by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Code violation enforcement at City Hall may come under heavy review if the fine print on Article 5 isn’t reworded by the time it takes effect in July.
The Florida Constitutional revision shifts controlling interest and fiduciary responsibility of all municipal court systems to the State.
“The real problem is that, the way it’s written, we have to pay [the State] a $200 filing fee for every citation making its way to court next year,” said Tracey Arpen, deputy general counsel of legislative affairs and land use. “Many times, the amount we’re seeking to collect — the civil fee — is far less than what we have to pay to file it. It’s almost like a lose/lose situation for us.”
Council president Lad Daniels agreed, calling the filing fee an “unintended consequence” of Article 5.
“The demands at the State level are far more intense than our own,” he said. “It’s going to require some heavy gestation on our part, but we’ll have to try to figure out how to keep certain penalties in place.”
Arpen referenced infractions ranging from animal control to non-compliance with the recently passed “taxi cab ordinance” as minor code violations possibly rising 200 or 300 percent as a result of the flat fee.
“Even when you issue a fine that’s $250 for a building code violation,” said Jeanne Miller of the General Counsel’s Office, “you’ve raised what the offender has to pay to nearly $500.”
Miller said a flat fee for all code violations may not be “economically feasible” for the City.
“The State has set a fixed amount that may not be representative of the theamount of time and effort put into each individual case,” said Miller. “Many of these violations are worth only so much, but we have to file each one with the clerk’s office whether or not we’re able to collect. Even if the violation goes uncontested and the court puts forward no effort, we’re still advancing money to the State. It would help if we could use more of a graduated system.”
Arpen said the City may lose money on the filing fee “because sometimes a person in violation can’t even pay the much smaller fine.”
“This is really a shame,” he said. “Jacksonville has shifted into issuing civil citations for code violations because it has proven itself to be inexpensive and effective, but now it won’t be as useful a tool if we can’t reach some sort of agreement. Even if a cited person is ordered to pay and they do, it’s long path from the judgment until we see any of that money.”
Arpen and Miller speculated that more discretion may be paid to each individual infraction or, following possible resistance from the State, citations may be curtailed to keep costs down for the City.
“The problem with [issuing fewer citations,]” said Miller, “is that we may find ourselves with codes on the books that we aren’t enforcing. What kind of message are you sending out then?”
Miller added it was never the City’s goal to turn a profit when collecting fines.
“That wasn’t the policy,” she said. “We weren’t in it to make money. The real issue is that we want to continue to meet the standards of the codes.”
Arpen and Miller speculated the legislature would review the concerns they and others have at the next session in Tallahassee.
“It would help if we didn’t have to go through the courts for all of the citations,” said Arpen. “The legislature would have to make that call, but if someone doesn’t want to contest and they are willing to pay, there’s no need for them to get involved at all.”