# PA City Imposes Dish Permit Tax



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

*Satellite Industry Files FCC Petition*

From *SkyREPORT*:


> The SBCA has filed a Joint Petition for Declaratory Ruling with the FCC against a Satellite Dish Ordinance created earlier this year by the City of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. The petition was filed jointly with Antenna Star Satellites Inc. and Johnson TV & Satellite. The petition seeks a declaratory ruling from the FCC that pursuant to their Over-the-Air-Reception Device Rule. Hazleton currently has an ordinance requiring satellite dish owners to obtain and pay $10.00 for a permit for inspection and installation of a satellite dish.


http://www.mediabiz.com/


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

If they're doing it as a structural inspection like any other building permit, they might get away with it. A dish blown loose during a storm could be a hazard to others.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

I wish they would inspect the installs here in Florida. During the last hurricane I had the pleasure of watching a neighbor's poorly-installed, non-braced dish fly through our screen porch and take out the windshield of a boat.

I had to call DirecTV back at my expense when I discovered that their installer hadn't bothered to brace our dish as well.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

My guess is that, as with most city ordinances, this is strict for generating revenue and has little to do with public safety.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

If they truly are going to inspect the dish, they better charge more than $10 each. No way will they actually make money rolling an inspector for that. In most places, the cheapest permit you can get, for something like installing an outlet is $50-$75.

If they don;t actually do anything then it will be a money maker of course.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Lee L said:


> If they truly are going to inspect the dish, they better charge more than $10 each. No way will they actually make money rolling an inspector for that. In most places, the cheapest permit you can get, for something like installing an outlet is $50-$75.
> 
> *If they don;t actually do anything then it will be a money maker of course*.


That would be my guess. They will charge the fee, but not do any inspections. However, they will likely alert the local police, garbage collectors, meter readers, and other city employees to report any dish work so they can verify the permit has been purchased. If not, they will probably have a provision for hefty fines. In fact, some cities even offer "finder's fees " so that nosy neighbors can collect a reward for reporting report any unlicensed construction activity.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

This is a discriminatory tax. I'm willing to bet it's only imposed because they are losing the franchise fee that cable pays. Otherwise they need to impose it on OTA antennas as well.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

I bet the FCC shoots it down.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Good catch. It appears to me that this is definitley prohibited under OTARD:

"_For example, local regulations that require a person to obtain a permit or approval prior to installation create unreasonable delay and are generally prohibited. Permits or prior approval necessary to serve a legitimate safety or historic preservation purpose may be permissible. Although a simple notification process might be permissible, such a process cannot be used as a prior approval requirement and may not delay or increase the cost of installation. _"


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

I am sure the city will just argue that it is a legitimate safety issue due to all the little children who might get killed by loose dishes falling on them.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Right - if that is the case - then they better charge enough to cover the rollout of the inspector and they can't delay the installation waiting for the inspector to be available, which is going to COST them money for hiring additional "inspectors". 

This is nothing but a money grab by the city - an illegal money grab....


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## tedb3rd (Feb 2, 2006)

This is crap. ...a simple way to collect revenue. The argument that it could be a hazard in a high-wind storm is stupid. ANYTHING can be a hazard in a high-wind storm! If you plant a tree, are they going to require a permit? (It could be uprooted if the wind were strong enough.)... Are they going to require a permit to park your car in the driveway--I've seen cars tossed around in tornadoes... Idiots. I hope the FCC fines the city for two things: 1) being stupid, 2) violating the OTARD

If you wanted to go completely on statistics, I'm guessing more people have been injured in accidents by inspectors driving on roads compared to dish's coming off houses and hitting people. So outlaw inspections.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

Yes $10 is cheap, but Hazleton is not that big, around 24,000 population. I live in a small town and if they tried to charge $75.00 for a dish permit, the alderman would be run out of town. In a large city they can charge whatever they want for permits. I paid $10 for a permit to put a shed in may back yard.


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## marker101 (Nov 6, 2007)

It's Hazleton. Knowing the city, I would expect nothing less from their mayor. If you know about the culture that is attracted to Hazleton, you might demise that there are a large number of satellite dishes....less than optimally mounted.


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## Blurayfan (Nov 16, 2005)

Hazelton Comes to its Senses - Drops Satellite Dish Inspection Fee


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

DVDKingdom said:


> Hazelton Comes to its Senses - Drops Satellite Dish Inspection Fee


Who couldn't see this one coming ?


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