The Answer Is: One Dollar, Maybe Two

This in from Drudge:

A 74-year-old woman (who is blind) has been told a lien will be put on her home if she doesn't cough up the one cent she owes on her utility bill.

The city of Attleboro Mass. sent Eileen Wilbur a letter stating that, unless she pays up, and fast, the city will assess a lien of up to $48 on her next property tax bill.

Predictibly, a software program is involved. It was instructed to print the letter for any account with a balance remaining. This is what is known in the software business as a boundary condition, and the one-cent condition should have been caught either during a) a requirements review, or b) acceptance testing. (The worst example I have seen of this boundary condition being abused is when a dunning letter was sent out to someone who had a balance "not equal to zero" -- the balance was in fact a negative amount, i.e., the store owed the customer money. The customer was not amused.)

Here's what "City Collector" Ms. Marcoccio said:

"It would be fiscally irresponsible for me to have staff weed through the bills and pull out any below a certain amount".

Memo to Ms. Marcoccio. You could simply re-program the computer to weed-out bills owing below a certain amount. Yes, computers can do that. And that's what other companies do.

She then proceeds to underline the hopelessness of the task.

"And what would that amount be?"

The answer is: one dollar. Maybe two. How about this: choose an amount that at least equals the 42 cent stamp you're going to put on the letter to mail it.

She went on to say, "If there's a bill, it must be paid," she said.

O-Kay.

My advice to the woman caught in the nefarious net: better cough up the penny.

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2008/11/18/news/3949473.txt

And that's the way the two-cent Ball bounces.