Accountability - Improper Tax Bill

Switching topics for a moment. As many of you know, Abington Township residents were given the option to downsize their trash/recyclable bins last year. If you selected a smaller trash can like I and many other residents did, your refuse portion of your tax bill should have been reduced by an amount commensurate with the reduction in size.

However, when my tax bill arrived this spring, I was still being billed as if I still had the larger trash can. I called Abington Township to inquire about this and the Abington Township staff person acknowledged the mistake. More importantly, they acknowledged that most of the residents who downsized their trash cans were also likely being over-billed on their taxes. I was told that there was some sort of problem with recording who opted to receive smaller trash cans. I would be willing to bet that most residents paid the amount reflected on their tax bill without checking whether the refuse portion had been appropriately updated.

One would think that since Abington Township was aware of this problem that they would have notified the residents that their tax bills may be in error. Shouldn't Abington Township accept the responsibility of their errors and pro-actively make residents aware that some sort of problem exists in the township records of who selected to downsize their trash container?

Yes, in the grand scheme of things, this is a minor thing, but it does point to a bigger picture and problems.

WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY?