Had a relative of mine.... 35 years old .... denied a driver’s license renewal... he had been a Colorado resident since birth and held a Colorado driver’s license since he was 16. He says “What?”..... And they tell him he has been “flagged”.... did not pay some civic debt... can’t remember exactly, but as I recall it was a county property tax bill..... from...get this.... 20 years before. He never owned any property to pay tax on....
So, he explains what he can and the clerk agrees with him but tells him the “computer” won’t let a license be issued and there is nothing they can do....
So, he goes to the court house and presents the issue.... but they have no record of the property or the bill or any sort of tax deficiency ..... except that “yes, we can see that you have been flagged”.....so he asks how and why that could happen and who did it? The fog rolls and they tell him they can’t do anything about it and he is simply “flagged.” They don’t even know any dollar amount for the deficiency.
In the ensuing conversation, voice levels are raised.... nobody is happy.... the folks at the county speculate that “somebody” mistyped a SSN and that is how the error got introduced and “no, we don’t know who did it or even when.....we can’t clear it without a payment as that is what the computer demands”.......and then they tell him that if he pays $200, they will process the payment and the flag can be removed. That does nothing but make matters worse..... so he goes home, calls a lawyer and the lawyer tells him to pay the $200 and get on with life.
This guy gives up, pays the $200..... I ask why he did that and not keep pressing the issue.... he tells me “I am so angry that it is now worth $200 for me to be able to keep telling this story of county gov’t incompetence and LOGAS.”
