This is why we hate councils. 

On December 15th last year we received a letter from our local outfit claiming that the bore we have is not official, it has not been signed off and we have 28 days to rectify it. 

This coming so close to Christmas is not good news and requires a level of attention that makes a mad part of the year even madder. 

We purchased our house, complete with bore, a year after it had been finished so this was all news to us. 

We replied, suggesting the tone of the letter was needlessly aggressive and that 28 days was potentially an issue, given Christmas and all the various stat days, as well as the fact the council wouldn't be open, and no one would be contactable. 

We got a sort-of apology about the tone and was told 28 days might be a bit of an issue and to do what we could. 

What we didn’t know at the time, but found out later, was there was nothing wrong with the bore or the signing off of it. What had happened was the council had lost the files and they had decided to make it our issue. 

This alone was a re-enforcement of an attitude you tend to get when you are dealing with a statutory monopoly - they do and say what they want and what are you going to do about it? 

Anyway, a number of phone calls later, we found what we were looking for. There was no issue with the bore, there was never any issue with the bore, it was drilled properly by people who take their job and their duties seriously and they, along with the various other water people we dealt with, were not impressed, yet again, with a council who throws their weight around. 

So, after proof was gathered, photos taken and paperwork filed we were told, indeed, our bore was now legit. 

Like most things councils do nothing had changed and nothing had actually happened. The bore was no more or less safe, it was just acknowledged on some piece of paper, or on some file somewhere, to the satisfaction of some bureaucracy 

That was 3 months ago. Then this week we got another letter from the council. 

It contained a bill for $279. 

What for? For filing the documentation around our bore. 

So, the file they lost, the work we did to rectify that, is now costing us close to $300 for them to patch up the mistake they made in the first place. 

At no point was there recognition of the fact we were doing their work, that our work had gone unpaid and that if it wasn’t for us, none of it would have been fixed. 

But the energy they put into writing to us, bullying us and forcing us to fix their issue would now cost us $279, thank you very much. 

And you wonder why we hate them.