Health Dept. Inspection fee

kspeer · Senior Member

Health Dept. Inspection fee

niagaranow · Veteran Member

Personally, I think that any fee is out of line for an inspection fee. We all pay the inspectors wages through our taxes, and you can "Bet Your Bippy" that if an event is after 5:00 PM they are getting comp-time for their services. I think it is disgusting. It's always the "little guy" that gets the crap put to them. I'd eat a snow cone without the vendor being inspected, and I wouldn't think twice about eating foods at events. Vendors know what the rules are, and usually they are policed by whomever is putting on the event anyway. If they aren't on the up and up, I'm sure the coordinators would not have them back again.

If a resturant opens, they have to get a license to operate and be inspected by the County Inspectors. Part of the fee for that license includes their inspection. They paid it once, they shouldn't have to pay it twice, or three or four times.

Now I'll get off my soapbox!

nuclearlou · Senior Member

"Health" Department? Not.

Industrial Hygiene Division--Yes. This organization Never was about "health" or "safety."

Consider this: Niagara County has the highest heart disease in the nation, it also has 100% above national average for certain diseases. Love Canal, Bloody Run, Forest Glen, NO ENFORCEMENT of the 1972 State Health Department order to not let anyone move soils or dig holes at the LOOW site (including allowing CWM and predecessors to operate in the woods of Lewiston, questionable financial dealings, spurious and or under reported statistics, SKY-HIGH infant mortality, etc.)

Nice folk.

In NYC, Buffalo and elsewhere in the old days of organized crime--This same thing was called "Strong Arm" and "Protection" (more appropriate use for that word--IMHO).

Little guy? No. Big Cats and Coffers. Yes. Another example of our "fine" NCHD at work!

Now, one should consider other statements, rules and actions by the "health" department as of late.

EVERYONE Say--Paulette Kline, (NCHD Director) MUST GO! She MUST GO to send a clear message to the legislature. They can be next through public opinion and should be shown that fact and or the door. IMHO.

-- Edited by nuclearlou at 09:02, 2006-01-28

kspeer · Senior Member

Looks like people who are trying to do a good thing will be getting screwed, and a business like Mrs. Ribs is really gonna be bent over.......this from yesterday's Buffalo News:

Health board sets new permit for fund-raisers that sell food
By THOMAS J. PROHASKA
NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
2/24/2006
LOCKPORT - The Niagara County Board of Health Thursday created a new type of permit for not-for-profit organizations that hold events where food is sold.

The unanimous vote came over the objections of a group of fund-raisers who said they didn't know permits were needed and thought they should receive exemptions.

The board created a "multiple temporary permit," good for an unlimited number of events in any 180-day period.

It costs $150 and replaces the old seasonal permit, which cost $140 and expired on Dec. 31 of the year in which it was obtained, no matter when the purchase was made.

Board member Barbara Brewer said the county discovered that the state sanitary code did not allow for seasonal permits.

She suggested that it would be more economical for groups holding only a few events to buy a $50 temporary food service permit for each one.

Robert MacFarlane of Newfane, president of Rainbow for Help, a not-for-profit organization that holds benefits for residents with catastrophic medical bills, said the county had done a poor job of letting the need for permits be known. He said he knew of several events that had gone on without one. "Before last year, we never knew we needed a permit," he said.

Brewer said the Health Department was relying on newspaper articles announcing upcoming benefits to try to keep track of them.

MacFarlane said his group is an incorporated tax-exempt organization. "I don't see why there can't be an exemption," he said. "It seems whether it's Niagara County or New York State or the United States of America, it's the people who need it the most who get the least. It makes me sick to my stomach."

Brewer said the state code already exempts churches and fraternal organizations, which include the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, from food service permit fees. She suggested that other groups hold their events in churches or in fire halls, which should already have their own food service permits. Otherwise, the county would insist on collecting its fee.

"Maybe you can get somebody to donate the fee," Brewer suggested.

"Why doesn't the Health Department donate their time?" shot back David Daduano of Newfane, vice president of Rainbow for Help.

"Our charge is to protect the health of everyone in Niagara County," said Dr. Jerome Ulatowski II of Lewiston, the board president. He said the county would face liability if it let any such event slide past its scrutiny.

MacFarlane said, "If we have to pay, and somebody who's not as well-known doesn't, it's not a level playing field."

The board also voted to reclassify caterers as "high-risk" food vendors and set an annual permit fee of $300. For a restaurant already in that classification, an additional catering permit would cost $90.

e-mail: tprohaska@buffnews.com