State seeks ‘outrageous’ vending fee hike

From the Herald:
State seeks ‘outrageous’ vending fee hike
By Donna Goodison
Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Patrick administration is pitching a staggering 500-plus percent hike in vending machine license fees — in part to meet Obama-care rules that haven’t even been written yet, the Herald has learned.

The state Department of Public Health wants to boost annual fees by 567 percent, from $3 to $20, on thousands of vending machines across the commonwealth — a move that is already pushing the wrong buttons with snack peddlers and critics of mandated health care.

Stoughton’s Next Generation Vending, the state’s biggest vending company with about 7,000 machines, would see its annual fees skyrocket from $21,000 to $140,000.

“It’s quite a bit of money, and we would have to pass those costs on to our consumers,” said chief operating officer Joe Rogan. “It seems to us to be an easy but unfair way to raise revenues by just targeting one group.”

Suzanne Condon, director of DPH’s Bureau of Environmental Health, said the proposed $20 fee is in line with other states, and argued it’s only “appropriate” to tap the industry to pay for its added duties under the federal Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s 2010 health-care overhaul, as well as new state rules banning sugary and fatty snacks in schools.

“The increase is primarily to support the inspectional staff that will need to focus efforts on carrying out inspections across the commonwealth,” Condon added.
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OK, $5 then, otherwise it's a real bullshit money grab.