Just when you think you’ve heard everything, a story like this reminds us just how ridiculous government can be.

Eileen Wilbur was one penny short when she paid last year's water bill. Now the city of Attleboro, Mass., is threatening to take action. In a letter they paid 42 cents to mail, city officials say they'll place a lien on the blind 74-year-old's house unless she coughs up a penny by Dec. 10, according to the Associated Press. City Collector Debora Marcoccio tells The Sun Chronicle that Wilbur should have paid the balance on her account when they sent out the original bill. She says the lien notices are automatically printed. "It would be fiscally irresponsible for me to have staff weed through the bills and pull out any below a certain amount," she says, according to the paper. " And what would that amount be?"

After laughing at the silliness of this I began to wonder how this could have happened and how things have gotten so far that the city is having to resort to this action. Maybe she initially wrote the check wrong last year when paying the bill? I know I’ve done that. Its entirely possible that the notice was not offered in any alternative format and that she experienced difficulty paying it too. In either case, times must be tough in Massachusetts. Tough enough that they are going after an old woman for one red cent. And, in this time of economic hardship and difficulty we can only applaud them for spending so many hard earned tax dollars in an effort to make this woman pay up.