(The following story by Mark J. Crawford appeared on the Bradford County Telegraph’s website on October 30.)
STARKE, Fla. — The city of Starke was caught off guard this month by a bill from CSX in the amount of $43,000.
Bradford County also received a bill, this one for $36,964, and the railroad authority is expecting both bills to be paid within 25 days of receipt.
According to its letter, CSX claims it has for several years miscalculated the city’s and county’s share of the annual cost for maintaining the signals at its railroad crossings.
The statute of limitations prevents CSX for collecting additional maintenance costs older than five years, however.
City Manager Lee Vincent presented the Starke City Commission with the bill Oct. 21, advising that he had already turned the bill over to City Attorney Terry Brown for appropriate action.
“I immediately hand delivered that letter to the city attorney and asked him to start appropriate actions to say, you know, to come in at the beginning of a budget year with a $43,000 bill is not realistic,” Vincent said.
The large amount of the bill and the short length of time in which payment was expected drew a mixture of laughter and indignation from the commission.
“Well I believe they have some ditches and some railways that need to be maintained too,” Mayor Carolyn Wimpy said, referring to the unending battle to get CSX to keep up its property. County Emergency Management Director Bill Dampier said local law enforcement also spends a lot of time raising and lowering CSX’s malfunctioning crossbars.
“Can we wait 25 days and see what happens?” Commissioner Steve Futch joked before seriously asking if interest or a late fee could be applied if the city did not meet the 25-day deadline.
Vincent was unsure and said that is why he turned the letter and supporting documentation over to the attorney.
“Earn your pay,” Commissioner Don Tilley laughingly told Brown. Later Tilley said he was not in favor of paying the bill. If they miscalculated, he said, then its CSX’s fault, not the city’s.