finance Director, Piet Swart, who has been working to get information and refunds to citizens, the Town “received the first round of approved refunds from the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners last week. The Davidson Board will consider approval on June 12, and we will issue checks that week.”
Davidson Commissioner Matthew Fort was appreciative of the effort saying, “I want to thank Save Davidson for doing all the due diligence on the solid waste fees and making sure that citizens got the refund. Because of the information Save Davidson provided, we were able to give citizens of lower income a refund of back to five years and I think that is really impactful and really relevant.”
“Save Davidson” started as a Facebook group and has grown into a non-profit with various channels of engagement on Town of Davidson issues including In-person events and social media platforms.
To continue efforts to support citizens, Save Davidson is running a fundraising campaign from June 1-10. To contribute, visit www.savedavidson.org/donate.
Learn more at savedavidson.org. Follow Save Davidson on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin.
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