Norfolk is cracking down on garage sales. No Permit?? They will track you down.
Every Saturday, Norfolk inspectors drive to unregistered yard sales to collect the city's $5 fee.
Is that the best use of your tax dollars?
NewsChannel 3 Investigator Mike Mather took a look at how your household trash is turning into Norfolk's cash.
For almost 20 years, Keith Dyer's garage has swelled with stuff, from his parents, from his grown kids, from a previous marriage, he describes what he has, "Railroad spikes. Keys. Shower curtain hooks."
This weekend, the Larchmont man will host a yard sale to cull this clutter. His sale is one of a dozen this Saturday. For each yard sale, Norfolk gets $5 for the permit. Make no mistake, Norfolk will get its $5. If Keith forgot his permit or just figured why bother, a yard-sale enforcer would descend on his driveway to snatch the cash.
Lynn Williford came face-to-face with the permit police when she spied a suspicious man poking through her stuff. She says, "He looked around a bit and then he came over, and he just, I was sitting over there with my friend, and he said, do you have a permit?" Williford says that in a rush to get ready for the sale she just forgot. "He said, I'll tell you what. I will sell you the permit on the spot, which he did, which kind of made me wonder."
Every Saturday, someone from the Norfolk Commissioner of Revenue's Office compares yard-sale ads with the list of permits. When they spot a scofflaw, they swoop in. No other city does this, and to Wilford that seems like a big effort for a little money. "I think they are spending far more than it is worth. Yes. Because, at five dollars, you go through the paper and you see how many there are, and you figure up his time, his pay, the gasoline at the prices they are charging now for gas, and I think it is a bit much to do it."
For all the extra enforcement, Norfolk brings in roughly the same amount of permit money as other cities. On average, Norfolk nets $12,000 per year. That's 13-hundred dollars more than Hampton, but a thousand dollars less than Chesapeake.
According to the commissioner, there are no records kept in her office showing the success of this enforcement, and no records showing the cost.
Commissioner of Revenue Sharon McDonald was out of town this week, but she called to defend the tactic, saying her Saturday staff has other duties, too. "I am unique in that I am the only commissioner who has a person working on Saturday," she said. "I'm proud of that. I'm doing the job the people elected me to do."
McDonald said when inspectors are done is done with garage sales, they drive around collecting other taxes, usually from home-based businesses. The inspectors will skip Keith's sale this weekend because he has a permit, and a whole lot of stuff to sell.
Besides the permit, Norfolk has lots of other rules for yard sales. You can only have two per year, and signs advertising your sale are not allowed, except in your yard. If you have a sale on Sunday, it can't start before noon, and your sale can run a maximum of three days.
NewsChannel 3 Investigator Mike Mather took a look at how your household trash is turning into Norfolk's cash.
For almost 20 years, Keith Dyer's garage has swelled with stuff, from his parents, from his grown kids, from a previous marriage, he describes what he has, "Railroad spikes. Keys. Shower curtain hooks."
This weekend, the Larchmont man will host a yard sale to cull this clutter. His sale is one of a dozen this Saturday. For each yard sale, Norfolk gets $5 for the permit. Make no mistake, Norfolk will get its $5. If Keith forgot his permit or just figured why bother, a yard-sale enforcer would descend on his driveway to snatch the cash.
Lynn Williford came face-to-face with the permit police when she spied a suspicious man poking through her stuff. She says, "He looked around a bit and then he came over, and he just, I was sitting over there with my friend, and he said, do you have a permit?" Williford says that in a rush to get ready for the sale she just forgot. "He said, I'll tell you what. I will sell you the permit on the spot, which he did, which kind of made me wonder."
Every Saturday, someone from the Norfolk Commissioner of Revenue's Office compares yard-sale ads with the list of permits. When they spot a scofflaw, they swoop in. No other city does this, and to Wilford that seems like a big effort for a little money. "I think they are spending far more than it is worth. Yes. Because, at five dollars, you go through the paper and you see how many there are, and you figure up his time, his pay, the gasoline at the prices they are charging now for gas, and I think it is a bit much to do it."
For all the extra enforcement, Norfolk brings in roughly the same amount of permit money as other cities. On average, Norfolk nets $12,000 per year. That's 13-hundred dollars more than Hampton, but a thousand dollars less than Chesapeake.
According to the commissioner, there are no records kept in her office showing the success of this enforcement, and no records showing the cost.
Commissioner of Revenue Sharon McDonald was out of town this week, but she called to defend the tactic, saying her Saturday staff has other duties, too. "I am unique in that I am the only commissioner who has a person working on Saturday," she said. "I'm proud of that. I'm doing the job the people elected me to do."
McDonald said when inspectors are done is done with garage sales, they drive around collecting other taxes, usually from home-based businesses. The inspectors will skip Keith's sale this weekend because he has a permit, and a whole lot of stuff to sell.
Besides the permit, Norfolk has lots of other rules for yard sales. You can only have two per year, and signs advertising your sale are not allowed, except in your yard. If you have a sale on Sunday, it can't start before noon, and your sale can run a maximum of three days.
