The City of Reno apparently has a new message for residents:

Thank you for paying your city fees — now pay extra to pay them.

Residents handling city bills online or by card are increasingly frustrated over service fees attached to credit card and debit card payments. Want to pay your sewer bill, permits, or other city fees electronically? That convenience now comes with an added charge passed directly onto taxpayers.

And while city hall pinches residents for processing fees and “convenience charges,” the city somehow still has money available for splashy downtown events and parades that many residents believe function more as promotional campaigns for the J Resort than revitalization for the rest of downtown Reno.

The City of Sparks has discovered a new way to “serve and protect” — by charging you for it.

Facing an $18 million budget shortfall, Sparks officials are floating something called a “First Responder Fee.” Translation: if you have the bad luck to need emergency medical help, and the Sparks Fire Department shows up first, you could get a $527 bill.

That’s right. The people who are supposed to show up when your heart stops or your car crashes now come with a surcharge.

As local governments scramble to patch their leaking financial ships—with Washoe County, Sparks, and Reno all millions in the red—they've settled on the usual solution: deeper dives into taxpayer pockets. Increased fees, passed on charges, some say, sales tax hikes are circling the drain, and "fire consolidation assessments" have become the preferred alternative to actual fiscal responsibility - (translation: moving money around so Reno - Sparks - Washoe County can spend fire budgets to run the city/county, because if State Senator Skip Daly, Mayor Ed Lawson, Commissioner Alexis Hill, and Mayor Hillary Schieve have their way, residents will pay an assessment to fund fire services - slick, right).