Big Gummint

I'm buying a factory built shed to store equipment -- I have a lot of acreage, and I heat with firewood, so I have a tractor, a riding lawnmower, a log splitter, chain saws and whatnot. So I went to the town hall and submitted an application for a building permit. This costs, by the way, $239. The clerk old me my paperwork was in order.

The next afternoon, I got a call from the building inspector. It turns out that the Eastern Highlands Health District requires me to submit a separate application so that they can certify that the structure will not be on top of my septic system. (The health district is the public health agency for a consortium of small towns.) It turns out that this application costs another $50. 

Now, anybody with a room temperature IQ can determine whether a structure is on top of a septic system. Septic system here, structure there. QED. It does not require a sanitarian. The building inspector can make this determination himself, for the original $239. It is because of nonsense like this that many people have come to resent government.

I am not the only progressive who thinks that the public interest is ill-served by making policies and processes too complicated. Sure, we don't want people putting buildings on top of their septic tanks, although you could say if somebody does that it's their own problem. But sure, it's worth having the building inspector make sure that doesn't happen as part of the permitting process. But making people apply to a separate agency, prepare a separate application, and pay extra money is just bureaucratic metastasis. The only reason for it is to supply someone with a salary. 

So yes, this does happen. It's important for government to make doing business with it easy, but it usually isn't. That needs fixing.