Appeals are unappealing
Apr. 14th, 2024 07:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kathleen_daileyThe past couple of weeks have been a bit of a challenge, what with many medical appointments for both the spouse and me, income tax muddles, and general Merc-retro-type miscommunications. But engaging with bureaucracies' appeal processes is something else again. It helps if one has a big mouth, immense staying power, and a spine of titanium.
On the medical front,
we've recently had to contend with Wheel-Trans deciding (despite plenty of empirical and documented evidence to the contrary) that the spouse's disability is going to "improve," and thus classifying his eligibility as "temporary," even though he's plainly unable to navigate public transit and will never get any better at doing so. So that means that we have to deal with an unnecessarily adversarial appeal process wherein he must fill out yet another long and complicated form, eventually be assessed by means of "an in-person functional assessment," and then appear before the TTC Wheel-Trans Eligibility Panel. And according to the TTC's website, there's no appeal from the appeal. So we'll see...
On the property tax front,
we're among the 125,000 Toronto taxpayers who were erroneously assessed under the Vacant Home Tax program even though they live in their homes. The VHT is calculated at 1 percent of a home's assessed value, so--thanks to Toronto's hideously inflated property values--the amount of tax wrongly imposed on an owner of an occupied home is staggering. Fortunately, I'm still functional enough to be able to comprehend and complete the online appeal form, and I've done so. But watching the news reports of bewildered people (many of them elderly or new to Canada) panicking and weeping when they open an envelope and find that (1) the city thinks their homes are unoccupied, (2) they're supposedly liable for multiple thousands of dollars, and (3) they can't get any relief in person at City Hall--only online or through postal mail--is enough to make me want to scream in outraged sympathy.
In other news, we learned that our dear neighbours, whom we've known since we moved to our condo almost fifteen years ago, are moving--and that (for reasons) the move has to happen immediately. They're putting their unit on the market this week. We're very close with them, and just knowing that we could be there in a minute if they needed us or we needed them was so reassuring and comforting. They'll be relocating as soon as their unit is sold; they don't yet know where they'll go, but probably out of Toronto and possibly out of Canada. They're renting a temporary residence while the unit is being painted and staged and shown to buyers, so we'll still be able to see them for a little while, but wow. I'm going to miss them so much that I don't even know how to quantify it.
Finally, on a happier note, I'm very glad that Star Trek: Discovery is back, and I'm especially glad to see T'Rina and Saru getting screen time. The actors and their characters have so much chemistry that I'd gladly watch a whole ep that featured them. And my big hope for this short final season is that we find out at least a little bit more about Ni'Var.
On the medical front,
we've recently had to contend with Wheel-Trans deciding (despite plenty of empirical and documented evidence to the contrary) that the spouse's disability is going to "improve," and thus classifying his eligibility as "temporary," even though he's plainly unable to navigate public transit and will never get any better at doing so. So that means that we have to deal with an unnecessarily adversarial appeal process wherein he must fill out yet another long and complicated form, eventually be assessed by means of "an in-person functional assessment," and then appear before the TTC Wheel-Trans Eligibility Panel. And according to the TTC's website, there's no appeal from the appeal. So we'll see...
On the property tax front,
we're among the 125,000 Toronto taxpayers who were erroneously assessed under the Vacant Home Tax program even though they live in their homes. The VHT is calculated at 1 percent of a home's assessed value, so--thanks to Toronto's hideously inflated property values--the amount of tax wrongly imposed on an owner of an occupied home is staggering. Fortunately, I'm still functional enough to be able to comprehend and complete the online appeal form, and I've done so. But watching the news reports of bewildered people (many of them elderly or new to Canada) panicking and weeping when they open an envelope and find that (1) the city thinks their homes are unoccupied, (2) they're supposedly liable for multiple thousands of dollars, and (3) they can't get any relief in person at City Hall--only online or through postal mail--is enough to make me want to scream in outraged sympathy.
In other news, we learned that our dear neighbours, whom we've known since we moved to our condo almost fifteen years ago, are moving--and that (for reasons) the move has to happen immediately. They're putting their unit on the market this week. We're very close with them, and just knowing that we could be there in a minute if they needed us or we needed them was so reassuring and comforting. They'll be relocating as soon as their unit is sold; they don't yet know where they'll go, but probably out of Toronto and possibly out of Canada. They're renting a temporary residence while the unit is being painted and staged and shown to buyers, so we'll still be able to see them for a little while, but wow. I'm going to miss them so much that I don't even know how to quantify it.
Finally, on a happier note, I'm very glad that Star Trek: Discovery is back, and I'm especially glad to see T'Rina and Saru getting screen time. The actors and their characters have so much chemistry that I'd gladly watch a whole ep that featured them. And my big hope for this short final season is that we find out at least a little bit more about Ni'Var.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-15 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-15 12:33 pm (UTC)If you decide to watch Discovery, I'll be interested in hearing what you think!